The Ohanaeze Youth Council, OYC, has vowed to teach President Bola Tinubu a hard political lesson in the 2027 presidential election if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains in prison.
The group said Tinubu should release the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, through a political solution for national healing and reconciliation.
The National President General of the OYC, Comrade Igboayaka O. Igboayaka, said this in a statement on Friday after his official visit to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu at the Sokoto Correctional Centre.
Igboayaka said after the late General Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Nnamdi Kanu is another Igbo man that has won the heart of Ndigbo through his consistency and relentless effort on the political survival of Ndigbo and the South-South at large.
He said it will be a wrong political calculation and strategy for President Tinubu to think of getting even 5 percent or rigging election in the whole Old Eastern Nigeria Region, particularly the Southeast, in 2027.
According to him, Nnamdi Kanu remains the only politically influential person in Igboland that can influence Ndigbo politically, especially the youths.
He said the release of Nnamdi Kanu and national political healing and reconciliation will spur Ndigbo to consider any form of support for President Tinubu in the 2027 presidential poll.
"Today there is no Governor in the Southeast, both former Governors and other political leaders, that have the honour or respect of Ndigbo," Igboayaka said.
He listed Gov. Francis Nwifuru, Gov. Hope Uzodimma, Gov. Charles Soludo, former Gov. David Nweze Umahi, Gov Peter Mbah, and even Gov. Alex Otti, saying they will cease to have the support of Abians and Ndigbo and will be voted out if they dare to canvass votes for Tinubu's re-election without the release of Kanu.
Igboayaka said Tinubu should be on the path of national reintegration and know that the agitation for self-determination by IPOB can only be confronted with dialogue and negotiation, and not with judicial process, harassment, intimidation and imprisonment.
"There is no going back in 2027. We therefore challenge Gov. Hope Uzodimma, Gov. Charles Soludo, Gov. Francis Nwifuru, Gov Peter Mbah, Sen. David Nweze Umahi and other APC stakeholders that if Mazi Nnamdi Kanu remains in prison during the election, Ndigbo all over the 36 states of Nigeria and globe will teach Bola Ahmed Tinubu a hard political lesson at polling units across Nigeria," he warned.
2027: We'll teach Tinubu hard lesson if Kanu remains in prison - Ohanaeze youths