A Chieftain of All Progressives Congress in Delta State chapter, Prof. LeRoy Edozien, has called on South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum to work against Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and any other politician who accepted to be running mate to any presidential candidate.
Edozien, who is a brother to the Asagba of Asaba and title holder of Ubili Ka Nkwu Ahaba, made the call on Sunday in Asaba
He said, “I am calling on the South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum to keep its word about working against any politician who allows himself to be nominated as running mate to any presidential candidate.
“If the Presidency is not zoned to the South, work against any person that accepted to be running mate.
“It will be recalled that the SMBLF made this statement of intention last year, following the declaration of the 17 Governors of the Southern States of Nigeria that the Presidency should, in the interests of equity and fairness, rotate to the South”
Prof. Edozien said it was regrettable that the Delta State governor broke ranks, betrayed the Southern bloc, and lobbied for the vice-presidential slot while his Southern colleagues were pushing for the presidency.
“It is deplorable that State resources were reportedly deployed in canvassing for this nomination.
“Such pursuit of self-interest at the cost of broader State and regional progress has been a hallmark of Senator Okowa’s governance of Delta State, the APC chieftain asserted.
He warned that the SMBLF risks compromising its own integrity should it fail to carry out its threat to work against any politician that becomes a running mate in a party that has not zoned the Presidency to the South, charging the Chief Edwin Clark-led Forum to put their words into action.
Meanwhile, a group, Organisation for Global Youths Peace Empowerment and Development Initiative, has called the South-East region to boycott the activities of APC and the Peoples Democratic Party.
The group urged the two major political parties in Nigeria to as a matter of urgency apologized to the South-East for deliberately denying the region the opportunity to produce presidential candidates
The National Coordinator of the group, Japhet Omene, made call on Sunday in Asaba while speaking with our correspondent.
He said, “For equity, fairness and justice, South-East of Nigeria ought to produce the next president but it is obvious that both APC and PDP don’t have any regard for the region.
“This might be due to the fact that the majority of the political leaders in the region who are members of the PDP and APC are selfish and sell out agents of their own chances of producing the presidential candidates of the parties in the next general election.
“One would have expected strong resistance from them over the broad daylight robbery because APC and PDP indeed robbed the region of their chances. None of the parties zone its candidate to the region.
“Even after denying the region of the presidential ticket one expected that the PDP and APC ought to be lobbying the region with the VP slot but it is not so because both parties have no regard for the southeast and it is obvious both parties are expecting vote from the region.
“APC and PDP should immediately tender an apology to the entire Southeast region for the act of betrayal”
Omene further advised the people of the region to boycott PDP and APC activities if they fail to apologise or correct the mistake.
