By Teddy Nwanunobi
An aspirant for the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket in Abia South, Paul Ikonne, has faulted Peter Obi’s proposed plan to serve a single four-year term as president, saying that it would shortchange the South-East.
Daily Newscraft reports that the Former Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) recently launched a political group known as ‘Asiwaju Tsunami 2027’ in Abia Dtate to mobilise support for the re-election of Bola Tinubu.
Ikonne, who spoke on Thursday during a media interactive session in Abuja, said when the South-East eventually produces a president, the region should be allowed to complete an eight-year tenure like other geopolitical zones.
“Why would he (Peter Obi) come and say that he wants to be president for four years? So, he’s trying to deprive the southe easterners when other zones are doing eight years. No South-East man will vote for such a thing.
“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 said.
The APC chieftain said Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 would be “a tsunami” across the country.
According to him, governors and political stakeholders in the South-East, including Alex Otti, the Abia state governor, are supporting Tinubu’s re-election bid.
Ikonne said that the Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma, had constituted a mobilisation team to canvass support for Tinubu across markets and communities where Igbos reside nationwide.
“The Igbos will not make that mistake — and we will not be deceived to say let people come just for four years. 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,” he said.
Ikonne claimed that Obi no longer command the same support they enjoyed during the 2023 election.
“Peter Obi will no longer have that kind of wave that came in 2023. Labour Party is not really on ground in Abia state,” he added.