By Ogochukwu Isioma
Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has called on his party, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to immediately zone its presidential ticket for the 2023 general elections to the North East region.
Kalu, a former governor of Abia, made the call while congratulating the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for electing a presidential candidate from the North East, a zone he has always clamoured for to produce the next President outside the South East.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was on Saturday night, elected as the presidential candidate of the main opposition PDP for the 2023 general elections at the party’s presidential primaries held at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
Kalu said with the emergence of a Northeasterner (Atiku Abubakar) as PDP flag bearer, it was no longer feasible for the APC to field a Southern candidate in the 2023 presidential election except the ruling party wants to go on political retirement.
The senator who has never hidden his preference for Senate President Ahmad Lawan as President Muhammadu Buhari’s worthy successor, called on the president to support and pick Lawan as his successor.
Taking to his Facebook page, Kalu wrote:
“Congratulations to the PDP for electing a North Easterner. Nigerians must have seen what I saw yesterday. For our party the APC, it is no longer feasible to talk about Southern candidates except the APC want to go on political retirement.
I urge the National Chairman of the party and the entire NWC to stamp their feet and zone APC presidential ticket to the North East.
President Muhammad Buhari has a right to choose his successor and I call on him to pick Senator Ahmad Lawan as his successor. In every democratic setting, presidents and Governors support and pick their successors. I call on President Buhari to pick a successor from the North East and that will be the equity the South East needs. With the North East, the cycle will be closest to completion of regions producing the president of Nigeria.
By now, all APC aspirants should drop their ambition and support a North Easterner. Senator Ahmad Lawan is the destination.
Congratulations to the North East as we look forward to a president of Nigeria from the North East.”
