Atiku Loss: “Igbo places more premium on restructuring than 2023 presidency”

Osita Okechukwu, the Director-General of Voice of Nigeria said the result of the presidential election in the South-East shows that President Muhammadu Buhari performed better in 2019 than 2015.

The chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said this in an interview with the News of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Tuesday, while speaking on the outcome of the presidential poll in the zone.

In 2015, Mr Buhari polled 198, 248 votes in the five South-East states, while he polled 403,958 votes in 2019.

He said that with the result, APC achieved 100 per cent increase in 2019 compared to the 2015 performance in the zone.

Mr Okechukwu attributed the improvement to the resilience and aggressive campaign by the party in the area.

“APC faithful did a lot of grassroots and door-to-door campaign with convincing reasons why Buhari should be returned to finish his monumental infrastructure development and his people-oriented economic programmes,” he said.

“We are therefore happy that APC did better in the South-East in 2019 than 2015.”

He said that it would have been dangerous for Ndigbo to lump their votes in one basket.

He said the party’s overwhelming and strong campaign in the zone helped to avert the danger.

Mr Okechukwu said the result could have been much better, but for the negative role allegedly played by the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra ahead of the polls.

He said: “These groups deceived our people with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s restructuring gimmick.

“One is at a loss why they placed more premium on restructuring than the emergence of Nigeria’s president of Igbo extraction in 2023.

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“I think 2023 is more pragmatic and reasonable than Atiku’s promise to restructure the country.”

Mr Okechukwu said because of Nigeria’s rigid constitution, restructuring the country required the two-third approval by the National and State Houses of Assemblies.

He expressed the optimism that the re-election of Buhari would fast-track the infrastructure development in the South-East.

He said, “By the grace of God, APC’s presidential victory will surely guarantee the completion of the Eastern Rail Line Corridor, Enugu Coal, 2nd Niger Bridge and Enugu Urban Water Scheme, among others, started by the present administration.’’