All Progressives Congress (APC) Chieftain and former governorship candidate in Imo State, Uche Nwosu, has advised the party against relying on the outcome of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries to determine the zone that will get its ticket.
Nwosu maintained that wherever the opposition party chooses to pick its presidential candidate from, should not compel the APC to jettison the agitation for power shift to the Southeast.
He insisted that the agitation for a President of Igbo extraction is getting stronger by the day and could amount to injustice and sheer indifference to the genuine and legitimate demand by one of the founding sections of the country.
According to him, in 2015, PDP zoned its presidential ticket to the Southsouth and APC settled for the North and went ahead to win the election because the party faithful and Nigerians respected that zoning arrangement.
Nwosu, who spoke with select journalists in Abuja, said: “APC should not be looking at where the PDP choise their Presidential candidate from, whether from North or anywhere to determine where its presidential ticket should go.
“In 2015, PDP zoned its ticket to the South and fielded the then incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan and the APC brought their candidate from the North and because everybody from the South respected that zoning, APC won.
“So the best thing the APC can do is to sit back and look at the agitation because it is getting stronger by the day and we cannot close our eyes and ears and say to hell with zoning because it is not our business or it is not in the constitution.
“This agitation for power shift is for us to have a united country. The country is not made up of one group.
“We have different ethnic nationalities and for the ethnic groups to believe they’re still part of the country, is to be allowed to have their turn to rule. With that, every section along the six geopolitical zones would have tasted power.
“Those that are kicking against power shift to the Southeast because they want to remain in power think that eight years is forever but just like yesterday, President Muhamamadu Buhari’s eight years is gone.
“It will be for just a while and the Igbo should have completed their eight years and power will move to another zone.
“So the earlier we sit down and look at it critically and understand the reason power should shift, the better.
“The agitation should not just be let power shift to the South, it should be let power shift to the Southeast.
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“For our brothers in the Southwest, it is a pity that someone is coming to equity without clean hands and for those coming out from the Southsouth, it is a pity that this is happening and instead of us to reason together like brothers from the South and support the clamour for a President of Igbo extraction, everybody is coming out and when it will be their turn the Southeast will also come out.
“Whether 200 people are coming out for the presidential race, it is left for the leadership of the party to look at it critically and tell ourselves the truth and say my brothers from this zone you’ve had it for eight years and those from the other zone you’ve also had the Vice President for eight years and why not allow this group to go and in another eight years power returns to the North.
“This is where justice, equity and fair play lies. Anything apart from this, anybody coming from any other zone to talk about equity, peace and justice on television is lying.
“The only thing that accords with equity and justice is to allow that zone that has not produced the President to do so.
“We have many aspirants from the Southeast, we’re not insisting it must be the person or the other person but whoever you think is capable of doing the job and uniting the country, make the person the candidate and everyone will come together and you will see if the party will not have 100 per cent vote from the Southeast and even the Southsouth.”
The APC Chieftain also backed the position of the apex Igbo socio-cultural Organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, that no politician from the Southeast should accept to run as Vice President.
His words: “I support Ohaneze totally. On what ground should an Igbo man be running for Vice President at this time?
“It amounts to selling your birthright for a pot of porridge.
“It is turn of the Southeast to produce the President of the country and anyone that agrees to run as a Vice President is an enemy to the zone.”