The former National Chairman of All Progressive Congress (APGA), Chief Victor Umeh, on Thursday, advocated power-sharing in the interest of the country.
Umeh, who made the call in a chat with journalists in Enugu, also stressed the need to have a President of South-East extraction in the country in 2023.
There have been calls by groups and individuals for the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone their presidential tickets to the South-East.
The President-General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Prof. George Obiozor, had earlier on Thursday asked all politicians from the region to reject any vice president slot from any presidential aspirant.
He insisted that the South-East should produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor next year.
Umeh, however, urged South-West and its presidential aspirants to support the quest for an Igbo presidency.
He said: “We have said it clearly in the past that for Nigeria to remain together, there is a need to share power.
“And we have painstakingly looked at the issues and stand firmly together as a people that the only way Nigeria can move on will be for us to accommodate each other. We must show the sincerity of purpose and mission towards achieving unity.
“We do not have a country where anybody can do anything alone because nobody can do it alone.
“The South-East has eminently qualified people who can provide leadership that will bring prosperity to Nigeria.
“Our people are united, South-East are united in this aspiration that somebody from here should be the president next year, not by force, but for us to heal the wounds from the past.
Today, Nigeria is a country with so many nations inside it. And the only thing that is making it look like that is because people are not happy with the way things have been done in Nigeria. So if the political gladiators are sincere and they want to keep Nigeria together the best thing to do is to support the South-East to become President on the basis of equity and fairness.”
