The Chairman of ruling All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, said the Igbo can end the marginalisation of their region and gain political freedom only by joining the ruling party.

Mr Ganduje said Igbo were close to producing a president back in the 80s but for military takeover.

“You know when your brother, Alex Ekwueme was the vice president to our brother, Shehu Shagari,” Mr Ganduje said at the Ifeanyi Ubah’s empowerment rally held at Nnewi, Anambra State on Friday. “The body language was there, and if not that the military struck, your son, Alex Ekwueme would have become the president.”

The APC chairman further said that the Igbo could end marginalisation and gain political freedom by joining the ruling party. 

“I tell you this story because the road to political freedom is to key into the ruling party, and once you do that, marginalisation would be a thing of the past,” Mr Ganduje said.

Since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, South-East Nigeria, a region dominated by the Igbo, has not produced a president, though the Igbo are one of the of majority ethnic group in Nigeria.

The agitation for Biafra Republic, rekindled by Nnamdi Kanu-led Indigenous Peoples of Biafra in 2015, morphed into an arm struggle in the region after soldiers under former President Muhammadu Buhari regime opened fire on IPOB protesters killing over 150 of them in 2015.