IKE EKWEREMADU'S INFANTILE RAMBLINGS

Recently, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu said Igbos have no regrets for voting for the PDP during the 2015 Presidential election.

He added that he decided to contest for the position of Deputy Senate President because he noticed that the APC led Federal Government was bent on sidelining Igbos from key positions.

Ekweremadu's latest posture is clearly a veiled attempt to deceive Igbos which is the stock in trade of the PDP in the South East.  His latest comments can be described as the ranting of a man basking on the euphoria of a pyrrhic victory or a great gambler who staked all he had in a casino and somehow won either by hook or crook.

However, it is important to remind him that Igbos have never voted for the PDP.  Igbos have never followed the path of the PDP.  The party's “electoral victory” in the South East in the last 16 years is not a reflection of the true political position of Igbos.

Igbos are progressives but unfortunately they are victims of PDP's stranglehold of their preferences for progressive oriented political parties.  Ekweremadu's PDP have always “muscled” its way in the South East by truncating the will of the people through manipulation of election results perpetrated through massive rigging and other election vices.

The party “manufactured” 11 million votes for Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and attempted to do so in 2015 but was stopped by some credible APC leaders in the region.    Is it on this basis that Ekweremadu can say that he secured the Deputy Senate Presidency for Igbos coupled with the battered state of infrastructure, joblessness, insecurity the PDP bequeathed in Igboland for the past 16 years?

While he still remains intoxicated with his “backdoor” victory at the National Assembly leadership positions, he should be told that Nigerians rejected the PDP at the 2015 presidential election. Igbos were unable to queue into the change mantra of the APC  at the elections because of the negative sentiments and outright lies peddled in Igboland against the APC and Buhari by Ekweremadu and his PDP gang.

Now, Igbos know better and the present political mood in Igboland is to fully stay put in the APC. The likes of Ekweremadu and his ilk in the PDP do not share the collective aspiration of Igbos at the moment.

Furthermore, Nigerians did not vote for the PDP to share power with the APC. They voted for change and never wanted Ekweremadu's PDP anymore. He should therefore resign as Deputy Senate President because there is no power sharing arrangement between the PDP and the APC.

His “ascension” as Deputy Senate President is simply driven by selfish political considerations.  It is a game plan by his PDP to use the South East as a buffer to rearm the battered PDP which was roundly defeated by the APC in the 2015 presidential election.

The APC leadership should therefore see beyond the “emergence” of Senator Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate president. It's a case of a green snake in a green grass!

The APC should   as a matter of utmost importance decimate the negative influence or grip of the PDP in the South East.  This can be achieved if President Muhammadu Buhari appoints only credible, respectable sons and daughters of Igboland into top positions of his government and a trustworthy person as Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

This will strengthen the APC in the South East and enable it tame the monstrous tentacles of the PDP which has denied Igbos the freedom to align with the wind of change blowing across the country.

Igbos have woken up and ready to set the South East free from the political bondage of the PDP. Igbos are embracing change and the likes of Ekweremadu are not part of the change mantra.

Written by Ifeoma Evelyn Nwosu.