The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, on Saturday said that Igbos cannot wait for 60 years just to become Nigeria's president for only four years.

Kalu asserted that, upon assuming the presidency when power rotates to the South-East, the Igbo people would be entitled to an eight-year term and not four years.

He made the remark while faulting those from the South-East who are clamouring for only one term of four years.

His comment comes as the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, Peter Obi had said he would serve as Nigeria's president for only four years if he is elected.

However, speaking during an All Progressives Congress, APC, women rally in Enugu, the Deputy Speaker said: "Let me say this that some people are going around telling us that they have made an agreement that Igbos will go for the Presidency for four years.

"Even as Igbos, we have been promised things that never came true. We can't wait 60 years just to be president for four years.

"Upon the rotation of the presidency to our zone, the Igbo people shall be accorded a complete eight-year tenure, identical to that granted to other regions."

‘Igbos can’t wait 60 years to become president for four years’ – Benjamin Kalu

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, on Saturday claimed that President Bola Tinubu is the messiah that the Southeast have been waiting for since the end of the Biafra civil war.

Kalu made the remark while noting that the South-East will ensure that Tinubu is reelected in 2027.

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives spoke during the All Progressives Congress, APC, women empowerment rally in Enugu State.

He said Tinubu loves people of the South-East, claiming that when he was governor, nobody arrested or confiscated the properties of Igbos in Lagos State.

Kalu recalled how Tinubu appointed Ben Akabueze into his cabinet while he was governor of Lagos State.

He said: "For now our mandate is to support the man that has been supporting us, this man has not hidden his love for Ndi-Igbo, when he was the governor of Lagos State, no Igbo property was taken, no Igbo who was a businessman was arrested.

"Then he was the only man who brought an Igbo man into his cabinet, Ben Akabueze, it has never happened before.

"I need to remind you that after the civil war we waited for 60 years for the promise that was made to the people of Igboland that was not kept. The three Rs they taught us in government, Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and Reintegration; government after government ignored us. Administrations after administrations ignored the Igbos and we were waiting when will the messiah come to save the Igbos.

"Then came a man who loved the Igbos from his heart, the Southeast Development Commission has been going to the parliament from year to year, assembly to assembly and they refused to sign it, but when Tinubu came, the Southeast Development Commission became a commission.

"He gave us bridge, roads, and scholarship, why won't we reelect him again, he will return again."

Tinubu messiah Igbos have been waiting for since civil war – Benjamin Kalu