Group vows to resist any attempt to deny South-East chance to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023

An Igbo youth group under the aegis of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL), on Monday vowed to resist any attempt by any individual, party or group to deny the South-East zone the chance of producing Nigeria’s next president in 2023.

The President General of COSEYL, Goodluck Ibem, in a statement made available to Ripples Nigeria, said the group, which is the umbrella body of all the youth organizations in the region, insisted that the South-East has highly qualified persons who can rule the country if given the opportunity.

The statement read:

“The time for the South-East to produce a Nigerian president is overdue. We have sacrificed, worked and waited patiently for the plum job and we cannot accept any form of excuse this time.

“It is an undeniable fact that Ndigbo have been more committed to the development and economic advancement of the country and deserves to be supported by other geopolitical zones to occupy the number one office in the country.

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“The orchestrated plot by some persons to jettison zoning of the presidency now that it is the turn of the South-East to produce a Nigerian President come 2023 is a declaration of political war against Ndigbo.

“It is a calculated attempt to relegate to the background all the sacrifices and political investments made by Ndigbo towards the progress of the country and we will resist it.

“The imperativeness of the moment demands that the All Progressive Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and other political parties must, as a matter of necessity, zone its presidential ticket to the South-East, if we hold the unity and progress of this country at heart.

“It is not only an insult to the people of the South-East, it is also a total chicanery of the zoning principle that has been the hallmark of our national politics since 1999 and more pertinently a deception of Ndigbo who have invested their all since the return to democratic government.

“The North has produced the president for uninterrupted two terms and in all fairness, power has to move South, specifically to South-East, in the spirit of equity, fairness, rotation and zoning which has been the practice since the return to democracy in 1999.

“The other five geopolitical zones should support us having benefited from our unalloyed support all this time. Enough said.”

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