A socio-political group, the Southeast Youth Vanguard, has described the recent call by former President Olusegun Obasanjo for a president from the South East in 2019 as a mischievous act aimed at causing tension, ill-will and confusion in the country.
In a press statement released in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the group said the call by the former president would have been seen as the act of a friend, benefactor and statesman if Obasanjo had dealt well with Ndigbo when he held the Presidency for eight years between 1999 and 2007.
Recalling that the former President ignored a gentleman’s understanding of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party to do one term of four years and instead took two terms, the South East Youth Vanguard expressed the view that by insisting on a second term, Obasanjo instituted the two-term culture, which jeopardised the chance of the South East and other zones in the country getting the Presidency at an earlier date.
The group recalled that then President Obasanjo even wanted and actually worked hard to take a third term shot at the Presidency but was stopped by well-meaning Nigerians among who is his deputy, Atiku Abubakar.
“It is on record that for Atiku’s guts, daring and pro-democratic convictions, the former military leader has been hounding former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.”
The group stated that while the South East looks forward to a shot at the Presidency of the country, it is mindful of the fact that there is a zoning formula and understanding in place adding that the zone is ready to wait for the time when the zoning arrangement would inevitably beckon on the South East.
It said: “Therefore, based on the above democratic and patriotic calculations, we of the South East Youth Vanguard, hereby reject the suspicious and patronising declaration of support by Chief Obasanjo for a President from the Southeast come 2019.
“Granted that the state of the nation today clearly makes the 2019 Presidency an important issue, the South East, however, would not want to be used as a pawn in former President Obasanjo’s many self-serving political schemes.”
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