Our Reporter, Abuja
Former Governor of Anambra State, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, has again made a serious case for a Nigerian president of South-East extraction in 2023.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, the former governor and founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), stated that the most compelling case for a president from the South-East in 2023 is his belief that Nigeria is a country of conscience.
Nwodo said that Nigeria had in the past addressed the problem of marginalization and injustice in the system by drawing on this rich reservoir of conscience, whether the problem is in the South-West, the Niger Delta and even the North-East as a result of the devastation of Boko Haram.
“What I think is the most compelling argument for a president of Nigeria from the South-East in 2023 is that this country, Nigeria, has a conscience.
“This conscience comes into play from time to time. We have seen it in solving the problem in the South-West after the annulment of the June 12 Election in 1993; we saw it with President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in handling the Niger Delta agitations; we even saw it with the establishment of the North-East Development Commission to ameliorate the devastation of Boko Haram in the zone. Why is it when it comes to the South-East question everything changes?” Nwodo queries.
Chief Nwodo, however, believes that the South-East will continue to appeal to the conscience of Nigerians to see reasons why the presidency must shift to the zone in 2023.
“We believe the only thing we can do is to appeal to the conscience of the country. Any country that does not have any moral conscience is built on quicksand.
“The North would have held power for 8 years, why would anyone still want power not to go down to the South, and the South-East in particular in 2023?” said Nwodo.
On his party, the PDP’s position on zoning, Chief Nwodo said as members of the party, they would abide by its decisions but wondered if the party would be able to live with the consequences of abandoning its zoning principle. “This party when we started, it was built on equity and fairness, if PDP jettisons zoning, will it survive the consequences?” Nwodo asked.
