The Ohanaeze Ndigbo has said that it is looking forward to 2022 as the watershed year for the Igbo nation, adding that it is a year the faith of the Igbo in Nigeria will be put to test by Nigerians of all walks of life, who will gather and entrust the Igbo man with the mandate to lead this nation and make a difference.
This is the perspective of the Acting Youth Leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Jones Onwuasoanya, who also noted that 2021 was a very challenging year, not just for Nigeria, but for the entire world. He quickly added that Nigeria’s situation appears a notch more troubling than that of other nations.
“From anxieties over the pandemic, then the lockdowns without anything near to a commensurate palliative to cushion the impacts of these challenges, then the #EndSARS crisis, then the insecurity that has been with us for the past decade increased and even spread to areas that were deemed safe before now and the economy isn’t any better.”
According to Onwuasoanya: “Everything revolves around politics, and understandably too. So, as an organisation, we expect stronger political will from those charged with the gov ernance of this country at the various levels. We expect fairness and equity.
“We look forward to a unity of consent among all Nigerians for the Igbo of the South-East extraction to be nominated by all the political parties as presidential candidates.
Nothing can best guarantee Ndigbo of their acceptance as Nigerians and an end to the civil war than for all Nigerians to unitedly support an Igbo to become the President of Nigeria in 2023.
“On security, there is no better legacy that can be bequeathed to Nigeria by President Muhammadu Buhari, in this last full year of his presidency than to secure Nigeria and rid this country of terrorists and bandits, no matter the colouration they come in.
We need peace in Nigeria, and the Commander- in-Chief has the resources and powers to restore peace to us.”
Onwuasoanya noted that ordinarily, the average Igbo man does not demand too much from the government. A fair economy is what Ndigbo want. 2021 was tough for our people doing businesses in different parts of Nigeria.
Disproportionate taxes, over-hiked import duties and lockdowns imposed on the South-East, nearly shut down the usually bubbling South-East economy.
