A prominent Igbo leader, Jim Nwobodo, has called for an Igbo candidate to be Nigeria’s president.

He stated this when the former governor of Anambra, Peter Obi, and some Igbo leaders paid New Year homage to him on Tuesday.

Mr Nwobodo, a former Anambra governor, said, “So, we still pray to God that one day an Igbo will be the president of Nigeria.”

Receiving the visitors, Mr Nwobodo described Mr Obi as a “respectable and accepted” candidate by all. The Igbo leaders who accompanied Obi included Ben Obi, Sam Egwu, Okwesilieze Nwodo, and Gil Nnaji.

They paid a visit to the octogenarian at his ancestral home in Amechi, Enugu South LGA.

He said that Igbos deserved a better bargain in Nigeria than they had received over the past 56 years and urged Mr Obi to remain steadfast in his pursuit.

The one-time sports minister said, “I’m no longer just Jim Nwobodo, the politician. I’m an elder statesman: that’s why you came to see me, and I pray for them. God will make things easy for us this time around.

“This young man (Obi), I have known him when he was governor, and we have been friends, and I believe that, God willing, because you have to put God first, whatever we have asked for him, God will do it.”

Mr Nwobodo added, “Obi is a candidate who is respectable and acceptable to all. I have always said that we want to know our position in Nigeria, are we strangers?

“We are the people who formed this country called Nigeria. Zik of Africa was there, and he will be shaking and angry in his grave that what he fought for had not been met. So, we still pray to God that one day an Igbo will be the president of Nigeria.”

Mr Obi said that they were in Mr Nwobodo’s house strictly for New Year’s good wishes.

“This is not the first time we are coming here. We just came to wish him the best of the New Year, healthy, fruitful years ahead. We will come back to discuss politics and the way forward, and he will pray for us,” Mr Obi said.

(NAN)