Igbos are not your enemies, Umeh to Buhari

Chief Victor Umeh,The National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand
Alliance, has pleaded with Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), not to vilify
Ndigbo for not voting massively for him during the Presidential poll.
Umeh who made the appeal at a press conference in Umuahia, the Abia
State capital, said the massive support Ndigbo gave to President
Goodluck Jonathan though he lost at the poll was based on the
conviction of the people that Jonathan represented hope for their
political future.
Umeh said " Buhari should not see Ndigbo as his enemies. We are not
against Buhari but were only pursuing our political interest.
"We were looking for somebody who would help Ndigbo recover from the
ruins of the civil war. Jonathan convened a national conference and we
felt that the report of the conference would address most of the
injustices against Ndigbo, that was why we followed him.
" But now that the election is won and lost we should not be seen as
enemies. We hope God will still use Buhari to address our many
challenges. He should adopt the report of the conference .
" Buhari will not succeed if he fails to address the injustices in
Nigeria or treats Ndigbo as his enemies. We will embrace him and
support him if he shows concern for our plights.
" What we followed in the last election was the line of hope we saw in
Jonathan. We are looking for a way Ndigbo can come back to Nigeria's
political tripod and survive.
" If Buhari had promised to implement the report of the conference,
maybe we would have voted for him en mass . But now he should look for
a way to accommodate us and give us a sense of belonging in his
government."
The APGA boss, however, said all hope was not lost for Ndigbo
politically as APGA would provide the tribe with the opportunity to be
re-integrated into national politics.
Umeh, therefore, called for the people of South East to help in
reviving APGA by voting massively for all its candidates at the April
11 Governorship and House of Assembly polls to serve as a political
platform to advance the cause of the Igbo nation.
Firstclassnewsline.net