By Chijindu Emeruwa

Socio-cultural and political group, the World Igbo Peoples Assembly (WIPAS), has condemned the statement credited to the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai that Igbos will not get presidency by insulting and threatening other Nigerians.

Recall that El Rufai spoke during a webinar organised by the Africa Leadership Group and tagged: ‘Developing a Viable Nation 2’ and was hosted by Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of Trinity House.

But, WIPAS, in a statement by its Director of Media and Publicity, Ms Chinonyerem Dick and made available to OHAFIA-TV News on Monday, cautioned El Rufai to stop overheating the polity with his warped thinking.

According to the group, “this man is unable to stop the agitations in his Kaduna state, the Boko Haram ravaging the North and the Shiite agitations, and he has the temerity to be commenting on the agitations in the East”.

WIPAS opined that agitations from the North or west or Niger Delta did not stop their own from being President of Nigeria and will not therefore stop an Igbo from succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

The Igbo Assembly advised El Rufai and hirelings to stop being mischievous and purveyors of sectarian views and stoking embers of disunity in the country.

On the Ohanaeze Ndigbo leadeership crisis, WIPAS lauded the Concerned Imeobi of the group for coming out to intervene in the matter which is capable of threatening Igbo aspirations in Nigeria.

In another development, a Policy Analyst, Dr Law Mefor, has called for power shift to southeast part of Nigeria.

He said that would engender political justice, equity and fairness in the democratic governance in the country.

Mefor who doubles as Director Public Affairs of the Igbo Leadership Development Foundation (ILDF) posited during an interview on Sunday stated that the people of the region must be up and about, build bridges and negotiation as history beckons at this auspicious moment.

He further posited that the clearest pathway to the nation’s unity is equity achievable through fair implementation of federal character and by extending it to the office of the President of the country through rotation.

Mefor however called on Nigerians from all divides to rally round Nigeria presidency of southeast extraction, adding that the quest by the region to take its shot in the nation’s presidential seat come 2023 was a collective one in order to engender unity and the development of the country.

According to him, “for its compelling benefits, every well-meaning citizen has to join hands and accept the basics that power is shifting not just to the South but shifting to the Southeast as a zone for the production of Nigeria’s President of South East extraction and the business is not for the South East elites alone but for the entire nation.

“It is not only the political parties that should weigh in in this rotation of power business, but all critical power stakeholders. They range from natural regional organizations, clerical organizations, retired military establishment, professional bodies and so forth.

“In 1999, the North yielded power but controlled the process of the production of the Presidential outcome. The North has to do the same again. So, today, the South East, aiming to produce the President for the rest of the country, must all sit at a table to balance the discourse in the direction that satisfies the compensatory yearning of the zone without jeopardizing any part of the country yielding up the space to the zone, “Mefor concluded.