SOUTH EAST Patriots’ Assembly (SEPA), a pro-Igbo pressure group which supported Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the just-concluded presidential election has cautioned Ndigbo and Southeast indigenes against succumbing to any clandestine plots to scuttle the official inauguration of the President-elect and the vice president-elect on May 29, 2023.
SEPA’s Chief Media Strategist, Hon. Emeka Nwankpa, in a statement in Abuja yesterday said that the caution became necessary in view of alleged moves in some quarters to mount roadblocks to the inauguration. He maintained that a Tinubu-led government is a fait accompli and that any plot against it is treasonable to God, the nation and the ordinary Nigerian.
‘’It has become necessary to alert Southeast’s patriots and the entire Ndi Ala Igbo home and abroad that the Nigerian masses spoke loud and clear on February 25, 2023 and gave their votes to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu which INEC declared legally. Those aggrieved are in court as the law provides. Therefore, any extra-judicial means or plot against his swearing-in becomes treasonable and an unmitigated distraction in which the Ndigbo will not be part of. Our tradition, Omenala, forbids it.
‘’We are not unaware that evil is unyielding. Sponsors of evil are always looking round for hirelings to practice their evil. The patriots of the Ndigbo race should not offer themselves to be served the poisoned chalice to truncate this inauguration. We are a people of grace, honour and privilege. We shall not be derobed, dishonoured and discounted when it matters most. Our deserved place in the nation is always assured’’, he said.
The SEPA spokesman condemned reported calls for an Interim National Government [ING], describing the development as sad and unfortunate portraying the height of depravity, demonism and desperation of power-mongers and their external collaborators to further divide and conquer the Nigerian people.
Hon. Nwankpa cautioned Igbo indigenes against being used as spoilers to fan, feed, float and foist an illegal Interim National Government (ING) to scuttle President-elect Bola Tinubu’s official inauguration on May 29, 2023.
The group alleged that sponsors of the illegal ING which had received severe condemnations in many quarters recently are bent on testing the waters using pliable minds in the Southeast to prepare the ground to foist a strange, unconstitutional and undemocratic heist to take power by whatever means.
He expressed regrets that the region is always seen as a fertile ground by anti-Nigerian forces to test the waters not minding that the region has suffered long years of excruciating marginalization and exclusion from the mainstream politics owing to lack of collective rigorous strategy by the political and business class to give clear direction. He however expressed relief that many people had begun to rethink, redress and remedy and to pull the region and its great people from the brink of back waters.
He noted that the group was pleased to read a statement recently by the secretary general of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro condemning the ING and asking the DSS to arrest the sponsors with a firm assurance that Ndigbo would not be a scapegoat but will fully participate in all inauguration and swearing-in ceremonies of President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Hon. Emeka Nwankpa assured Ndigbo that the emergence of the Tinubu-led government was a final loud answer to long cries and woes of the region since the end of the Civil War, pointing that SEPA and other groups in the vanguard of fresh awakening in the Southern East will vigorously step up its campaign for a new deal for the region as soon as the Tinubu train takes off on May 29, 2023.
‘’SEPA has almost finished collating presentations and submissions from well-meaning Igbo patriots which will form a Charter of Demands for onward transmission to the President-elect. It will be released soon. We will hold the Tinubu-led government to his campaign promises.
‘’Every promise which the President-elect publicly made to Ndigbo during his ground-breaking campaign tours of the five states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo which harvested more votes ever for the ruling party, are also being compiled into a document for robust engagement with the coming government.
He expressed optimism that Tinubu would stick to his promise to the Southeast to bring immediate security, peace and tranquility to the region and the whole of Nigeria through Hope Renewal manifesto which has massive Federal government support to private enterprise, infrastructural revival, incremental youth empowerment and skill acquisition schemes, among others.
‘’We see in the forth-coming administration the opening of fresh windows for massive inflow of foreign investments towards rejuvenating the economy at the national and sub-national levels across the country. The optics are quite clear, good for the entire Nigerian people particularly the Ndigbo.
‘’It is a golden era in which the Southeast cannot afford to miss out. It promises to a massive transformation of the country in a manner unequalled in the history of this nation. it is a great opportunity to be involved’’, Hon. Emeka Nwankpa said.
