Our Reporter, Abuja
The Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council, Federal University of Lokoja, Kogi State, Senator Chris Adighije, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to consider the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the South-East as he makes his final decisions on consensus
Adighije, a chieftain of APC, and leader Abia State APC stakeholders, made the plea in a statement he issued in Abuja on Friday.
According to him, a South-East APC presidential candidate would invariably end the feelings of the civil war and integrate properly and peacefully the South-Easterner in the entity called Nigeria.
There are seven South-East presidential aspirants in the APC. They are: former Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu; Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba; Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi; former governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha; former Minister of Information, Chief Ikeobasi Mokelu; former Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani; and Mrs. Uju Kennedy Ohanenye.
Adighije said these are people who have held national positions and should be considered for the APC Presidential ticket.
He decried those who are campaigning for candidates outside the South-East or those who have the sense of entitlement on the presidential ticket.
According to him, “for anybody to become, he must be given, and l am appealing to Mr. President to give to South-East this time around.”
In the statement, he said, “I am seriously in support of a South-Easterner emerging as APC presidential candidate and winning the election. It is morally right in any angle you look at it and that also will indeed signify the formal ending of the civil war and total reintegration of the people of South-Eastern origin into the Nigerian nation.
“I am pleading with Mr. President to kindly see it from that point of view as he finally deals with the matter of his successor.
“I call on Mr. President not to allow other emotions, sentiments, friendship or any other considerations than the unity of Nigeria in the consensus arrangements. It is only a South-East APC presidential ticket that can clearly demonstrate this much needed unity.”
