2023:Northern Elders Resolve To Back Only Igbo Candidate For President

Ahead of the 2023 election, a group under the aegis Forum of Northern Elders for Unity (FNEU) resolved to back a candidate of Igbo extraction from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the position of president. The forum has vowed to support Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State as a sole candidate from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the country’s highest position. This was made known in a communique issued and jointly signed by chairman and secretary of FNEU, Alhaji Baba Mala and Mal. Yau Aliyu respectively after the forum’s meeting in Kaduna on Monday, February 1. According to the elders, part of the reasons for taking this decision is that PDP during its reign of power, was able to provide an all-inclusive government for a united Nigeria.

Another reason is that 22 years since Nigeria returned to democracy, Igbos have not been considered for either position of the president or vice president. The elders forum also noted that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has has a northerner as president now and it will only be fair and democratic to return power to the South, especially southeast because the Igbo have been politically marginalized. Mala and Aliyu urged the main opposition party to give its presidential ticket to the Enugu state governor because of his antecedence as a leader with a passion for peace, progress and unity of the country.