A FILE PHOTO OF EASTERN STATE GOVERNORS L-R; THEODORE ORJI (ABIA); SULLIVAN CHIME (ENUGU); MARTIN ELECHI (EBONYI) AND PETER OBI (ENUGU).
The South East Leaders Forum has said the Igbos must produce the President of Nigeria in 2015.
The leaders made the declaration in Abuja after a meeting of the body where they also backed the Presidential bid of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.
A call was also made to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to choose an Igbo man as Chairman as soon as possible.
Spokesman of the forum and former Governor of Anambra State, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife told journalists after the meeting that electing an Igbo President is a moral issue, explaining that the Igbos have ruled Nigeria for only 6 months since independence, whereas, other major tribes have ruled for far more years.
“It would be unfair not to accord us that privilege. A South Easterner ruled this country for only 6 months and after he was killed, his kits and kin were massacred in large numbers,” Ezeife said.
The spokesman said the group lamented the seeming pull-me-down syndrome and internal squabbles amongst Igbo politicians, which he said often hinders the advancement of the zone in national politics.
He made reference to the clash between Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime and former PDP National Chairman Dr Okwesilieze Nwodo.
“Our problems are self inflicted,” Ezeife stated.
He thanked Igbo delegates for casting a block vote for President Goodluck Jonathan at the PDP special convention and urged the President to bring development in terms of upgrading the roads in the South East and providing effective leadership nationwide.
“We are putting all our eggs in one basket for Jonathan because since after the civil war, all the governments ignored all the roads and other federal facilities in the zone.
“We salute the entire Igbo delegates at the convention of PDP. They did not disappoint our elders and leaders,” the former governor stated.
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