Ohuabunwa: What Obasanjo told me about 2023 Igbo presidency

As part of efforts to actualize his presidential ambition, an aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, on Thursday, visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.

The presidential hopeful also met with elders and leaders of the PDP in the state.

Addressing journalists after a closed-door meeting with the former president, Ohuabunwa said he came to felicitate with the elder statesman who clocked 85 years recently and to intimate him with his electoral programmes.

Ohuabunwa, the former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), revealed that Obasanjo made it clear to him that it was the turn of Ndigbo to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023.

“We talked about Nigeria and my presidential ambition. He told me it’s the turn of the South East. So when people like us appeared, he has always been very positive. Obasanjo believed that the time has come to bring total reconciliation to Nigeria. He also believed that there are a lot of things the South East can bring to the table beyond bringing unity to the country.

“He believed that the South East can model hard work and entrepreneurship which will help in wealth creation, and fight against poverty that Nigeria is. The first day I met him, he gave me the list of challenges that I would face and also gave me a list of how to solve them. And I have followed some of those tips and they have worked for me.

“So he told me that it’s a tough job and that he’s happy I have endured up till today and looking forward to final realization of that vision of his to see Nigeria being united and restored to a country that all of us will be proud to call our own,” he said.

The former chairman of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), stated that the only way to maintain proper peace in a nation of diverse ethnicities and geographies like Nigeria was to ensure that everybody is treated fairly.

“And rotation and power-sharing are some of the methods of ensuring inclusiveness and making sure that Nigerians feel they are part of the country. My message is that all people in the south should feel bonafide, especially my brothers from the southeast, should feel a bonafide members of Nigeria because we have made so much contributions from the days of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe till today.

“So we are not strangers to Nigeria, we are not just appendages. When it comes to the political right, we have to assert our right and provide that leadership Nigeria is lacking and I hope that God will offer us that opportunity in 2023 and Nigerians will come behind us to make Nigeria a first world nation, which is my ambition to make Nigeria a first world nation, globally competitive and more importantly, a nation that works for all, that creates job opportunities for the young people to exercise their creativity and innovation,” the pharmacist asserted.

(Vanguard)