OHANAEZE Ndigbo has berated media mogul, Chief Raymond Dokpesi over an assertion credited to him that no candidate from the South East or even the South as a whole could win the Presidency in 2023 election on the ticket of People’s Democratic Party, PDP.
According to Ohanaeze spokesman, Alex Ogbonnia, Dokpesi was quoted as saying among other things: “The South East cannot win the election for the PDP.
“That is just the truth of the matter. I don’t beat around the bush; I treat issues as they are and as I understand them.
“There is no candidate from the South East, even I dare say there is no candidate from the South that you put in the North today that will be able to win. It is going to be a humongous challenge”.
Reacting to that, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said the assertion would have been ignored “as a mundane distraction but coming from a man who is held in a high esteem at various quarters, it becomes very imperative to save the gullible public from the Dokpesi shibboleth”.
Going down memory lane to recall that Dokpesi benefited from his Northern mentors, the Igbo apex body said “one can easily understand the psychological ambivalence in the Dokpesi persona.”
They noted that “on the other hand, there is no reason for the condescension and disdain he handed over to the entire South.”
Ohanaeze wondered why Chief Dokpesi who has been a strong supporter of the Presidency shifting specifically to the South East all of a suddenly turned around to sing another tune.
Making reference to Dokpesi’s earlier position, Ohanaeze noted that Dokpesi had proclaimed that “If we are the Nigerians I want us to be, if we believe in the unity of Nigeria and we also believe in equity, justice, and fairness, there is no reason we should not give it to the South East if the slot is given to the South.”
Dokpesi also averred that “whoever emerges as the president of Nigeria would have to compensate the people of the South East if truly we want the emergence of the new Nigeria.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is dismayed that Dokpesi could demonstrate this type of duplicity in a matter that is so clearly defined.
“Dokpesi’s assumptions are unreflective, weird and unworthy. Any person who loves Nigeria should be an advocate of power rotation especially between the North and the South.
“And those our sons and daughters who lay claim to leadership should not, under any guise, give the impression that the South is a lame-duck, an electoral liability; and therefore must depend on the North to define the political trajectory of Nigeria.”
Ohanaeze commended the 17 Southern governors for insisting on power shift, saying “that is the ideal and surely, a class of Northerners with conscience will join the moving train.
“The rotation of Presidency between the North and the South is the truth. Two options are before the advocates of justice and progress in Nigeria; we either choose light or darkness.
“All the 17 Southern Governors in their meetings have resolved on the need for a power shift to the South.
“The Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee on zoning has declared that the National Chairmanship of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, should go to the North, while the Presidency should go to the South.
“I want to use this opportunity to commend Rt. Hon. Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; a man with a clear leadership prospectus, a moral edifice and democracy archetype.
“He has by the PDP zoning exercise written his name in gold.
“It is, therefore, curious the kind of appraisal parameters or the kind of epitaph that the business mogul, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi wishes to be remembered,” Ogbonnia stated in the statement.
Vanguard News Nigeria
