A chieftain of the People Democratic Party (PDP) and former governor of Abia state, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has expressed his reason for throwing his weight behind a North-East presidency.
The senator, representing Abia North Senatorial District, said he has subscribed to this political arrangement in the spirit of equity and fairness.
In a tweet via his verified Twitter handle on Thursday evening, he added that if the South East region does not get the All-Progressive Congress (APC) and the PDP’s presidential ticket, a candidate from the North-East region should be given.
Recall that the PDP chieftain had dropped his presidential ambition and thrown his support behind the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan who is from the North-East region.
“I believe in regional zoning and I will continue to repeat it as long as the issue of ‘Equity, Fairness and Justice’ is concerned. My reason is not only because it worked in 1999 when all the parties zoned their presidential tickets to the South West, but because it is the only true definition of fairness and equity,” he said.
He noted that his clamour for the South East to produce the president after President Muhammadu Buhari was borne out of the enormous clamour and desire for the development and strengthening of our dear nation.
He said: “I have also maintained that anything less than South East must be North East, otherwise it is hypocrisy and wickedness. The South East has given its full support to the South West and the South-South and when it got to the turn of the South East, the language changed to ‘Power is not given but taken’.
“In the absence of this clear non-agreement of the southern brothers to support zoning of the tickets to the South East, I wielded my support to the North East with the hope that justice is closer to the South East,” the lawmaker explained.
