By Chidi Emenike
Former president of World Igbo Congress and Texas based Professor of Electrical Engineering, Professor Kalu Diogu, has called on president Muhammadu Buhari and leadership of All Progressives Congress (APC) to consider zoning the 2023 Presidential ticket to the South East for stability sake .
This is even as he hailed the Senate Chief Whip , Senator Orji Uzor Kalu on his visit to Minna; home of former Heads of State, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar, adding that Kalu has remained faithful to the unity of Nigeria and should be commended being a true nationalist.
Professor Diogu said the Igbo in Diaspora are worried that a section of the country are hell bent on causing disaffection and disunity in the country by promoting propaganda against the South East interest .
According to the him, “It is for the stability of Nigeria and for the sake of equity and fairness that a president of Igbo extraction should be produced in 2023”
Diogu who spoke in an interview with BBC Igbo on Saturday revealed that he is particular about APC because it’s the ruling party, adding that he is optimistic that the People’s Democratic Party will also consider giving it’s presidential ticket to a South Easterner .
Part of his responses read , “Since Nnamdi Azikiwe’s close attempts to be Nigeria president, It’s only Orji Uzor Kalu who had been allowed to venture near that position in the 2007 presidential election. But he didn’t win , he came fourth. The most we have had is compensation for assisting non-Igbo to get into that position and what they gave us was a vice-president. It is not right for this to continue to happen .
“In 2023, South East would be making a statement that could shock Nigerians if their interest is ignored . The South West and South South have all been in that August position . It is only fair to give South East the necessary support needed to clinch the tickets of the PDP and APC. The North can no longer hide on the fear of an Igbo man dividing the country . We have South Easterners who believe in the unity of the country even more than the Northerners .
” I am calling on President Muhammadu Buhari, leadership of the two major political parties to reciprocate the actions and attempts the Igbo have made in the past , let them show us that our loyalty to them in the past was appreciated by supporting a South Easterner to become the president of Nigeria. ” He said.