Coalition of South-East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, the apex socio-political youth group in the South East geopolitical zone has vehemently rejected what it called Micro zoning for deputy Speakership to South-East.
The youth body described it as a charade by the All Progressives Congress, APC, which they named “zoning of National Assembly principal positions” wherein they micro-zoned the office of the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives to Rep. Benjamin Kalu, as a position meant for the South East geopolitical zone.
In a statement issued in Owerri Sunday by the President General of COSEYL, Hon. Goodluck Ibem and the Publicity Secretary, Comrade Okey Nwaoru said that the charade by the APC is an insult to the political sensibility of Ndigbo.
He said: “we reject it in its entirety, no matter those behind it, and will continue to reject it.”
According to the group the circumstances surrounding the emergence of Benjamin Kalu following the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections are still mired in a lot of controversies.
They said there are still allegations in some quarters that the Labour Party candidate, Chief Iheanyi Frank Chinasa would have emerged but for the malfeasance of INEC officials in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.
COYSEL observed that on 25th of February, 2023, the Presidential and the National Assembly elections were conducted simultaneously
He said that in Abia State, for example, Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, polled 327, 095 votes, whereas Ahmed Tinubu, the APC Presidential candidate got 8,914 votes, yet Benjamin Kalu the APC House of Reps candidate was controversially announced as the winner of Bende Federal Constituency with 10,020 votes while the Labour Party (LP) candidate scored 6,688 votes.
They observed that the question begging for an answer is, how will the votes of entire Bende Local Government Area for Reps be higher than the presidential votes from the other 16 local government areas of the state in elections – presidential and parliamentary – that were conducted concurrently nationwide?
The body asked, does this not expose the fraudulent and criminal act of a supposed honourable member involved in a dishonorable act and behaviour?
He said: “The political landscape of Nigeria has a known trajectory, especially the South East, were voters vote massively for parties. How, COSEYL wonders, can a single local government outvote an entire state? This is the question Benjamin Kalu alone can answer”.
The Youth pointed out that it is on record too that the APC hitherto had performed a poorly written script when it brought on board and sought to impose on the people an individual with fictitious identity and names which are: Benjamin Umunna, Benjamin Osisiogu and Benjamin Kalu to represent South East, just the same way the party rented fake bishops to represent the Christian Community in their clandestine move to give appearance of inclusion to the notion of illegality characterised by Muslim-Muslim ticket which was roundly rejected by Nigerians. Ndigbo cannot be reduced to such a level!
They maintained that Benjamin Kalu, betrayed his political boss, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu who picked him and gave him all the necessary support and assistance to be elected into the federal House of Representatives in 2019.
While the political goal and aspiration of Ndigbo is beyond the post of the senate president, the body maintained that they cannot identify with a character like Benjamin Kalu, not to talk of endorsing him to represent the political interest of the entire South East as a federal parliamentarian holding the post of the Deputy Speaker.
He said: “Igbos are a major ethnic group in Nigeria, also one of the tripodal arrangement upon which the nation itself stands – going by the “WaZoBia” scheme. We cannot be reduced to the background by the APC-led Federal government, no matter the scheming or agenda”.
The PG said that the Igbo race, more than many other geopolitical zones in the nation, straddles one region (South East) and spans other regions too (South South and North Central) with sons and daughters scattered all over the 36 states within the federation.
According to them other regions, barring the South West, have complex ethnic makeups and minorities.
They observed that in the North, whether east, west or central, there are the Fulani, the Hausa and usually other minorities all claiming each of the entire three zones as home.
The South South itself is made up of the Ijaws, Ibibio, Anangs, Ogonis, Itshekiri, just to mention but a few (of its constituent ethnic nationalities).
They said: “How can a region like the South East, with its homogeneous makeup, be relegated when it come to sharing the spoils if not for the phobia which APC has about the Igbo nation, which the party has continued to uphold through the Buhari calamitous presidency, and which may likely be repeated by a Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency”.
They questioned about what respect does the APC have or show towards its foundation members of South East extraction like Dr. Ogbonnaya Ọnụ, who registered the APC as a political party, Rochas Anayo Okorocha and others?
They maintained that the post of a Deputy Speaker is beneath the political aspiration of Ndigbo and we reject and shall continue to resist it.
They call on well-meaning sons and daughters of Igboland to disregard the endorsement of Benjamin Kalu by one individual called Okwu Nnabuife who parades himself as the President of Ohanaeze Youth Council.
They said that Ohanaeze have made their position and stance known hereto that they are solidly behind Mr Peter Obi, so any other statement emanating from any quarters that jeopardizes Peter Obi’s chances of reclaiming his mandate is unacceptable and incongruous with the Igbo aspiration.
The youth body said that Peter Obi, from there projections and findings, won the 2023 presidential election which is the number one office in the land.
They said: “It is a shame, not only to INEC but to those the Commission declared and returned as winners, that the results currently uploading to the IRev show that INEC is not and can never be a reliable or neutral umpire”.
They said: “it is only a misfit, an outcast and a sellout that will throw away a mandate the entire nation gave his region just to accept the office of the Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives which is the 7th position in the country’s hierarchy of political power and offices”.
While they remain steadfast in the Peter Obi project COSEYL called on all political forces of the APC using phantom characters and phoney groups to factionlaise the Labour Party in order to minimize Obi’s legal chances to desist from their hollow shenanigans.
They also call on all Igbo and other Nigerians to not give up on the Obi mandate until the court awards the final judgement.
He said: “Nigeria is our nation., and nobody, whether individual or group, can relegate the Igbo to the background”.
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