For about a month now, there have been protests up and down Igboland calling for the recreation of the short-lived republic that existed between July 1967 and January 1970. These demonstrations were sparked by the arrest of the Radio Biafra director Nnamdi Kanu who was apprehended by security men in Lagos following his arrival in the country from the UK where he runs a pirate radio station.
Leading Igbo figures have disassociated themselves from the protests and Ohaneze Youth itself has pledged itself to a united Nigeria. Yesterday, Ohaneze Youth, the youth wing of the pan Igbo socio-cultural organisation Ohanaeze Ndigbo said that it would call on its members to end the protests if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) select Senator Ekweremadu and Governor Okorocha as their presidential candidates at the next elections.
Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the Ohaneze Youth president, said: "A Nigerian president of Igbo extraction is desirable in 2019 after President Muhammadu Buhari. An Igbo presidency will boost the unity of Nigeria.
"Former military president Ibrahim Babangida said he will back an Igbo if he finds one but we assured him and other Nigerians that Ndigbo have credible personalities who have the capacity to govern Nigeria. Ohanaeze Youth commend two former military heads of state for their love for the unity of Nigeria through their support for a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction."
Apart from General Babangida, former head of state General Yakubu Gowon also called for Nigeria's next president to be Igbo. According to Mazi Isiguzoro, an Igbo presidency would finally heal the scars left by the unfortunate civil war and the marginalization of Ndigbo in the affairs of the nation.
So far, it is not yet clear if President Buhari will run again in 2019 but if he decides not to, the APC may opt for an Igbo candidate. This in turn will put pressure on the PDP to do likewise as happened in 1999, when the two parties fielded candidates from the southwest.
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