Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
A group, Movement for Justice and Equity/Solidarity for Election of President of Igbo Extraction has tipped, the former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, to succeed Senator Bukola Saraki as the next Senate President.
Kalu who is now a senator-elect on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of Abia North senatorial district having polled the highest votes cast in the election.
The National President of the group Chief Simon, Chukwuemeka Ogonaezi, stated that “Kalu is a very vibrant, fearless and hardworking democrat who always considers the interest of his people and not selfish interest.
“He is more than qualified to lead this new Senate to the Promised land as he will work in synergy with President Muhammadu Buhari to better the welfare of Nigerians.
“If (Kalu) is elected the next Senate president, it is also going to be an opportunity for Nigerians to enjoy the ingenuity bestowed on the Igbo man by God for development and progress in all aspects of the economy.”
Ogonaezi noted that since President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, the Igbo people have not been appointed into any key position.
He said: “The president of this country, senate president and speaker of House of Representatives, all come from the North while the Vice President comes from South West and as such the South East is completely marginalised and we will not like the unprecedented marginalisation of the area. The federal character principle must be adhered to, to give the South East a sense of belonging.
“It is unfortunate that none of the service chiefs comes from the South East except for the compulsory constitutional statutory appointments like the ministerial appointment that must reflect the federal character.
“So the choice of Kalu would douse tension and the marginalisation of the South East and create a room for the Igbo man to display his ingenuity.”
The chairman reminded President Buhari that now that he had been re-elected, he is not the president of APC, but Nigeria and as such should do the needful by ensuring that the marginalised South East will now be allowed to produce the Senate president slot in the person of Orji Uzor Kalu.
To buttress the point, he quoted late Chief MKO Abiola as saying that “no justice, no peace, any peace without justice is useless,” adding that “if what we are demanding is adequately given to us, there would not be this agitation for a Biafran state.”