The pan-Igbo sociopolitical pressure organisation, the South East Revival Group (SERG) has told the former Vice President and presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, that only God and Nigerian electorates that are guaranteed stepping stones for people of the South East to the Presidency.
While reacting to comment credited to the presidential candidate that he would actualise Igbo presidency if elected in 2023, the SERG said that the South East is already cruising to the presidential villa through the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi.
In a statement signed by its President and National Coordinator, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the SERG said that “the pledge made by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar during the PDP South East Zonal Stakeholders’ Meeting in Enugu on Tuesday was a mere political statement.
“Nigerian electorates and the youths of the country have made their choice of a Presidential candidate and have been speaking loud and clear at every given opportunity.
“Power belongs to God and he gives it to whomsoever He chooses through the electorates.
“The South East was rejected by the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), even when equity, justice and truth about Nigerian leadership since independence favoured the South East.
“In several statements, the South East Revival Group had appealed to all registered political parties in the country to zone their respective presidential ticket to the South East but most of the political parties failed to go by the popular wish of the Nigerian people.
“Credible leaders like Alhaji Balarabe Musa made the same call to the political parties before his death, insisting that for the sake of equity and a sense of belonging, the South East should be given the chance to produce the next President of Nigeria in 2023.
“Today, God has given Nigerians the most credible and better equipped leader who has pledged to move the country from consumption to production and the people have accepted him across religious, tribal and class divides.
“Therefore, Atiku Abubakar’s offer of himself as the stepping stone to Igbo Presidency stands rejected as the Nigerian electorates have, before his offer, formed the pillars through which a President of Nigeria of South East extraction can emerge in 2023”, the statement concluded.
