2023: Stakeholders renew calls for presidency of Southeast extraction amid party primaries

Political interest stakeholders from the six geopolitical zones of the country on Friday called on the two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to consider the 2023 presidency of the Southeast extraction in national interest.

The call was at the backdrop of the ongoing PDP and APC presidential primaries in Abuja, noting the imperatives of seeing presidency of the Southeast extraction as a national priority which they said would further unite the nation.

The group which believed in the unity of Nigeria, at a press conference on Friday decried the plight of Southeast and Northeast regions as not been offered opportunity to produce presidents for years, adding that delegates of both parties and its leadership hierarchy should consider the Southeast even as opportunity beckons.

The convener of the stakeholders, Hon. Chibuogwu Benson-Oraelosi described “as unfair, unjust and unpatriotic as well as against the national spirit and interest to deny Ndigbo their own opportunity and pretend as if they do not exist as part of the Nigeria nation.”

Condemning those who are demonising zoning system, as political parties are set for their presidential primaries, Benson-Oraelosi said, the proponents of that are doing so out of selfishness, stressing that other zones have had a fair share of zoning arrangement, hence, it should be the turn of the Southeast.

She said: “When one takes a look at a Nigerian presidency since 1960, one would notice that the Northwest has produced presidents for Nigeria for 43 years.

“The Southwest has produced for 12.5 years and the South-south for almost 6 years, while the Northeast and Southeast are each yet to produce a Nigerian president.

“Also, since the present Nigerian President is from the North, it is only logical and equitably fair to have the South and by extension, the Southeastern region produce the next Nigerian president.

They noted that the unity of the nation can only be guaranteed on the basis of justice, fairness and equity, saying that the clarion call became necessary on persuasive grounds.

The stakeholders called on President Muhammadu Buhari to get involved in ensuring that his successor comes from the Southeast, which they insisted, was a way of healing and national reconciliation.

Recalling the effort of past leaders and the rationale behind Nigeria being segmented into six zones fused into a united federation, the stakeholders maintained that the purpose was for each zone to be treated with equity, fairness and justice. So the Southeast should be allowed to produce the next President like other zones as they are no second citizens.

“So, the question of marginalization is completely out of it, it was absolutely addressed.

Speaking in the same vein, Hon. Audu Bako appealed to leaders of all political parties to Igbo produce the next President, while extolling the virtues of leadership qualities of the people.

According to him, Nigeria can gain from the enterpreneural skills of the Igbo people and reboot the economy for the good of the nation.