A former President of the Senate, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, at the weekend restated his support for zoning of political offices in the country.
But he said: “political office zoned to the Southeast does not extend to Igbos from a zone outside the Southeast political zone.”
States like Delta, Rivers, Edo and Benue states have Igbo-speaking people with some, including Transportation Minister and former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, reported to be eyeing the Presidency in 2023.
The Southeast has been strident in its demand to have a shot at the Presidency after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure on the grounds of equity and justice.
Anyim, while delivering the 6th World Igbo Summit lecture attended by prominent Igbo statesmen at Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State, suggested the need for the Southeast to constructively and creatively engage other geo-political zones in the country to make its clamour for Igbo President in 2023 a reality.
The engagement, according to him, will engender confidence and create an opportunity for making the necessary compromises to secure their (other zones) support and votes.
The lecture was titled “Identifying the political interest of the Igbos of the Southeast geo-Political zone in Nigeria and Strategies for its actualization.”
The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, advised the Igbo to have it at the back of their minds that Igbo President would not come to them as a “gift” but something that they must work hard for.
He pointed out that the concept of equal citizenship means that the nation, its resources, and leadership belong to all Nigerians.
His words: “The rotation of prime positions among geopolitical zones has no doubt become a common practice such that, its breach generates political discontent.
“The point to note is that a political benefit accruing to any geo-political zone cannot be satisfied by appointing any person outside of that geo-political zone irrespective of commonality of language or culture, i.e. political office zoned to the Southeast does not extend to Igbos from a zone outside the Southeast political zone.”
