Why Southeast was denied president, by Uzodimma

Why Southeast was denied president, by Uzodimma

• Nwajiuba explains absence at APC primary

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma yesterday said the Southeast was denied the opportunity to produce the next president due to a lack of equity.

Speaking when he was featured on Sunrise Daily, a Channels programme, the governor hopes the region would someday get the support it deserves.

He said: “From the view of political calculation, the sentiment of the people in the Southeast is that they deserve to produce the president because the reason why this power is moving from the North to the South is that the current president is from the North having served for seven years.

“The reason why the Southeast is asking for it is that when the power came to the South, it went to the Southwest and was there for eight years.

“The next time it came to the South, it went to the Southsouth and it was there for seven years plus.

“The natural thing to do and the justice of the case is that now that power is coming again to the South and since it is only three geo-political zones that make up the South, it should come to the Southeast, having been in the Southwest and Southsouth.

“We will continue to hope that one day God will touch the heart of our brothers and sisters to do that which belongs to us.”

Former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who was a presidential aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC), explained his absence at the party’s convention in Abuja where a presidential flagbearer was chosen.

A statement by his relative, Prof. Chinedum Nwajiuba, reads: “The understanding from the highest levels prior to his involvement, and considering his role in the founding of the APC, was that of consensus as was with the National Chairmanship a few months ago.

“With that understanding, the presidential ticket was to come to the South and the Southeast. This has been the hope till the end of the negotiations.

“He, not wanting to be part of the dollar and naira bazaar, is convinced that what Nigeria needs now is no more of the same thing that has kept Nigeria at the low level it has been.

“Our challenges as a country cannot be addressed at the same energy level by which they were created.”