One term Presidency: ‘No South East man will vote for such’, Ikonne tackles Obi

A Senatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia South, Prince Paul Ikonne, has dismissed a four-year single term promise by the former Governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, saying when the time is ripe South-east to produce a President, it will be for eight years like other regions did. Ikonne, who is […]

A Senatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia South, Prince Paul Ikonne, has dismissed a four-year single term promise by the former Governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi, saying when the time is ripe South-east to produce a President, it will be for eight years like other regions did.

Ikonne, who is the immediate-past Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), earlier in the week launched a grassroot group in Abia state, Asiwaju Tsunami in 2027 to mobilise support and massive votes for the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu across the South-east.

The APC chieftain who described Tinubu’s victory as a wind in 2023, declared that the President’s re-election in 2027 will be Tsunami, not only in the South-east but across the country.

Speaking during a media interactive meeting on Thursday in Abuja, Prince Ikonne said all the South-east Governors, including Alex Otti of Abia state, all political major stakeholders in Igbo land are currently behind the re-election of President Tinubu in 2027.

According to him, the Asiwaju 2027 Tsunami group is to let the world, especially Nigerians, know that what they saw in 2023 was a wind, but this 2027 election will be Tsunami for the President.

He said: “Why would he (Peter Obi) come and say that he wants to be President for four years? So he’s trying to deprive the Southeasterners when other zones are doing eight years. No South-east man will vote for such a thing. No, not at all.

“We are not looking for a President that will just be there for four years. We want to produce, when the time comes, the Igbo President that will be there for eight years.”

He revealed further that the Imo state governor Hope Uzodimma, has set up a team, where he is a member, to sensitise the Igbos across the country shop to shop, market to market, mobilizing support for the President re-election, adding that the massive votes Tinubu will get in 2027 will come from all the places where Igbos reside and not only in the Eastern region.

“So the Igbos will not make that mistake and we will not be deceived to say let people come just for four years, to do what exactly? It may take him (Obi) two years to appoint his ministers. Before they will finish taking him around the Villa, finish meeting with the Permanent Secretaries and all that, four years will be over.”

When asked for the assurance that South-east Governors are with President Tinubu, Ikonne said: “One clear indication is that when the governor who came on board to govern through Labour Party is now supporting the President, that means the President doesn’t have any opposition in Abia state. So that is one clear assurance.

“Again, I guess I’ve seen what is happening in terms of development within the South-east and the kind of resources that the President has left in the hands of the governors. So people now know that indeed, that with the President’s mindset of allowing the funds to go straight to the governors, he means well for Nigerians.”

Responding to the recent zoning of presidential ticket to the South by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Ikonne said: “What they have just said is that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should complete his eight years, because the North completed eight years.

“If they (NDC) have zoned it to the North, then you now say, okay, there’s competition, there’s questioning, there’s a decision that one zone should not. But for the fact they say they have zoned their ticket to the South means that they are confirming that Asiwaju should conclude and complete his eight years, which is what has been the practice since democracy started in Nigeria.

“So 2023 was wind but in 2027 Asiwaju is coming with tsunami. And you can see that all the state governors in the Southeast, they are all supporting the president. In the 2027 election, you now see that there will not be any governor in the South-east that will not be supporting the president. It wasn’t so in 2023. So the tsunami that will hit Nigeria will start from South-east, most especially from Abia South Senatorial District.”