Forget 2015 presidency, Kaita, Tofa tell Ndigbo- Alhaji Bashir Tofa, former presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 election. We won’t compromise again – Northern leaders

The aspiration of the South East geo-political zone to produce the president in the country in 2015 might not be an easy task after all, going by statements emanating from leaders in the North.

A former governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Lawan Kaita and Alhaji Bashir Tofa, former presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in the 1993 election and chieftain of All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) have dismissed the ambition of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo’s socio-political group, describing it as “mere wishful thinking.” Kaita told Sunday Mirror in a telephone interview that the region would not be shortchanged again after what it passed through in 2011 election that produced President Goodluck Jonathan.

The northern leader and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain is among notable elders in the region that are angered by the emergence of a southerner in the 2011 presidential race, as against the party’s zoning policy which, he said, should have favoured the North. Currently, notable Igbo political and socio-political groups have been holding meetings both in the country and outside its shores, on how to ensure that the South East produces the nation’s president by 2015.

Notable among such groups is Ohaneze Ndigbo, led by its President-General, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue. Others include Igbozurume, a socio-political organisation led by Col. Joe Achuzie (rtd), and another group, C-21, led by its president, Senator Annie Okonkwo. The agitation of the groups, among others, is that the South East geopolitical zone has not produced the nation’s president since the end of the civil war in 1971, despite its immense contribution to the socio-political development of the country.

Last Thursday, former National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Okwesilieze Nwodo, while canvassing for the emergence of a president from the South East in 2015, noted that no tribe has more justification than the Igbo to ask for the presidency in 2015, adding that Igbo have the qualification. He spoke at the meeting of Igbo leaders in Enugu. He equally revealed that an all- Igbo political summit would hold in November to launch the campaign for a president from the South East.

Also in one of the meetings of Ohanaeze in Enugu recently, Ezeife noted: “We have said that Igbo Nigerian president is important to us and we must pray to God to get it. Igbo should play a game of cooperation, not competition. We are super qualified for the presidency but we will be organised to achieve it. “This time around, we are going to cooperate, all Igbo must go for campaign in all the tribes in the country to tell them what we want.’’

Echoing the ex-governor’s position, Achuzie last week disclosed, “It must be the turn of Igbo to occupy Aso Rock at the end of Jonathan’s tenure. Even though Jonathan still has the right to re-contest after 2015 by virtue of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ndigbo must not allow the chance to pass us by this time round, after his tenure,” he said in Aba, Abia State.Kaita, however, disagreed: “I disagree with the South East totally on this issue; we won’t compromise the next election, it won’t happen”.

Alhaji Tofa,who spoke in the same vein, howeversaid the issue was strictly the responsibility of the ruling PDP to resolve. “They are the ones who know what to do in this regard in order to avoid conflict”, he said, adding, “It is left for the electorate to decide if the position is their birthright, since the opposition leaders are still naive and cannot unite to safeguard our nascent democracy”.