The Chairman, Anambra State Chapter of Atiku-Obi Presidential Campaign Council, Mr. Oseloka Obaze, has said that the over 40 million Igbo people cannot afford to wait another four years to realise the so-called promise of being handed over the presidential slot by the All Progressive Congress (APC).

He said over the weekend that with Mr Peter Obi as the Vice President, it will provide emotional and spiritual exhilaration for the Igbo people who have been feeling neglected, marginalised and excluded in the running of Nigeria.

Obaze called on Ndigbo to come out en masse and vote for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in the February 16 polls, saying that “cogent reasons exist for Ndigbo to come out en masse and vote for PDP’s Atiku/Obi.”

He explained that any vote for Atiku Abubakar is also a vote for Peter Obi, who would be saddled with the responsibility of managing the nation’s economy.

Obaze, who was the party’s flagbearer in the 2017 governorship election, stressed that Igbos who are predominantly business-minded people, as well as Nigerians in general, stand to benefit maximally from topnotch conceptual and empirical knowledge the Atiku/Obi team will offer.

He said: “Atiku has executive democratic and political experience, just like his running mate, Peter Obi who he described as “a working and resourceful match”, adding that with the duo in office, Igbos and Nigerians will rejoice and relish a new political and economic paradigm.

According to Obaze, “Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and Babatunde Fashola (Works, Housing and Power Minister), both potential 2023 presidential candidates, have said publicly and without any apologies that President Buhari will hand over to the Southwest in 2023. Their permutation does not feature Ndigbo.

“Beyond deploying his reach and office to chart a new vision and mission for the Igbo and Nigerians, Peter Obi also fits well into the bill of strategic succession planning.

“Moreover, Atiku is a son-in-law of the Igbo people, by virtue of one of his wives from Onitsha. He is an Igbo son by our customary law of marriage and he has chosen our natural son, Peter Obi, as his running mate — this is a double chance, if not obligatory reason for the Igbo people to vote for PDP.”

The retired diplomat observed that Atiku as a human being has his shortcomings like every other human or other presidential candidates, but added that Nigeria will be far better-off with Atiku-Obi than what currently obtains in the system.

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