Ben Ezechime, Enugu
An affiliate of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Njiko Igbo Forum, NIF, has declared that Ndigbo will not give President Bola Tinubu more than 5 percent of their votes in the 2027 general election.
The group said this on Wednesday while playing down the endorsement of President Bola Tinubu by Governor Charles Soludo.
Soludo, had during the President’s recent visit to Anambra State, announced that his party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, will support the president for a second term.
However, in a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday, the President of Njiko Igbo Forum, Rev Dr Okechukwu Christopher Obioha, said no amount of so-called adoption of Tinubu for 2027 by Soludo will turn Igbo votes to Tinubu.
Obioha stated that “the Igbo and particularly the South-East electorates will give Tinubu 5%votes in 2027, an increase from the 3%votes he had in the 2023 elections.”
He also declared that Njiko Igbo Forum (NIF), a major advocacy group of the Igbo, was in support of the recent massive calls for electoral reforms, which majorly include the compulsory transmission of election results, particularly that of the Presidential, electronically and in real time.
On support for Tinubu’s re-election, he said, “There is no amount of promises made by Tinubu to any Governor or the good people of the South-East on Infrastructure development, that will sway the Igbo votes in his favour.
“We were promised of some of these strategic infrastructures like railways and train services by the Buhari/Tinubu campaigns in 2022, but till date, Railways lines are not functioning but more dilapidated and moribond than ever.
“Unfortunately, train services are perfectly and automated working in other parts of the country than the SouthEast (Igbo) geographical zone.
“The nepotistic attitude and character of Tinubu in appointing a section of this country(Yoruba), to very important strategic positions and undermining the Federal Character principles, speaks volumes of what will happen if he returns for any second tenure.
“We urge every Igbo all over the country, not to listen to the political rhetoric and false representations in the name of campaigns to return Tinubu in 2027.”
Obioha then declared that presently Peter Obi “is the only credible and nationally acceptable candidate for 2027 Presidential candidate from the South-East.”
“2023, for equity, justice and fairness was for the South-East, but the inordinate ambitious grabbed it and has been struggling to run with the grabbed mandate without success.
“Njiko Igbo Forum (NIF), strongly advocates that since 2027 is the last four years of the eight years for the South of Nigeria, it should be for the South-East, not for any other zone and Tinubu in particular.
“Let all hands be on deck to save the sinking ship (Nigeria), by giving the South-East a chance to produce the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2027. This will be one Nigeria indeed,” he stressed.
