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Anenih to South East,
South South: Forget 2007 Presidency
•South East selects presidential candidates •
Why I want to be President, by Kalu• Shaahu wants Middle Belt to produce
President
By Paul Mumeh, Adetutu
Folasade-Koyi (Abuja)
Psaro Yornamue (Port
Harcourt) Audu Onoja (Jos) and Rotimi Durojaiye (Lagos)
Unity seems to have
emerged, at last, in the South East over its quest for the Presidency in 2007
as it has agreed for five candidates to be screened for the most coveted job in
the land.
But that is the first
huddle, a minor one at that. Besides having to convince the North that it
should put its comeback mission on hold, the South South is by no means
relinguishing its own claim on Aso Rock.
The main man from the
South South, it was disclosed at the weekend, is Rivers State Governor Peter
Odili, hoisted by the South South Peoples Assembly (SSPA).
Those are not the only
obstacles in the way of the South East, however. The Middle Belt Forum (MBF)
has also reiterated its own desire for the post, “to compensate it for
the contributions it has made to keep Nigeria together”.
To put yet more
pressure on the Southern Presidency Project, acting Chairman, Board of Trustees
(BOT) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tony Anenih, has ordered the
agitators in the South South and the South East to perish the thought and shut
up.
He told a meeting of
the BOT in Abuja that those clamouring for the Presidency from the two regions
are trying to undermine the PDP zoning arrangement.
The arrangement, which
zoned the Presidency to the South in 1999 for eight years, also prescribed
returning the plum position to the North from 2007, for the same corresponding
period. Anenih implored the party faithful not to do anything that would
undermine the harmony in the party.
Nonetheless, Project
2007 Chairman and Abia Central Senator Chris Adighije said at the weekend that
a committee created by the South East to screen the candidates confirmed that
five have indicated interest.
But he named only Abia
State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and Eboyi State Governor Sam Egwu.
Of the five aspirants,
two will be recommended after a thorough screening of their credentials.
Said Adighije:
“The South East does not lack the material and men to run for the
Presidency. Many of them are eminently qualified. We have five eminent
Easterners who have signified interest. Kalu has indicated interest. He has
written to all the bishops in the East seeking their blessing.
“He has written
to quite a lot of people, and he has consulted quite a lot of people. He is
ready. As for Egwu, I am sure he would soon announce his own interest. What our
committee would do is to look at all these people, talk to the people and
produce one or two candidates. We are not going to stop any one of them.
“But the
position is that we want to create awareness, let Nigerians know that we have
people who can lead this country and from there, the committee would do its
job”.
He dismissed claims
that the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has zoned the Presidency to the
North in 2007 and urged other regions to support the South East in the quest.
His words: “The
North has had a chance and the West has had a chance. So, the East, with all
its resources - human and material - needs the understanding of the
rest of Nigerians. I voted for the West in 1999. We all agreed that the West
was aggrieved, particularly over the MKO Abiola matter.
“And, so, we all
agreed and voted for Obasanjo. The East is an entity; it is a political reality
in Nigeria. What I am saying now is that the handshake across the Niger should
materialise into the West supporting the East this time for us to also have a
shot at the number one post in the country. It is important”.
More facts about the
Calabar declaration by the SSPA came to light in Port Harcourt at the weekend
which show that the forum has almost concluded arrangements to present Odili as
the South South candidate for the Presidency in less than three year’s
time.
Before the conference
on November 9, in which the demand for a South South President was the issue,
forum Chairman Joseph Wayas had visited Odili on October 21, during which they
reportedly perfected the plan to present the governor for the job.
It was learnt that
Wayas’ visit to Odili also influenced the Calabar declaration, now said
to have sent uncomfortable signals to various groups agitating for self
determination in the Niger Delta. Reports say they are angry over the demand
for the South South Presidential dream.
The Ijaw Republican
Assembly (IRA) met in Port Harcourt two weeks ago and berated the Calabar forum
and warned them to stop the quest for the President. IRA leader Charles Harry
said the peoples of the Niger Delta area are not part of the Calabar
declaration, which was “one man championed business”.
A Rivers State
Government statement had affirmed that Wayas said members of the SSPA visited
Odili to brief him and to acknowledge that he is a “beloved credible
son” of the zone “who should be abreast of events”.
But MBF National
Chairman Isaac Shahu has advocated that the President should come from that
area in 2007 to reward the people for fighting hard to keep Nigeria united both
in the military and political circles since independence.
Shahu, former
Communications Minister, in a welcome speech at a middle belt leadership
retreat in Jos at the weekend, said the “massive investment in the unity
of Nigeria by the people of Middle Belt has not yielded any significant
dividend for their betterment.
Kalu has explained
that his interest in the Presidency is to transform the country.
He told newsmen at the
local wing of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos that Nigeria no
longer needs elder statesmen to salvage them and challenged the youth to vote
for people of their generation in order to secure their future.
“I am more
hardworking than anybody that has ruled this country before. I started from
the grassroots and I can transform Nigeria the way I transformed myself. It is
possible, we don’t need elder statesmen to rule this country any
longer”, he said.
He insisted that the
Igbo extraction, to which he belongs, would not accept any position below the
Presidency.
”We have nothing to do with the vice presidency. We
have it on record that a particular tribe has ruled this country for 35 years
and another one for 12 and a half years, and because we were defeated in a war,
why don’t you give us the opportunity to contribute our quotas to the
development of this country?”.
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