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Ohanaeze threatens secession over 2007
By Emmanuel Nzomiwu, Special Correspondent, Enugu

Apex Igbo Socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Wednesday said it would subscribe to parting of ways by the component parts that make up the country rather than allow the North to produce the next President after President Olusegun Obasanjo bows out of office in 2007. The group stated this even as the Conference of South-East Governors re-stated its position on a President of Igbo extraction in 2007.
Secretary General of Ohanaeze, Col. Joe Achuzia, said this while receiving an Igbo Presidential aspirant, Emmanuel Obianagha, at the organisation’s secretariat in Enugu.
Achuzia, who noted that over 13 Igbo have written to Ohanaeze expressing their interest in the race, advised the North to forget about running for the Presidency in 2007 since they cannot get it after Obasanjo’s tenure.
He said: "I took up the Ohanaeze Secretary-General from my conviction that after Obasanjo, it will be the turn of the Igbo and with that spirit in me, there is no going back."
"[B]Those who are against us don’t have vision[/B]. They cannot read the handwriting on the wall. My interpretation of the handwriting on the wall is that come what may it must be the turn of Ndigbo. The North will get nothing. If we Ndigbo cannot get it, to your tents O Israel" he warned. He denied ever ruling the South-East governors from the race as reported in some national dailies saying that every Igbo has the right to aspire to any political office in the country including Presidency.
Achuzia said it would be two early to reveal the names of Igbo politicians who have written the secretariat expressing interest in the race for strategic reasons adding that Ohanaeze owes it a duty to support any Igbo who wants to represent them in any capacity.
He, however, reminded the aspirants that the Ohanaeze can only support them when they have been nominated by their parties, adding that the issue of adopting a consensus candidate can only be considered when the parties have concluded their nominations.
"We don’t want anybody going for Vice President. Anybody wishing to do so should not come to Ohanaeze. Let him go for the Yorubaman to pick him. Let him go for the Hausaman to pick him. For us in Ohanaeze, we want nothing less than the Presidency."