National Forum for South-East Presidency Holds Symposium in Awka

By Abuchi Onwumelu

The National Forum for South-East Presidency, NFSEP, has held a one-day symposium in Awka, with a call on participants to synergize and forge a common front as they make case for a Nigerian President of South-East extraction.

In his welcome address, the convener of the forum, Dr. Patrick Enuneku, said that Igbo man believed in one united and peaceful Nigeria.

‘Today Nigeria is on the verge of collapse, but God forbid. If the Igbo man gets the position of Nigeria’s president, it will help to reduce the tension in the country. It is the turn of the Igbo man to be president,’ he said.

Addressing the participants, the chairman of the occasion and the National Vice President of Ohaneze Ndi Igbo Worldwide, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, cautioned the Igbo against using violence in the pursuit of a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction.

He said there was no alternative to a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction and urged Ndigbo to be careful and tactful about it by being peaceful.

According to him, the South East must come out and play the politics of producing the president of the country by reaching out to other zones and convincing them on why an Igbo man must be president.

‘Nobody gets the president of a country from his home. We cannot be in the comfort of our homes and be saying it is our turn to produce a president without coming out for it. We must be courageous about the agitation for the president of Nigeria of Igbo extraction.

‘We cannot get the president on a platter of gold. We must be prepared for it. We want to test the position and we must move forward. You cannot be demanding for president and at the same time penciling some for destruction.

‘No one zone can produce a president without the support of others. We have no other alternative than a president of Igbo extraction today in Nigeria. For Nigeria to be a country, an Igbo man must be involved. The Igbo man must apply the game of sense and not a game of violence because we cannot get any meaningful thing through violence,’ he said.

Some of those in attendance included the President of Ohaneze Ndigbo Anambra State, Prince Emeka Udodeme; the National President of Anambra State Association of Town Unions (ASATU), Chief Barr. Titus Akpudo; the Commissioner for Women’s Affairs, Anambra State, Mrs Ndidi Mezue, among others.

Presentation of awards to some dignitaries who graced the occasion formed the highpoints of the symposium.