By Lawal Adenike
The immediate past President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa has joined the league of presidential hopefuls ahead of the 2023 general polls.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday to announce his intent to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, Ohuabunwa said it was time for an Igbo man to become Nigeria’s president.
He debunked the erroneous impression that no South Eastern Nigerian was showing serious interest in running for the office of the president in 2023.
The pharmacist explained that the time has come for an Igbo man to become the president of Nigeria, against the backdrop that the South East geopolitical zone of the country has suffered the highest level of injustice and discrimination in Nigeria.
He promised to re-write the story of Nigeria, with a vow to make appointments on the basis of geo- political zones of the country as a against the present lopsided appointments and provision of infrastructure across the country.
Ohuabunwa, describing Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world, said Nigerians are now more divided than we were after the civil war in 1970, caused by the actions and inactions of the nation’s political leadership.
“Today, Nigerians seem more divided than we were in 1970 after the civil war with many retreating into their ethnic enclaves as the internal cleavages and divides widen by the actions and inactions of our political leadership. Every day, one set of Nigerians issues a quit notice to another set in a supposedly united country and nobody suffers any consequences.
“The youths in Nigeria are asking: “Where is the hope for us in Nigeria?Students and youth corpers are kidnapped with reckless abandon while the elders are forced into poverty as their salaries and pensions cannot buy much with the combination of devaluation of the Naira and high inflation rates,” he said.
Responding to the question on what political party he will run to take power to implement the birth of the new Nigeria, Ohuabunwa said he would be contesting under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“We are bringing most of our members who are currently not members of PDP into the party as a way of strengthening the party and infusing new blood, new thinking and helping to support the party in its new mission,” he added.
