Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has lambasted 2023 presidential aspirants from the South West, North West and South South geopolitical zones of the country.
He said that they were selfish and greedy for not supporting an aspirant from the South East or North East to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kalu equally faulted former President Olusegun Obasanjo and Niger Delta Leader, Chief Edwin Clark for not supporting Igbo presidency.
The former Abia governor spoke on “Politics Today”, a Channels Television programme on Monday.
He said that since South East aspirants did not enjoy needed backing, he was supporting the presidential aspiration of Senate President Ahmad Lawan.
However, he insisted that a president of South-East extraction would solve Nigeria’s daunting challenges.
“Chief Clark is an elder statesman; I don’t want to talk about him. But if Chief Clark were of a good conscience, he would not be welcoming presidential candidates in his house from the South-South and South-West. He could have told them that it was the turn of the South-East. I have been saying this for two to three years that a president of Igbo extraction will solve the problem,” Kalu said.
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He explained that political stakeholders could have expressed support for the South-East by prevailing on aspirants from other zones not to obtain forms.
“And if there were nobody from the South-West and the South-South buying forms, they (North) would be scared that others (Southerners zones) would support us.
“If I were President Buhari today, where we are, I would raise Lawan’s hand because we have stabilised the parliament for him. He should be very grateful to the 9th (National) Assembly. We went through a recession, and we have made laws that helped come out of recession,” Kalu said.
On the presidential aspiration of National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Kalu insisted that Nigeria has “passed those stages”.
“If they have a conscience, they will not run. But they have no conscience. Obasanjo was President for eight years, (Prof Yemi) Osinbajo was (will be) Vice-President for eight years, but south-easterners have never got a president for one year. How would you sleep if you were in my position? The gods of the land are asking questions in Igboland. Where are these people? They are asking, ‘Why will these people come again?’” Kalu stated.
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