– Ohanaeze Ndigbo had on Thursday, January 24, formally endorsed Atiku Abubakar as its preferred presidential candidate
– But, Ngige in his reaction, said that Atiku was endorsed by PDP faction of Ohanaeze
The minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, has said that the Igbo have not benefitted anything good from political endorsements since 1979.
Sahara Reporters reports that he stated this at a press conference on Friday, January 25, in reaction to the endorsement credited to the Ohanaeze Ndigbo of Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Tracknews.ng gathered that Ngige said that those who endorsed Atiku are “PDP Ohanaeze”, adding that it would be Ohanaeze PDP versus Ohanaeze APC and others during the forthcoming elections.
The press briefing was also attended by the minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, former secretary general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prince Richard Ozobu, among others.
He said: “We are going to react because we belong to a political party; I belong to the APC and all of them that held this meeting at Nike Lake Hotel belong to the PDP stock. So, it will be Ohanaeze PDP versus Ohanaeze APC and others; we’re ready for the war.
“We are not mincing words about it; we have factionalised our organisation and we had warned them not to factionalise Ohanaeze. Endorsements have not brought anything good to the Igbo since 1979.”
Meanwhile, Tracknews.ng had previously reported that the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, formally endorsed the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the forthcoming general, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
It was reported that while rising from its Ime Obi meeting on Thursday, January 24, in Enugu, the organisation said that its decision to back the Atiku/Obi candidacy was predicted on its appraisal of the fault lines in the nation’s polity and an evaluation of the manifestos of all the candidates vying for presidency.
