A group that identifies itself as the Conference of Igbo Professional Group Worldwide has rejected the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress.
The APC has Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Kashim Shettima, both Muslims, as the residentia and vice presidential running mates, a scenario that, they noted, was a product of pragmatic permutation.
Reacting to this, the Igbo group said it was unacceptable, and endorsed the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, instead.
It argued in a statement: “We received with great shock a yet another sponsored, desperate lies by the APC and its presidential candidate in a press statement against a perfect gentleman and a distinguished son of Igbo land, Sir Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 General Election.
“We ordinarily would not have bothered to join issues with this faceless, non- existent group, but for the impression the sponsored press statement would leave in the minds of unsuspecting and unwary Nigerians, who have made up their minds to vote for Sir Peter Obi the candidate of LP, in the interest of unity and equity.
“This is against the backdrop of the fact that the APC, and PDP have failed the Nigerian people.
“By way of introduction, we are a group of Igbo professionals with offices and structures in every state and local government in Igbo land and in the Diaspora;
“We endorse the presidential candidate of labour party as our candidate for 2023 presidential Election and appeal to all Nigerians worldwide to support the best candidate.
“We reject the Muslim Muslim APC presidential ticket in its entirety, even as we make bold to say that the group that endorsed the presidential candidate of the APC in their press statement today, is fake and unknown to us and the generality of the public.
“We strongly maintain that they are sponsored by the APC and its agents like they did in the case of fake Bishops during the unveiling of the their vice presidential candidate.
“We challenge the non-existent entity to show us one single office of theirs in the entire igbo land. A party that can fake clergymen can fake anything in this world.
“We are not spokespersons for Peter Obi campaign organisation, and do not intend to assume that responsibility, as we leave the political issue raised by the sponsored group for Obi and his campaign organisation to deal with.
“We, however, wish to unequivocally state that there is no such group anywhere in igbo land, while restating the fact, that fake people cannot speak for the Ndigbo, considering the huge human resources we have.
“It is on that note that we urge all Nigerians of goodwill to ignore the lies raised in the referenced press statement in entirety.”
