Ebonyi majority leader castigates both APC and PDP for not zoning presidency to the southeast

NIGERIA'S two main political parties have been castigated by the majority leader of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly Hon Victor Chukwu for not zoning their 2023 presidential tickets to the southeast geo-political zone.

Although not constitutional, Nigeria's component parts have a gentleman's agreement that the presidency will rotate between the north and the south of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure will end in 2023 and being a Fulani northern Muslim, it is expected that the next president will come from southern Nigeria.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, the southwest has produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south President Goodluck Jonathan, so come 2023, the presidency should automatically go to the southeast. Amid claims that the southeast is being marginalised by the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, numerous Igbo groups have argued for the recreation of the defunct republic of Biafra that existed briefly between July 1967 and January 1970.

Pointing out that Nigeria is being unfair to Ndigbo, Hon Chukwu said there is no reason for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) not to zone the presidency to the southeast next year. Wondering what would make the two major parties zone their presidential slots to the region, Hon Chukwu stressed that it would amount to unfairness and injustice should the parties decide otherwise.

Hon Chukwu, who represents Ezza North/West constituency said: “It will be unfair if both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party refuse to zone their presidential tickets to the southeast geo-political zone. It would amount to injustice.

“First and foremost, why would they not zone their tickets to the southeast? Are political parties a composition of animals? For goodness sake, political parties are a composition of human beings, not animals and these parties should be humane enough to know when they are drifting away from humanity.

“What would they anchor zoning away their tickets, from the southeast, on? What would be their grounds for doing that? Is it that it’s not also a geo-political zone? Is it that this place is a desert where no humans live? Is it that we don’t have qualified people?

“I say no party has a genuine reason to zone their presidential tickets away from the southeast. The most fortunate thing is that all the material, human and mental resources needed to make a united Nigeria in the regard of equity, fairness and justice are in all parties and across all the divide of this country."