‘Why Ndigbo deserve to produce Buhari’s successor in 2023’

• Group urges Igbo politicians to show more seriousness
• Northern supporters sue Orji Kalu over failure to declare for presidency

Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, has declared that it will only be fair and just for Ndigbo to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023.

Okechukwu, who is a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), seeks the support of the National Leader of APC and former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to actualise the Igbo presidency.

He insisted that it would be in the best interest of Nigeria for Tinubu to sustain his role as a kingmaker, jettison his presidential ambition and back a younger candidate from the South in line with the party’s zoning convention.

He stated this yesterday while fielding questions from journalists at the 2021 Eke Day in Abuja.

Asked why Tinubu should support a South East candidate instead of his protégé and Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, he maintained that the rotation started from the South West in 1999 and therefore, going by equity and natural justice, the South-East should be allowed to produce the President in 2023.

BESIDES, Igbo for Progressive and United Nationhood (IPAN) has tasked South-East politicians to be serious in their quest for presidential position, stressing that the position could not be achieved on a platter of gold.

National President of the group, Lawrence Onuzulike, who spoke with journalists yesterday in Awka, Anambra State, expressed disappointment over what he described as the “un-seriousness of Igbo politicians towards contesting the presidency in 2023.”

It also lamented the beggarly attitude of certain elders for the position and urged potential Igbo aspirants in the major political parties to wake up and put themselves in contention for the presidential tickets in their parties.

Onuzulike said the South East people should stop talking about marginalisation in leadership and shy away from the action when there is an opportunity to offer themselves the highest leadership position in the country.

He reminded Igbo politicians that 2022 would be a crucial year in the race for the 2023 general elections and as such, they should begin working seriously for the position.

MEANWHILE, two supporters of former Abia State Governor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, have instituted a court case at the Bauchi State High Court Three, asking the court to compel him (Kalu) to join the 2023 presidential race.

The plaintiffs, Aliyu Ladan and Lawan Abdullahi said at a media briefing, yesterday, that they filed the suit in their belief that only Kalu could rescue the country from suffering, hardship and insecurity.

“We know he has the capacity to change the scenario. He has the capacity to change things from negative to positive. He did it in Abia State and despite the challenges, Kalu turned Abia people into good persons because of his laudable achievements and leadership capacity,” they said.

In a suit marked: BA/331/2021, they approach the court to compel Kalu to contest the presidency, saying: “We are in court because we want the court to respect our agreement for him to contest as president of Nigeria.

“We want the court to compel Kalu to declare his interest to run for president in 2023 under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) or any other political party.”