The Chief Whip of the Senate and Abia State former Governor, Orji Kalu, has withdrawn from the 2023 presidential race over a lack of support from political parties and indigenes of Southern regions to peg the presidential ticket to South-East geopolitical zone to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor’s next year.
Kalu said that of the three geopolitical zones in the Southern region, the South East was yet to lead the country and that his expectation had been that since it was the turn of the region to produce the next president, the other two regions, that had ruled Nigeria before, would consider and support the South East, but they have refused.
He noted that the number of aspirants that had declared their intention to become the next president from the South West as well as South-South were outrageous, an indication that his region was not fairly treated by other regions.
According to him, I thought they would support us but the amount of money being spent by these aspirants from the two other regions from the southern region was alarming and they had forgotten that money alone cannot buy the presidency.
The Senate Chief Whip, who announced his withdrawal from the race on Tuesday, stated that they were hellbent to ensure that they get it without consideration for other regions, even as they understand that for any region to produce president, it would need the support of others to needed vote during an election.
In the declaration speech titled: 2023 Presidency: The Fairness I Know, the former governor stressed that since the support was not forthcoming, he had concluded plans to seek a second term at the senate and stay away from the presidential contest.
Kalu warned that the lack of support among southern presidential candidates for the South-East and for each other could aid a return of the president to the north and that evidence show that the North was more advantageous to win elections in current democratic setting.
“What moral justification does a Southerner who refused to be fair to his brothers have against a Northerner running for president?
It will be very insensitive, unreasonable, and disrespectful for any Southern man to criticize a presidential aspirant from the North on the ground that the North has done eight years and power should return to the South.
“The South West and the South-South have successfully completed their tenures as ‘President and Vice President’.
They should have the courage to support their brothers from the South East.
If the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari does not come from the South East, there would be nothing unfair and unjust if he/she comes from Daura.
“This country belongs to all of us and the unity of the country should be paramount. If not for selfishness and greed, how can you say that where a president comes from does not matter simply because you don’t want to support a president of Nigeria from the South East, but turn around to clamor for a power shift to the South?
How do we explain this to the younger generation?
Let the wise and courageous stay firm on their convictions and not swing on the two sides of the Atlantic.
“If you are convinced that where a president comes from does not matter, let Nigerians not hear you clamour for power shift.
Be brave to encourage everyone to run, including President Buhari’s kinsmen.
But if you have a conscience and believe in equality, then you should support the South East region that is yet to produce a president. That is what I consider fairness.
“The two regions that are yet to produce a President are South East and North East. If this means anything to Nigerians, the APC and PDP should be fair enough to prioritize these regions.
If power should come to the South and not the South East or North and not the North East, the essence for which the six geopolitical zones were created is long dead”.
