An Igbo socio political group, the Eastern Peoples Front (EPF) on Monday, frowned at the calls for election boycott by members of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
It said the IPOB and other apologists of President Muhammadu Buhari in the Southeast deserves sympathy for going the wrong way.
The National Coordinator and Leader of the Front, Elder Ken Emechebe said during a press conference in Enugu.
He announced that the EPF has willfully embarked on a sensitization tour in all parts of Nigeria to galvanize the Igbo, “reminding them that the 2019 Presidential election is a defining one for Nigeria and very crucial and critical to the continued co-existence and survival of the Igbo people with other Nigerians.”
The group said that to this end, it has endorsed the candidature of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and his running mate Mr. Peter Obi.
It declared that a war of attrition was being deliberately prolonged against the Igbo people by those who have the power to end it, but chose not to.
He said, “Instead, they have continued to mischaracterize the Igbo people and their nature to live and promote ONE-NIGERIA in every part of the country.”
The EPF advised the Igbo people and friends of the Igbo Nation to vote en-mass for Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in the forth coming Presidential election, as according to them, “the Atiku/Obi ticket provides accelerated pathway for Nigeria President of Igbo extraction through a major political party in Nigeria.”
On the sit-at-home order, it said, “IPOB and pro-Buhari apologists deserve our sympathy: they are contending with the TRINITY OF MATERIALISM (Power, Wealth, and Pleasure) and are crying out to be properly guided. This guidance is being provided by the Eastern Peoples Front without equivocation.”
The EPF said it realizes that the most difficult thing to open is a closed mind, stressing; “The present administration has a closed mind concerning the Igbo people, but unfortunately, some Igbo elites have continued to betray the political future and economic survival of the Igbo nation.”
“We, therefore, unambiguously, unequivocally, endorse the election of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi as the next President and Vice President, come February 16, 2019.
“That appears to be the only logical and pragmatic pathway to Igbo survival in Nigeria”, the forum noted.
Eastern Peoples Front, EPF is a Forum of Igbo leaders and stakeholders from across Nigeria, who are working assiduously to reposition Ndigbo in the Nigeria political equation and to build bridges of friendship and cooperation with other geopolitical zones based on mutual trust, respect and understanding.
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