A former governor of Anambra State, Chief Chukwuemeka
Ezeife, has said the Southeast is ready to kneel down and
prostrate for other parts of the country to get the
presidency in 2023.
Ezeife spoke on Saturday at the United For Better Nigeria
Initiative (UBNI) National Convention in Abuja.
“It is not a matter of give us president, we don’t give, you
have to work for it, the Igbo does not prostrate.
“The Igbo man does not keel down, but this time, we are
prepared to kneel down to every part of Nigeria, every
group, every ethnic group in Nigeria, we are prepared to
even prostrate because we believe in this country.”
Ezeife said that Igbo people had contributed greatly to the
development of Nigeria in terms of infrastructure, intellect
and business.
He therefore said that it was time to give Igbo people the
chance to build Nigeria to the standard God wanted it.
Ezeife added that God created Nigeria to develop into a
super power among nations, and raise respect and dignity
for all blacks on earth.
He said that one of the ways to achieve the feats the
nation wanted was to carry everybody along without
discrimination.
“So I found Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and other groups in this
place talking about the need for federal character. If you
do it that way, there will be unity, if there is fairness,
equity, justice, you will have unity and progress.
Also speaking at the event, former Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim said it is
neither a right nor was it legal for the southeast to
demand presidency.
Anyim, who recently declared his ambition to contest for
the 2023 presidential ticket of Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP said the southeast h to persuade other regions to
support their dream if they would produce the next
Nigeria’s president.
“Is it right for the Southeast to produce the next
president?, my answer is legally no, and the reason is that
the constitution is clear, the constitution says every
Nigerian of 40 years is entitled to aspire for that office.
“On the other side, morally is it right? is it an entitlement?
I will say yes because the federal character principle
enshrined in the constitution encourages rotation.
“The reason I have to make this clarification is that when
the right you have is not legal, the only approach and the
instrument you have is persuasion.
“So the approach, the language will be to persuade others
to see reason with you that morally they should support
you to take a turn since it rotates.”
Anyim therefore encouraged the Southeast that as they go
ahead with the movement of advocating for a president, it
should be with an altitude persuasion.
The Guest Speaker, Prof. Mutiullahi Olasupo, who is the
Director of Institute for Peace Leadership and
Development Studies, University of Abuja, said that it was
right for the southeast to produce the next president in the
interest of peace and natural law of justice.
He said it was imperative for all Nigerians to exclusively
resolve that the presidency in 2023 should go to the
southeast.
He said that the same mechanism that produced former
President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999, should also repeat
itself by 2023, to produce a president from the south east.
“Out of all the six geo-political zones in this country, it is
only the southeast that has not produced the president in
this country.
“Does that mean that the south east is not being
recognized as a geopolitical zone in Nigeria?” he asked.
(NAN)
Mrs Nkolika Mkparu ,Coordinator-General, UBNI, said that
there was a feeling of political marginalisation after over a
century (by 2023) the Southeast region is yet to produce a
president.
Mkparu said that UBNI, a non-partisan political advocacy
group, which had been involved in enlightenment for a
united Nigeria deemed it fit to beam searchlight on the
issue.
She said that in achieving this political balance, the
support from the Southeast region alone would not suffice,
therefore there is the need to appeal to other regions to
support it.
“The truth of the matter is that our strongest strengths are
from the north, our great leaders are from the north, so we
are working with the whole nation with the understanding
that inclusiveness is what will lead Nigeria to a better
future.
“Inclusiveness that will bring us together in one union is
what will bring our country together.
“Nigeria is huge enough for everybody, Nigeria has the
capacity to hold everybody, Nigeria has the intellectuals,
Nigeria has all it takes to lift the county, all we are asking
for is to give the southeast also a chance to lead.
“All the other parts have tried, south south has tried, north
has tried, west has tried since over 50 years now, so we
are hoping that we should be allowed to try.”
