From Romanu Ugwu and Fred Itua, Abuja, Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu, Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri, Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha, Chukwudi Nweje, Geoffrey Anyanwu, Enugu and Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
The Pan Nigeria Presidency of Igbo Extraction Coalition (PANPIEC), yesterday, claimed that Igbo would not complain if by any chance Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amechi or Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele become president in 2023.
Executive Secretary of the group, Chuks Ibegbu and Special Envoy, Jerry Amukwu who addressed newsmen in Enugu said it was indeed the turn of the Igbo to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023.
“The mood of the nation today is for an Igbo to succeed President Mohammadu Buhari. This will lead to political equity, unity and peace of the country. Any nation that desires peace and stability will ensure political inclusiveness. Nigeria should sync into this…We call on all the political parties in Nigeria and especially the political party delegates to go to the primaries and vote for justice, equity and fair play. Vote for the survival of Nigeria.”
On the allegation that a president of Igbo extraction would lead to the division of Nigeria, he said the development would instead strengthen the unity of the country, as the Igbo have properties in every part of Nigeria.
•Forget your ambition, support S’East, Igbo youths tell Jonathan
The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) has asked former president , Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to drop his ambition for the actualisation of an Igbo president next year.
It said acceptance of the forms for his presidential bid procured by a northern group would be a betrayal given the massive support he got from the South East in 2011 and 2015.
A statement by President-General of COSEYL, Goodluck Ibem in Owerri, yesterday, said it was time for Jonathan to reciprocate their gesture by supporting the South East aspiration of producing the president in 2023.
“We thank Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Edwin Clark leader of PANDEF and other elder statesmen and groups who are backing the people of South East to produce the next President of Nigeria come 2023. History will be fair to them,” Ibem said.
• PDP, APC aspirants from other zones should drop bid -MENPIE
The Movement for the Election of Nigeria President of Igbo Extraction (MENPIE) has also appealed to presidential aspirants from other geopolitical zones to drop their ambitions for candidates from South-East to douse political tension, agitations and the call for justice and peace in the country. It urged delegates in the two leading parties, APC and PDP to step down.
National Convener of MENPIE, Vincent Ezekwueme made the appeal in a statement after conclusion of a three days fasting and prayer for God’s intervention and guidance towards the actualisation of Nigerian president of Igbo extraction in 2023.
•I’m for S’East presidency any day –Nkire
Pioneer leader of Caucus, Abia State All Progressives Congress APC, Chief Sam Nkire has restated his belief in the South-East presidential project.
In a statement in Abuja, Nkire said his latest evolvement in the presidential project of the Senate President, Lawan Ahmad does not by any means frustrate the justified interest of his kinsmen.
Nkire said he personally signed the statement in order not to be misquoted, adding, “my route to South-East Presidency might be long but it’s a sure way.”
The member of the APC National Caucus added: “After watching the body languages of the two leading political parties in the country, I came to the conclusion that none will give the presidential ticket to the South East in the next election. I have been a proponent of the South East Presidency and I have also been a proponent the Igbo presidency. I had also in the past urged my brothers in the South East to include our brothers in the South-South zone in the struggle, just to ensure that the 2023 presidency never eluded the Igbo tribe.”
He, however, said he believes the presidency is eluding the South East and that in the event that the South East loses out, “it should go to the President of the Senate, Lawan Ahmad who is from the North-East, another marginalised zone of Nigeria.”
•PDP chieftain, Essien, urges APC to zone ticket to S’East
Former minister of Housing and Urban Development, Chief Nduese Essien, has called on the leadership of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), to zone its presidential ticket to the South East in the interest of fairness and equity.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) elders in Akwa Ibom, said it was wrong for politicians from the South West to nurse any ambition of succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari as it was unjust.
The former House of Representatives member told Daily Sunthat the PDP, in the spirit of fairness and equity, zoned its presidential ticket to the North, in fulfilment of the arrangement reached when the party was formed.
Justifying why the South East should be solely considered by the APC in 2023, he said: “In the PDP, it is the turn of the North to produce the next President. Therefore, the PDP needs to zone its presidency to the North. The reason is very understandable. In the 16 years that the PDP was in power, the South had it for almost 13 years. Olusegun Obasanjo from the South was in power under the PDP eight years. Umaru Yar’Adua came in from the North, he didn’t even spend three years and died. Then Jonathan completed his tenure and went ahead to complete another four years. The PDP ought to have zoned the ticket to the North in 2015, but Goodluck Johnathan insisted on contesting and the PDP lost. The PDP tried to zone it to the North in 2019, but it didn’t win. It is only fair for the party to zone its ticket to the North.”
•I’ll replicate Akwa Ibom transformation –Emmanuel
Akwa Ibom State Governor and PDP presidential aspirant, Udom Emmanuel, has given reasons why he is the best presidential aspirants and also the person that can turn around Nigeria’s dwindling economy.
At a dinner organised in his honour by past and present Speakers of the Akwa Ibom State Houses of Assembly, in Abuja, where they also endorsed his presidential ambition, the governor noted that his training at leading accounting firm and his achievements in the public sector equipped him with knowledge on how to fix Nigeria’s economy.
He said while the country’s economy is contracting and shrinking, the economy of Akwa Ibom is consistently expanding through his ingenuity of creating money in a cash strapped economy.
“While industries are relocating from Nigeria, Akwa Ibom has attracted not less than 22 new industries through creativity of ideas and innovations that have catapulted the state into the second best Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination, coming only after Lagos. While Nigeria is a net importer of foreign goods, Akwa Ibom is presently an exporter of quality products, like made in Nigeria syringes to overseas countries. We are even struggling to meet up with demands. While Nigeria as a country has been unable to manage an airline, Ibom Air is one of the best managed airlines in the country today.”
He said if he could achieve the massive developments in Akwa Ibom, at a sub-national level, where he did not control policies, he would be able to do more as president of the country.
“We are coming to rescue and restore the lost glory of this country,” he added.
•I’ll change Nigeria from a help-seeking country –Tinubu
APC presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has appealed to the delegates of the party in Gombe to choose him as the presidential candidate of the party.
Tinubu who was in Gombe assured that he is the best candidate for the job, as he has plans to redevelop and change the country. According to him, security and other developmental challenges in the country were persisting due to the failure to employ the best method.
“To solve a problem, you must go to the root cause, that is what I did in Lagos. You cannot do the job of today with yesterday’s forgotten attitude, we must develop new methods to redevelop our country”.
“We have a great opportunity to change Nigeria and I guarantee you that we will change Nigeria, the change that made Lagos the richest state in Africa now is just beginning,” Tinubu said as he argued that Nigeria has no reason to be seen as a help-seeking country.
According to the former senator and governor of Lagos state, with good investment in agriculture, Nigeria can produce the needed food in the country and still export twice a year.
•Bakare submits forms, banks on divine favour for APC ticket
Meanwhile, Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Nigeria, Pastor Tunde Bakare, yesterday, has returned his N100 million APC expression of interest and nomination forms.
Speaking to newsmen after submitting the nomination forms, Bakare declared that apart from having bright chances of winning the APC ticket, among the over 25 presidential aspirants, he banked on divine favour to win the primary.
“My chances are as bright as that of any other person. I am eminently qualified either age or experience or everything that counts in this race. And I trust God that I will emerge the winner.”