by Ranti Josephli

Former President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Dozie Ikedife, said that the courtesy visit the group paid to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari was to make a case for the Igbo in the incoming APC-led feder­al government.

And also so that the re­gion will not be abandoned for not giving massive sup­port to the victorious party like the South West during the just concluded presiden­tial election.

Ikedife who disclosed this on Friday at his Nnewi residence, said the purpose of the visit was to appeal to Buhari not to leave the Igbo in the cold in his ap­pointments and infrastructural development because of the low support he received from the South East geo-political zone during the presidential election.

“You know people of the South East voted heavily for the PDP and not very much for the APC. And I had always warned during the campaigns that the Igbo should not put all their eggs in one basket.

“And the impression will be that the President-elect was not sup­ported by the people of the South East. Our visit is to let the President-elect know that he is the President for all and that he has to accommodate people from the South East in his administration.

“We have people who are capable, qualified, hardwork­ing and technocrats who can work with him in Igbo land. We have people like the former Governor of Abia State, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, very brilliant and very respectful.

“We have Oscar Udoji and other people of high integrity and dedi­cated politicians like Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige.

“And there are people who worked tire­lessly for the APC to win in the South East, people who did not vie for any elective position, no matter the low number of votes they attracted because of the overwhelming South East sup­port for the PDP. It is important that these people should be ac­commodated,” Ikedife said.

He noted that it was a fact that the National Executive Council (NEC) of the APC had done its zoning as to who got what but he insisted that the Igbo should be well accommodated and not to be left to pick the crumbs explaining that he was too old to be given any se­rious appointment, adding that his agitation was to protect the interest of his race as an Igbo leader.

On Buhari’s reac­tion to their request, he said Buhari was friendly and appreciated the visit but did not say outright that he was going to grant the request or not since there was no signed contract with him.

He said Buhari listened to them carefully and that the team was of the hope that in fullness of time he would react positively so that the Igbo would be carried along in the scheme of things.