2019: Stop attacking Obasanjo over presidency – PDP chieftain

A founding member of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Anambra State and a Biafran war veteran, Chief Joe Ifediobi, has hailed former President Olusegun Obasanjo for advising Ndigbo to prepare ahead of the 2019 presidential election.
According to him, Obasanjo meant well for Ndigbo and was in no way ridiculing their sensibility with his statement.

Obasanjo, who recently hosted the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ogun State chapter, at this Abeokuta Hilltop residence, said he was in support of the return to regional governance, as it will solve the problem of marginalization.
“Irrespective of the thinking of the people ahead of 2019, I personally think that South-East should have a go at the Presidency too,” he was quoted as saying.
Reacting however, Ifediobi, said some Igbo leaders who have been condemning Obasanjo for his comment were only unfair to their region.
Ifediobi recalled that it was Obasanjo when he became the president of the country in 1999 that recognised Igbos and appointed them in enviable positions since after the civil war when Ndigbo was relegated to the background through the appointment of Dr. Ngozi Okonji-Iweala as the Finance minister.

According to him, “What I expected from leaders of Ndigbo is to go back and have serious thought about the disposition of Obasanjo and begins to strategize to make it a reality than to be firing him from left and right. Obasanjo is the friend of Ndigbo but some people don’t know it, he was the first leader after the civil war to appoint Ndigbo in enviable positions and awarded major road contracts in the southeast.‎”
“Ndigbo should know that it is time for them to correct the mistakes of the past by coming together to thinker on how to be the president of the country in 2019.
“Obasanjo based his call for Igbo presidency on the conflicts, agitations and marginalization of Ndigbo in the past which he said will balance the equation if Igbo man becomes the next president. So, we should work towards achieving that, than to be attacking Obasanjo”, Ifediobi added.