Afenifere, Ohanaeze N’digbo and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), have disclosed that they would support the candidate that has been most vocal about the restructuring of Nigeria.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 election, Atiku Abubakar, have been vocal of his desire to restructure the country.
Speaking to Punch, the National Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, lamented that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has refused to restructure the country.
He said: “Atiku has been very strong on restructuring and he has also picked a running mate (Peter Obi) who has also expressed very strong opinion about the issue of restructuring. Obi is from a zone where the people are clamoring for restructuring.
"We have reached out to the Presidency through some of the governors who are close to him (Buhari) from the South-West.
"We drafted a list of leaders across Nigeria that the President should summon across Nigeria to discuss the issue of restructuring. Many months after, the governors did not get across to us probably because they met a brick wall.”
Also speaking, the spokesperson of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chuks Ibegbu, said besides restructuring, the region will support a candidate who is ready to address the marginalization of the Igbo and also implement the recommendations of the 2014 national conference.
"Besides restructuring, there are other demands. Our youths are agitating for Biafra and that is due to the marginalization of the Igbos over the years. We are politically, economically and infrastructurally marginalized and we want these issues addressed effectively,” he said.
Also, PANDEF said it would support any candidate who showed commitment to the restructuring of the country.
"PANDEF met with 16 presidential aspirants before the parties concluded their primaries.
"What we put on the table is that we will support any candidate that has restructuring as the backbone of his administration,” National Secretary of the group, Dr. Alfred Mulade, said.
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