Southeast woos Northcentral for 2023 presidency

People of the southeast have opened talks with their counterparts of the north central in a bid to form a formidable voice to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023.

The idea was disclosed on Wednesday during a press conference organised by the Southeast and Northcentral Forum in Makurdi.

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Chairman of the Forum, Afam Ezenwafor who is also chairman, Conference of South East APC House of Assembly candidates, posited that they have come to seek the support of the north central because the south east has realized that it cannot successfully prosecute the 2023 project without the support of other regions.

“We cannot do without the middle, and the north central is in the middle. What is holding Nigeria together is the Middle Belt. Our synergy with the northcentral will form a formidable force to win the race in 2023. The North central is the fulcrum of this country,” he said.

Ezenwafor expalined that the Igbo people see Nigeria as their business, stressing, that the southeast will not bring a bad product to the people in 2023 but will put forward its best and sellable hands.

He added that they were in Makurdi to assure the Northcentral that they believe in the Nigerian project and to let them know the need for them to support the Southeast to produce the president of the country in 2023.

Responding, the convener of the Forum, George Ugwuja, said that the forum was put together by the conference of 2019 South East APC House of Assembly Candidates made up of all the candidates that ran for 2019 state assembly elections across all the south eastern states.

Ugwuja noted that part of its major agenda in recent times has been to demand for a Nigerian president of south eastern extraction, adding that the forum is counting on the support of the northcentral by improving on the economic and political collaboration between south east and north central states to form synergy towards delivering that expectation.

On his part, the host, Benjamin Iordye, advocated that since Nigeria is adopting and adapting the federal republic system of government, ethnic minorities must be given a shot at the presidency through constituent and balanced rotation of power in the spirit of fair play, justice, equity and equality.