Victor EzejaOne of the presidential aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu has made a passionate plea for justice and argued forcefully for emergence of a president from the South East region of Nigeria.
Dr. Onu, the immediate past minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, made the appeal at the ongoing special national convention of the APC at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Onu drew the attention of the political stakeholders of the APC to consider the fact that the South-East region had not produced president of the country since the current democractic dispensation which started in 1999.
The former minister who reminded the party members of his contributions in APC, including finance, right from when it was formed till date, said that in the interest of justice, fairness and equity, the region should be allowed to have a short at the number one position of the country.
He reminded the gathering of the sacrifice he had made in 1999 to allow the Southwest have the presidential seat as a way of dousing rising tension then, and added that such gesture should be reciprocated this time to the South-East.
He said argued that allowing South-East to produce the next president in the 2023 election, would help to strengthen the unity and progress of the country.
“I appeal to the leadership of APC, you know the role I played in bringing APC into being. I paid for the money that was used to register for APC. We must uphold the motor of APC to ensure justice, peace and prosperity.
“After the President, it should be somebody from the South-East to succeed him, it will strengthen the unity of Nigeria.
“The South-West has had eight years as President and Vice President, South-South have had President, where is the justice? We need to do what is right,” Onu stated.
Similarly, former Senate President, Ken Nnamani while addressing delegates and other party members at the convention Made a case for zoning of the position to South East.
Nnamani who had earlier announced his withdrawal from the race, wondered why the party suddenly changed from its earlier principle of zoning as done during the March 26 convention for the election of national party officers.
He observed that the party was setting a precedent that would later affect it in the future.
He said, “during our convention on the 28th of March, all the offices held by the North were zoned to the South and vice versa. Today’s convention, suddenly have changed. It’s no longer based on the principle of zoning.”
Nnamani remarked that no part of the country has monopoly of qualified persons to lead the country, and pointed out that jettisoning the idea of zoning means breaching the federal character principles stipulated in the 1999 constitution.
“I will suggest very strongly, that we take a second look at the constitution, the area that talked about Federal character which gives all parts of the country equal opportunities. There’s no section of Nigeria that has monopoly of knowledge or monopoly of experience. The Federal character plays a role in maintaining one of the legs of our party- equity.
“I will recommend very strongly that we take a second look to what’s about to happen here today. If we Jettison zoning, we may not have the effect right now, because if we throw it open, it implies removing the Federal character in our constitution.”
Nnamani commended the northern political leaders for supporting the emergence of a southern president and urged the South West and South South zones to accord South East same treatment.
“Let the party not abandon what it started on March 28th and zone the presidency to the South East as consistency matters,” Nnamani
Onu and Nnamani re-echoed the positions of different political stakeholders from different parts of the country who had in the past few months been advocating zoning of the presidency to South-East to address power imbalance in the country and assuage the feelings of marginalisation by people in the region.
Currently, six aspirants have stepped down for former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and urged their supporters/delegates to vote him.
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Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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