On the Labor Party platform, several Fulani youths from Northern Nigeria on Tuesday drummed up support for Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, who is running for president.
The young people who said that the Fulani would no longer vote along ethnic and religious lines claimed that Obi’s leadership abilities were the reason they chose to support him.
During a meeting with the Igbo Elders Consultative Forum, which was presided over by elder statesman Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the Fulani youths from the 19 Northern States and Abuja expressed their viewpoint.
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The conference was presided over by Chief Simon Okeke, a former chairman of the Police Service Commission, who received a letter from the Fulani youths outlining their demands.
The decision to back Obi, according to the delegation’s head, Ibrahim Abdullahi, was to reimagine the North-South East alliance that existed throughout the First and Second Republics.
Abdullahi said, “The current president is our Kinsman but we have come to realise from experience that you don’t need to have someone from your tribe or faith as president before your lives improve. What we need is somebody that is patriotic, honest, just and fair. In Nigeria, Fulani are no longer after tribal or religious sentiments.
“We are looking for a leader that is capable of taking Nigeria to the promise land. We have realised that these two tribes, Fulani and Igbo hold 99 per cent of the corporate existence of Nigeria. The Igbos have the control of over 80 per cent of the commercial activities in the country while the Fulanis control 99 per cent of livestock we have. Igbos and Fulani coming together to work for the good of Nigeria will be the best.
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“You should also know that this is not the first time. The alliance between the two ethnic groups in the First and Second Republics brought prosperity to the country. Though, we are still licking the wound of civil war and course, we have offended ourselves but we are doing this to bring about the much needed healing.”
Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, the chairman of the IECF and a former governor of Anambra State, characterized Obi as a true unifier who will erase poverty, insecurity, and all other drawbacks of Nigeria.
In response to the governor of Anambra State’s assessment of Obi’s chances, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Ezeife stated that not everyone could support Obi’s presidential campaign.
In a post headed “History beckons and I shall not be mute,” Soludo had discounted the likelihood of Obi winning the presidency in 2023 and attacked the approach taken by Ndigbo.
The post received a variety of responses from people across the nation, but Soludo received the most criticism on social media.
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Ezeife said, “If Peter Obi becomes president, in the next two years, our sons and daughters abroad will begin to think of coming back home.
“God has his hand in Obi’s movement. I. Know him very well. Many years I left as a governor, I saw him at airport carrying his own luggage. He insisted that public fund must be use for public good.
“Then, as we are here, if all of us (Igbos) are saying the same thing, it will look somehow. We are happy to hear that some might not be supporting him, but that doesn’t mean anything. I know that 99 per cent of the people are for Obi.”
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