Christian leaders slam Atiku over comments on South-East presidency

The thorny issue of zoning arrangement has elicited a reaction from Christian leaders who reiterated the importance of having a Nigerian President of South-East origin.

Making an allusion to a comment attributed to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, the clerics berated him for the “humiliating” comment about the emergence of a South-East Presidency.

The National Christian Elders Forum, NCEF, made this call via a statement issued on Wednesday, and signed by Secretary, Pastor Bosun Emmanuel.

Members of the group include: Justice Solomon Asemota, SAN, has as members Gen. Zamani Lekwot, retd; Elder Moses Ihonde, Elder Nat Okoro, Gen. T. Y. Danjuma, retd; Elder Matthew Owojaiye, Hon. Justice Kalajine Anigbogu, retd; , Elder Shyngle Wigwe, DIG P. L. Dabup, Sir John W. Bagu, Dr. Saleh Hussaini; and Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife.

This stance came in the wake of Peter Obi’s soaring popularity amongst the youth demographics, as the two established parties — the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party — fielded a Westerner and a Northerner respectively.

During a consultative meeting in Umuahia with the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State in 2022, Atiku insisted that he remains the shortest way to actualize the emergence of a Nigeria President of Igbo extraction.

He further promised to serve for only one term if elected Nigeria’s President in 2023 to make way for the South East to occupy the presidency in 2027.

The former vice president was represented at the event by the Chairman of the Technical Committee for Abubakar Atiku presidential project, Chief Raymond Alegho Dokpesi.

READ ALSO:Atiku’s support dwindles, as Fayose, top PDP chieftains shun ex-VP’s Ekiti campaign rally

“Alhaji Abubakar Atiku is the surest bet; he is the shortest cut to a South East Presidency. The truth is that he will be about 80 years then. We only need him to rescue Nigeria now. We are confronted with heavy challenges as a nation. Once we lay the foundation for restructuring and for pushing Nigeria forward, then he will exit. He is not coming because he is hungry but he has an agenda, and the agenda is Nigeria.

“We are in a grave situation in Nigeria. We need to unite. We need to take power from these impostors that have ceased power and ran Nigeria aground. If I’m alive till then I will go naked in one man march if South East is not given the presidency. I will put my life on the line. I will never be silent. It’s a matter of timing,” Dokpesi has stated.

However, the Christian leaders in their statement, cautioned against such inflammatory utterances, capable of dividing the country as elections beckon.

“The unfortunate statements credited to some presidential aspirants that they will lay the foundation for the Presidency for the South-East, after their turn, is not only an insult to the general Nigerian electorate but also a humiliating and derogatory attack akin to that of the religious clerics making inflammatory statements, which is detrimental to the overall peaceful co-existence and equity in the Nigerian project. We speak as Christian elders,” the group said.

The statement also warned against neglecting a region, which might have consequences on national unity.

It reads in part, ”On the question of the Presidency going to the South East zone of the country, we make bold to say that in order to complete and show good faith to the post-civil war 3Rs ( Rehabilitation; Reconstruction; and Reintegration) and the No Victor No Vanquished policies of the Federal Government, which are still relevant, it is only right that the zone be given the opportunity to produce the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

”All the other zones have had representation at the Presidency and if there are to be no second-class citizens and if there are genuine desires to eliminate separatist agitations nationwide, then, a credible candidate from the geopolitical South East zone should be voted into the seat.”

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