Southeast most qualified to produce Buhari’s successor, says Ikpeazu

Abia State Governor Victor Ikpeazu has said the Southeast is  the most qualified zone to produce the  next President in 2023.

He argued that if the principles of justice and equity were applied by all political parties, including the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), the Southeast deserved the presidential slot.

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Ikpeazu added that no other tribe in Nigeria has demonstrated practical belief in the Nigerian nation than the Igbo “as can be seen from the fact that our people live and invest heavily in every part of the country.”.

He spoke when former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim visited his country home in   Umuobiakwa, Obingwa Local Government Area at the weekend to inform him of his intention to contest the 2023 presidential election.

The governor, who also hosted his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike,  told Anyim that he was fully in support of a President of Southeast extraction. He stated that all the Igbo were asking was to be given a chance to produce   President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.

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He, therefore, assured Anyim, who is a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation(SGF), of his support, going by his public service credentials and experience.

“In the Southeast and indeed across the country the credentials of Senator Anyim stand very tall,” Ikpeazu said.

The former SGF  had called for the support of Ikpeazu and PDP in  Abia State, assuring that he would be a candidate and a president that Nigeria would be proud of.

”I decided to make myself available to contest this presidential seat “after a careful analysis of my antecedents, experience, passion, and wide contacts across the country,”  he said.

Anyim was accompanied on the visit by a member of the House of Representatives, Livinus Makwe;

former Deputy Governor Eric Acho Nwakanma;  Darlington Nwokocha , Chimaobi Ebisike,   Solomon Akpulonu, Kennedy Njoku,  Thomas Nkoro, Nnamdi  Nwachukwu, Uzodike Aaron and   Asiforo Okere.

Also on Sunday, Ikpeazu, and Wike restated the need for the PDP to forge a united front to rescue Nigeria.

They argued that a united PDP was critical to the survival of Nigeria.

Ikpeazu described  Wike as a courageous and patriotic leader, who is committed to the unity of the nation.

He described the visit by Wike and PDP stakeholders in Rivers State as a fresh start of a relationship between the two states.

The governor hoped  that 2022 would  bring forth good tidings for the people of the two states and for “our country, Nigeria”

Earlier, Wike had stated that he was on a  New Year’s visit to Abia State to show appreciation to   Ikpeazu for being a true friend and brother.

He described  Ikpeazu as a man of character whose contributions have assisted the party to resolve controversial issues.

Wike said that he cherished the “deep and very strong personal relationship”  he shared with his Abia State counterpart.

The governor, who lamented that Nigeria was at a crossroads because of worsening insecurity, challenged the PDP to rise to the occasion by joining forces to take over power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.

Wike was accompanied on the visit by a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives,  Chidubem Nwuche; the state   House of Assembly members,  chairmen of Local Government Areas in the state, chairmen of the PDP in some  LGAs,  as well as former members of the National Assembly and   State House of Assembly.

* PDP in for shocker in 2023, says Ngige

Minister of Labour and Employment Chris Ngige has said that the  APC will shock the PDP in 2023.

He also said the ruling party will honour its zoning agreement in choosing the  2023 presidential candidate.

Ngige, who pointed out that zoning was an unwritten agreement among politicians in the country, stated that the APC  was expected to zone its presidential slot to the South.

He added that since the dominant mood in the country was for a Southerner to succeed   Buhari,     the APC was already tilting towards that direction.

His words: “We expect that our national chairman this time around will come from the North and our presidential candidate will come from the South. It will be left for Southerners to decide the zone it will go among Southeast, Southsouth, and Southwest.  For equity and moral ground, the Southeast should,  being the only one among the three zones in  the South, yet to produce the president since 1999.”

Ngige alleged that the PDP leadership was planning to choose a Northerner as its candidate, adding that Nigerians will shock the party (PDP)  if it does that.

The minister told journalists in Anambra State that, as a former PDP member and its founding member, he was aware the PDP constitution supports the rotation of political offices between the North and South.

Ngige said:  ”Their top apparatchik thinks they are smart. They want to play a fast one. They are waiting for APC to say South. Their calculation is that when that happens, they will go North. Number one, that will be an act of bad faith because it will mean that they have taken the people in the Southsouth and Southeast that have all along supported PDP 90 percent in all the elections, for a ride.

“The PDP will be shocked the way the Southeast, the Southsouth, and minorities, in fact, Nigerians as a whole will revolt.

“I was a founding member of the PDP. I was in its National Executive Committee as the Assistant National Secretary, Southeast, and served in many strategic standing committees. I was elected governor on the platform of the PDP. I know that the constitution of the PDP is clear on the rotation of power and zoning of offices between the North and South.

“So, if they are waiting for our party (APC) to choose a Southern candidate so they can quickly turn and present a Northern candidate at a point the dominant mood in the country is for power to shift to the South, then, they are deceiving themselves. Nigerians will shock them.”

According to Ngige, even the country’s constitution tacitly supports zoning and power rotation as it ensures no particular tribe or region dominates others unnecessarily.

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