Why I may dump my presidential ambition — Orji Kalu

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, has said that he would forgo his presidential ambition for the senatorial contest if the presidency was not zoned to the South East.

Kalu, who represents Abia North in the Senate, stated this in a statement he personally signed yesterday.

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The lawmaker said it would amount to a shadow chase for a South easterner to be president without the support from other regions.

In the statement titled, “2023 Presidency: The Fairness I Know” Kalu criticised those rooting for power shift to the South on the premise of fairness, equity and justice without considering the Southeast, a zone yet to produce president.

“The situation in Nigeria is that without the support of other regions, it would amount to a shadow chase for a South easterner to be president.

“This is the reason I have been in the frontline of the call that the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should zone their presidential tickets to the South East as they did for the South West in 1999.

“In the absence of this zoning, I shall return to the Senate and stay away from the presidential contest. The reality is that the North is more advantageous to win elections in this democratic setting,” he said.

Kalu said if there was anything like fairness, equity and justice, it should be the entire south pushing for a president of South East extraction.

“Anything less than that is hypocritical, unjustifiable and inordinate,” he said.

He said it would be “Insensitive, unreasonable and disrespectful” for any southerner to criticise a presidential aspirant from the North on the ground that the North has done eight years and power should return to the South. 

He said, “The South West and the South South have successfully completed their tenures as ‘President and Vice President’. They should have the courage to support their brothers from the South East. If the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari does not come from the South East, there would be nothing unfair and unjust if he/she comes from Daura.”