The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi has urged Igbos to put sentiments aside and vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in the coming 2019 general election.
He equally urged them to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), saying that doing so would give them a better chance of producing the president’s successor in 2023.
Although Buhari has yet to declare his second term ambition, Amaechi has been declared the coordinator of the presidential campaign organisation.
Speaking on ‘The Igbo in the politics of Nigeria’ at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nsukka, Enugu, on Wednesday, Amaechi urged the Igbos to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
He described both parties as “regional parties”, adding that the Igbos could not realise their ambitions with them.
Amaechi said “we are not here for campaign…we must tell ourselves the truth about what Buhari has done”.
The former Rivers governor declared that Buhari had done more for Igbos than other administrations.
He said, “You (Igbo) did not vote for Buhari, true or false? You voted for PDP and what did they do for you? PDP abandoned the Enugu-Onitsha expressway since 1999, but Buhari is working on it, true or false?
“Buhari is working on the second Niger Bridge, he is working on the Otuocha-Ibaji-Abuja road, he is working on the Abakaliki-Onueke road, he is working on the Oji-Achi-Naku road in Enugu state, he is also working on Ozalla-Akpugo-Amagunze road. He is working on the Aba-Ikot Ekpene road.
“Under Buhari, all major cities of the south-east are captured in the existing railway project. Name one government that has done up to this within two years. Our problem is that we are just being emotional.”
The minister urged the Igbos to forget their quarrel with the North and forge ahead to capture the presidency.
“Igbo should go for confession, seek forgiveness and move into a national party, and look for way to fight from inside.
“They should vote for Buhari for a second term, and then force him out and look for Igbo president. Let the quarrel with the north, real or imagined, stop now,” Amaechi stressed.