Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Friday said there was no enough to deny the Igbo the opportunity to produce the successor of the present, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Ohanaeze said that the current security challenges in the region should not be an alibi to deny Ndigbo the opportunity to succeed Buhari in 2023.

The President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof George Obiozor, in his Christmas and New Year message to Ndigbo which he delivered in Owerri, Imo State, on Friday said though the region experienced insecurity and economic downturn in 2021, 2022 would provide good things for southeasterners.

The Igbo leader said, “Insecurity is a poisoned arrow deliberately fired on the South-East. We in Ohanaeze say categorically that the architects of this mischievous scheme have failed woefully. Insecurity will not be an excuse to deny the South-East the Presidency of Nigeria in 2023.

READ ALSO ASUU kicks against indiscriminate establishment of varsities by govs

“Consequently, Ndigbo were confronted with anger or envy, hostility and violence at any given crisis in Nigeria and even outside Nigeria. Ndigbo seek Nigeria’s unity but not unity of slaves and masters.

“We seek peace but not peace of the grave yard, we seek justice because we know that throughout history, those denied justice have had no interest in peace. Today, Nigeria President of Igbo extraction is imperative and an idea whose time has come.”

Speaking on the abandoned proposal of floating the Ebubeagu security outfit for the zone, Obiozor said Ohanaeze, after a meeting with the governors of the South-East recently, had got their assurance to launch the security outfit to enhance security in the zone.

He charged the governors to keep their promise and make the project a reality before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, an elder statesman and Chairman of the Ohanaeze Council of Elders, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has insisted that there is no faction in the organisation, affirming that the only recognised President is Obiozor.