Ahead of 2023 general elections, a Northern political group has called on other regions in the country to throw its weight behind a president of Nigeria from the South East , insisting that the two major political parties should zone its tickets to the region.
The group , Northern Elite Forum explained that its position was borne out of the “need to keep Nigeria United beyond 2023 and consolidate the country’s gains amidst the security and economic challenges.
In a statement on Saturday in Borno by its National Coordinator, Alhaji Isa Ibrahim, and National Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu , the group insisted that southeast should produce the next president to balance the culture of presidency between the North and South, which has helped to douse the political tension in Nigeria.
It also appealed to the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to zone their tickets to the South East hoping that Chief Whip of the Senate and Former governor of Abia state , Senator Orji Uzor Kalu clinches the ticket for the APC while former governor of Anambra state, Mr Peter Obi clinches that of the PDP
The group however, expressed it’s full support for Kalu considering his national acceptance, economic expertise and understanding of Nigeria
The northerners appealed to other zones to back Kalu as the new face of Nigeria in South East’s quest to produce Nigeria’s first citizen in the next political dispensation.
They noted that “the right thing after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure to have a president of Nigeria from the South East. And since South West and South-South have occupied the office in the current dispensation, the South East is next in line in the spirit of the justice, fairness, rotation principle and equity
“This will bring an end of the acclaimed marginalisation of the South East. This will foster national unity and also bring to a close the bitterness of the 1967 civil war, which has lingered for more than 50 years.
