Southeast Deserves Presidency, Says Ikpeazu
Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu on Thursday said the Southeast region deserves to be given a chance to produce the next President because they are pan-Nigerians.
Ikpeazu spoke with State House Correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He, however, noted that the issue of the Igbo president in 2023 cannot be a matter of right, but something that should be achieved through negotiations and conversations.
According to the governor, Igbo people of the Southeast, more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria, have a better understanding of all other parts of the country.
He joked that the dreaded Sambisa Forest is seen as another business opportunity by the Igboman.
The governor, however, said he was not considering joining the presidential race yet.
He was rather concerned with delivering his campaign promises to the people of Abia State.
He added that he would only start thinking of his post-governorship political career after he must have completed his current assignment in 2023.
“I’m not interested in the Presidency. I’m very busy as governor.
“Thinking about what I will become now will amount to shortchanging my people who gave me a mandate for an initial four years and renewed it for another four years and it will terminate around May 2023.
“We are yet in 2021 and it will be self-serving for me to begin to think about what I will become instead of concentrating on serving my people for the time they elected me. Maybe after 2023, I’ll begin to think about what next I’ll do.
“Having said that, I think that the South easterners have a right to take a shot at the Presidency of Nigeria and I dare say that our qualification starts from the fact that we understand and know Nigeria better than the other states of Nigeria.
“I dare say, this is my opinion. We go everywhere, we are everywhere, we invest everywhere, we are pan-Nigerian people.
“Today, a lot of people, on a lighter note are afraid of Sambisa.
“|But for an Igbo man, Sambisa is a business opportunity. So, it will be preposterous of me not to add my voice to that one.
“However, the question of Nigeria President of Southeast extraction is a national question that requires negotiation, discussion and conversation with all parts of this country and I am least qualified to determine what happened in 2023.
“I also want to spend my time supporting the incumbent President to do his time and do his best while we wait for what happens to begin to unfold. So, these are my views about the Presidency,” he said.
