Former Governor of Abia State and a presidential aspirant, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has berated South-West and South-South 2023 presidential aspirants accusing them of not having respect for equity.
In a statement on Tuesday, an angry Kalu said it is unjust and embarrassing that the aspirants from both the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, totally relegated the South-East to the background of Nigerian politics.
He stated, “I’m even shocked with the number of aspirants coming from the South-West and the South-South. It’s embarrassing that these aspirants (APC and PDP) have no single respect and concern for the South-East.
“I had thought they would think about the South East. The amount of money being spent by these aspirants is alarming and they have forgotten that money alone can’t buy the presidency.
“It has become a joke to an ordinary Nigerian who hears Southern commentators and aspirants rooting for a Southern President on the premise of fairness, equity and justice. How can you talk about these morals when you are not even fair to your own brothers?
“If there is anything like “fairness”, “equity” and “justice”, it should be the entire South pushing for a president of South-East extraction. Anything less than this is “hypocritical”, “unjustifiable” and “inordinate”.
“What moral justification does a Southerner who refused to be fair to his brothers have against a Northerner running for president?
“This will be very insensitive, unreasonable and disrespectful for any Southern man to criticize a presidential aspirant from the North on the ground that the North has done eight years and power should return to the South.”
“If the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari doesn’t come from the South East, there would be nothing unfair and unjust if he or she comes from Daura,”
“The two regions that are yet to produce a President are South East and North East. If this means anything to Nigerians,the APC and PDP should be fair enough to prioritize these regions. If power should come to the South and not the South East or North and not the North East, the essence for which the six geo-political zones were created is long dead.
Kalu however expressed appreciation to South-West political leaders who have expressed support for a South-east presidency.