By Okechukwu Onugbu
As clamour for zoning the 2023 Presidential seat lingers, a League of Igbo Youth Lawyers (LIYOLAW) has enjoined Nigerians to support emergency of someone from the South East geopolitical zone as successor of President Muhammadu Buhari.
LIYOLAW, in a communique issued at the end of its Town Meeting held at Awka, the Anambra state capital, said their prayers were in the spirit of national unity and equity, and appealed to other geopolitical zones to concede the presidency to the Igbo come 2023.
“ The President of the group, Barr. Stanley Okafor made the call at a Town Hall Meeting held in Awka, Anambra State on Thursday, August 27, 2020. Barr Okafor who traced the historical journey of the nation noted that no other tribe was more genuinely committed to the Nigerian project than the Igbo since Igbos were engaged as community developers in every part of the country including in distant rural communities where they live and work alongside the indigenes as members of such communities and not as guests.
“Speaking on the theme "Preserving Corporate Nigeria; Issues and Evaluation", Barr Okafor said Nigeria stood a better chance of preserving her corporate existence by engaging dialogue with restive youths and organizations as that would help in containing the deplorable security situation in the country. Okafor said that LIYOLAW would in partnership with sister organizations hold an inaugural national leadership lecture series later this year, and he hinted that the lecture series would be named after a past Nigerian leader,” part of the communique stated.
The group further urged the Federal Government to deemphasize confrontation in dealing with civil agitations in the country but instead to embrace dialogue and negotiation in dealing with groups such as IPOB, even as it implored security agencies to eschew ‘overzealousness’ in situations of youth restiveness, while asking the Enugu State government to institute an inquiry into the killing of unarmed youths on the 23rd of August, 2020.
“Communique further urged Igbo elite to show respect for Igbo elders, and urged the Anambra State governor to mend fences with Chief Arthur Eze; it denounced recent attacks on Chief Arthur Eze for his call on Igbos to love themselves more. It finally urged governments and individuals across the country to direct their agencies and interests to use Innoson made in Nigeria vehicles, noting that such vehicles ought to be part of the fleet in use by the Nigerian President,” it added.