By Tony Edike
THE decision by governors and political leaders in South East geopolitical zone to back the agitation for 2015 Igbo presidency as the basis for supporting any presidential candidate for 2011 presidential election has been applauded by leaders of Igbo Political Forum, IPF.

The South East governors and some political leaders from the zone had at a meeting held at Nike Lake Resort, Enugu, last Sunday, resolved to throw their support behind the presidential ambition of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, but declared that their support for him would depend on his acceptance to support the aspiration of Ndigbo to produce the Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2015.

Reacting to the development, Monday, one of the facilitators of Mkpoko Igbo and a member of  Igbo Political Forum, Professor ABC Nwosu, said the positive decision of the governors on the issue of 2015 presidency was commendable, adding that the decision was in line with the IPF’s struggle, which centres on the actualisation of Igbo presidency.

The IPF, which has prominent Igbo leaders as Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Senator Ken Nnamani, Chief Simon Okeke, Professor ABC Nwosu, Dr. Sam Egwu, among others, has been in the forefront of the struggle for the actualisation of Igbo presidency in 2015 and went further to enter into an agreement with Northern political leaders, who had agreed to support Ndigbo to produce the president in 2015.

It was on the basis of that agreement that most of the presidential candidates from the Northern states have agreed to run for one term of four years and thereafter hand over power to a president of Igbo extraction in 2015, but even though a section of Igbo have agreed to back Jonathan for 2011, no concrete agreement had been reached with him as to whether or not he would support an Igbo to become president in 2015, if elected president next year.

Professor Nwosu, who spoke with reporters at the Mkpoko Igbo secretariat in Enugu said: “We hereby congratulate the governors and South East politicians who met in Enugu on Sunday and endorsed Igbo Presidency 2015 as condition for supporting any presidential candidate in 2011.  This is what our struggle has been whether as Igbo Political Forum or as Mkpoko Igbo or Ahamefula.

“We still assert both as IPF, Mkpoko Igbo and Ahamefula that the only concrete agreement on the table is that between the IPF and the Northern Political Forum. We salute the governors for their courage and determination as political leaders of Ndigbo not to betray the Igbo Presidency project 2015.

“We are satisfied that when the time comes there will be no statement coming from the presidency on this matter having committed itself to a different direction that is not South East in 2015.”

Nwosu said that the IPF was ready to  work with the South East governors  and any other group “that is committed and determined to execute the Igbo  presidency project 2015 in an honest and transparent manner and not on the basis of neighbor and brother because every Nigerian is our friend, neighbor and brother in this Igbo presidency project.”

He assured that for Ndigbo in Mkpoko Igbo, Igbo Political Forum and Ahamefula, “Igbo presidency in 2015 is non_negotiable” urging all Igbos to support the project with the spirit of Ahamefula (equity and justice for all).