Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma, yesterday, said the Southeast region should produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.
He said the election of a president of Southeast extraction in next year’s poll will foster unity, equity, fairness and justice.
Uzodinma, however, cautioned that the presidential candidates for the 2023 election will not run on the platforms of ethnic associations, but on the platforms of political parties.
The Imo Governor told reporters in Lagos that it is desirable that the two main parties – All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – should pick their candidates from the Southeast, reminiscent of what happened in1999 when the PDP and All Peoples Party/Alliance for Democracy picked Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae from the Southwest.
Uzodinma said Nigeria is practicing “partisan democracy,” and not a national politics that is dominated by ethnic considerations when the choice of the candidate is the major issue.
He maintained that the battle for tickets and the general election will be fought within and among political parties, and not tribal organisations.
The governor emphasised that what is important is that every political party is focused on winning elections.
However, he said “Southeast has a strong hunger to produce the next president,” adding that the parties should zone the tickets to the region.
Uzodinma stressed: “The two major parties shoukd zone their tickets to the Southeast. This us the way to decentralise power sharing for equity and justice.”
(Adapted from a report by The Nation)
