The Igbo Canadian Community Association (ICCA), comprising all Igbo resident in Canada, has urged the Nigerian electorate to vote massively for Alhaji Abubakar Atiku and Mr. Peter Obi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the February 16 polls.
The association made the call in its Letter of Endorsement for the Atiku/Obi PDP ticket signed by its President, Ugochukwu Okoro; Chairman, Board of Trustees, Benjamin Chike Allison; PRO, Ahaoma Kanu; and Secretary, Board of Trustees, Chris Chike Nsoedo. It described Atiku and Obi as the only hope to redeem the nation’s glory, which had been battered severely under what they referred to as “unrepentant penchant for nepotism, unapologetic ethnocentrism and blatant display of sectionalism,” as demonstrated by the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government.
Revealing that their position was informed by “the state of the nation and the blurred horizons and increasing despair of ordinary Nigerians who are the worst affected”, ICCA expressed its trust in Atiku to redesign the country for the benefit of all.
In their letter, the association affirmed to the PDP flag-bearer: “We see in you a bridge-builder that will bring some measure of stability, calm and trust in governance and belief in our country which is going through a divisiveness that is as scary as it is gruesome”.
The group observed that the antecedents of Atiku and Obi, including their long experience in service, leadership, entrepreneurship and statesmanship, assuredly lead Nigeria from the present morass of “massive unemployment, job losses, progressive demise of industries, increased brain-drain, and a failing health sector”.
Using healthcare delivery metaphor as an example, the association expressed their confidence that in Atiku and Obi, Nigeria has discovered two economic surgeons that will “put her on the recovery theatre and perform procedures that will make our economy become healthy again”.