The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, on Saturday revealed that an emergency phone call saved him from boarding the Abuja-Kaduna train that was bombed by bandits on Monday.
The attack left some of the passengers dead, many injured and others abducted.
Speaking to the Igbo leaders during the aegis of Ahamefuna Socio-cultural organisation event in Enugu, Igwe Achebe said he did not board the train because of an emergency phone call that he needed to attend to.
He said, “I was among the passengers meant to be on the train last Monday because I had a meeting I was supposed to be attending. I was already at the train station when I got a call over an emergency and I had to leave the station to attend to it”.
He expressed his concerns over the increasing insecurity situation in the country at the event tagged: “The need for Nigerian Presidency from Southeast Nigeria come 2023.”
The event has in attendance Southeast leaders and elder statesman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu; Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo and Chief Achike Udenwa, former governors of Enugu and Imo States; former ministers, senators, clerics, traditional rulers, youth leaders and women leaders.
In one voice, they emphasised on the need for Southeast politicians to stand firm and demand for the 2023 presidential tickets to be zoned to the region by their political parties
The resolution was read by the former chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Chief Onyema Ugochukwu.
They pointed out that Southeast had supported other zones to produce the president of Nigeria in previous elections and, in fairness, other zones should reciprocate by supporting the region in 2023 to produce a Southeast president.
The resolution:
“A president from the Southeast will usher in unity, peace and progress in Nigeria. A president from the Southeast will guarantee the cessation of agitation by youths for a break-up of the Nigerian state.
“That our case is sufficiently self-evident and persuasive to jolt the conscience of the Nation to do justice to our people.
“That citizens of the Southeast, across all parties, must work in unity to achieve the objective of Southeast Presidency in 2023.
“That political leaders of the Southeast should not, under any circumstances, compromise the determination of the Southeast to get the Presidency of Nigeria in 2023.
“That the people of the Southeast shall view with sternness, any Southeasterner who works against this resolve.”
