Dokpesi’s allegiance is to his northern benefactors- Ohanaeze Ndigbo

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the top Igbo socio-cultural organisation has responded to Raymond Dokpesi’s comment about 2023 presidency zoning.

Raymond Dokpesi, the Chairman of Daar Communications Ltd, had in an interview with the Daily Trust Newspaper on Saturday, October 9, 2021, stated that that there is no candidate under the Peoples Democratic Party in the Southern region that can win the presidency in 2023.

In his words,

“The South East cannot win the election for the PDP. That is just the truth of the matter. I don’t beat around the bush; I treat issues as they are and as I understand them. There is no candidate from the South East, even I dare say there is no candidate from the South that you put in the North today that will be able to win. It is going to be a humongous challenge.”

On Tuesday, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary Alex Ogbonnia, titled, ‘Dokpesi Oscillates’, Ohanaeze Ndigbo  Dokpesi’s comments negated the position of the 17 southern governors that presidency should return to the South in 2023.

Read also: 2023 Presidency Zoning Unconstitutional, Northern Groups Says

“Dokpesi’s assumptions are unreflective, weird and unworthy. Any person who loves Nigeria should be an advocate of power rotation, especially between the north and the South; and those our sons and daughters who lay claim to leadership should not, under any guise, give the impression that the south is a lame-duck, an electoral liability; and therefore must depend on the north to define the political trajectory of Nigeria.”

“I sympathise with our southern son, Chief Dokpesi because he started as the personal assistant to Alhaji Bamaga Tukur at the Nigerian Ports Authority. Dokpesi also served under Alhaji Umaru Dikko and General Garba Wushishi. Records reveal that Alh. Bamanga Tukur paid his fees from secondary school to the post graduate level. To that extent, he owes allegiance to his benefactors and feels no compunction to profile the entire south as electoral liability.

Read also:No Southerner will win 2023 presidential election under PDP – Dokpesi explains

“One can easily understand the psychological ambivalence in the Dokpesi persona. On the other hand, there is no reason for the condescension and disdain he handed over to the entire South.

“Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide is dismayed that Dokpesi could demonstrate this type of duplicity in a matter that is so clearly defined.

“The human spirit does not oscillate like a pendulum; East, West, North and South. The rotation of presidency between the North and the South is the truth. Two options are before the advocates of justice and progress in Nigeria; we either choose light or darkness”