“I am sorry”- Emeka Ihedioha Apologise For Calling Igbos supporting Peter Obi ‘saboteurs’
Vondigest reports that Emeka Ihedioha, Former Imo State Governor has apologised to Igbos and supporters of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 Presidential Elections for calling them ‘saboteurs’ if they vote against the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2023 election.
Ihedioha tendered his apology during an interview on Channels Tv on Friday. This followed pressure from his supporters who also threatened to withdraw their support.
Apologising to the Igbo people, Ihedioha said that the word “saboteur” he used during his speech was not referred to the supporters of the LP presidential candidate but to his kinsmen whom he said were PDP members and were sabotaging the efforts of his party to reclaim power in Imo State in 2024.
Saying that he was sorry, Ihedioha added that it was not in his character to be rude, arrogant, or to use uncultured words on people whom he doesn’t share the same political beliefs with.
In a video seen circulating, Ihedioha said during an invitation for the New Yam festival event in Ghana that, “If you vote any other place, you are a saboteur. After Atiku Abubakar the next president will come from the South East of Nigeria. That is the gospel in Accra (Ghana) if somebody tells you any another thing; that person must win in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Kwara, Plateau Benue, Jigawa, and among other Northern states before you can be a president of Nigeria.
“Emotions and sentiment don’t win elections; you must be realistic to win elections. You must plan to win elections and that is where I belong.”
But he said in the interview with Channels TV that his comment was taken out of context.
He said, “I spoke to our people consciously, people within the PDP to express the need for them not to sabotage the efforts in claiming power in 2023 so that Nigerians see good governance. Give it to the Peoples Democratic Party, one thing about us, yes there will be issues, which is expected in every human conglomeration we have ways of dealing with those issues.
“The issues have been put in a different context and some persons majority of who love me, majority of who believe in me, majority of who have confidence in me, have good expectations of me.
“I never called any South Easterner or indeed any Nigerian who doesn’t vote for my party a saboteur. That is not me. It is not in my character. I believe in decent even from my own immediate nuclear family.
“That was the context. And if listen carefully and I have found out from a number of persons have made calls and either to my person, my family, friends and associates and I have not had the privilege to watch the tape but if you do you will see the context. It is being blown out of proportion but I am responsible to people who show you love, people who show you confidence, people who believe in you and you also need to respect their feelings and so to all those millions of Nigerians, particularly from South East extraction who feel hurt by my use of language, I am sorry about it.
“I do not mean to hurt anybody and they have a right to obviously express their political opinions in any way, form or shape and of course, I have my friends who belong to other political parties and we still relate and we will continue to relate.
“It is my considered view that people should take me for whom I am. People should accept me for whom I am and know that I am not a rude person. I am not a disrespectful person and I don’t use words that are uncultured. I thank the privilege of my upbringing and that has guided me. I believe this should be able to assuage them.”
Speaking further, Ihedioha said that he was certain that PDP was going to win the 2023 presidential election.
He said that though Obi’s support base was growing in the South East region the PDP was going to win the zone.
On the crisis rocking PDP, Ihedioha said that the presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar has the capacity to resolve it before the next year’s general elections.
Ihedioha said that his seven months reign as the governor of Imo state was “satisfactory” to the people of the state, beaming optimism that his party would sack the All Progressives Congress-led administration in the state in the next governorship election in the state.
