‘Buhari not averse to Igbo presidency’

• Why Southeast may not produce next president, by Dokpesi The Director-General, Nigeria Film Corporation, Dr. Chidia Maduekwe, has said President Muhammadu Buhari is not averse to the emergence of his successor from the Southeast. Maduekwe spoke during an interaction with reporters in his Ohafia country home to mark his 68th birthday. He said it was mischievous for people to describe Buhari as a hater of the people of the Southeast, adding that the president’s political antecedent pointed to the contrary. “It is not true that the president does not want a president of Igbo extraction, rather he is supportive of the cause.” According to him, there is no way Buhari will hate Igbo people and in 2003 he picked the late Chuba Okadigbo, an eminent Igbo man, as his presidential running mate. “In 2007, he also selected another prominent Igbo man, Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, as his running mate.” He cited the appointment of Sen. Ifeanyi Ararume (Imo) as the Chairman, Board of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He also mentioned Mr Ogbugo Ukoha (Abia) as the Executive Director, Distributions System, Storage and Retail Infrastructure in the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority. He asked: “Why are we not celebrating these appointments of our people by the president and stop criticising him?” The Founder of Daar Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, has said the Southeast will not be trusted to produce a president because of the overwhelming influence of the founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, in the region. He said this in a statement yesterday. Dokpesi disclosed that some Nigerians believed that Kanu would force and blackmail a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction into declaring Southeast independence. He stressed that Kanu and IPOB had complicated the agitation of the region to produce a Nigerian president. “The emergence of IPOB and its influence across the Southeast has complicated and undermined the agitation for patriotic Nigerians of Igbo extraction to lead this nation as far as the 2023 election is concerned,” he said.