2023 Presidency: Uzor-Kalu Makes U-turn

By Tosin Olatokunbo

Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor-Kalu has rejoined the presidential race barely 24 hours after he said he would no longer run for the highest office in the country.

Uzor-Kalu, a former Governor of Abia state had on Tuesday disclosed that he has dropped out from contesting for president, citing the refusal of the APC and PDP to zone the presidency to the south east.

His critics had cited Kalu’s case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC as a major reason which pushed him out of the presidential race.

The two major political parties are still dilly-dallying on whether to chose their presidential candidates from the zone which has not produced the president for the country since the return to democracy in 1999.

He said the North will determine who emerges president in 2023 as the single highest political block in the country, insisting that the office must be zoned to the south east.

The senator said in statement that, “The situation in Nigeria is that without the support of other regions, it would amount to a shadow chase for a South Easterner to be President.

“This is the reason I have been in the frontline of the call that the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party should zone their presidential tickets to the South East as they did for the South West in 1999.

“In the absence of this zoning, I shall return to the Senate and stay away from the presidential contest. The reality is that the North is more advantageous to win elections in this democratic setting.

“I am even shocked with the number of aspirants coming from the South West and the South South. It is embarrassing that these aspirants (APC and PDP) have no single respect and concern for the South East. I had thought they would think about the South East; I thought they would support us.”

He added, “The two regions that are yet to produce a President are South East and North East. If this means anything to Nigerians, the APC and PDP should be fair enough to prioritize these regions. If power should come to the South and not the South East or North and not the North East, the essence for which the six geopolitical zones were created is long dead.”

But in what many have described as double speak, the Senator said he’s still in the contest. He said he was quoted out of contest, insisting that “my stand is very clear, I didn’t drop my presidential ambition and I will never drop it.”

According to him, “I only urged our brothers from the South-South and South-West geo-political zones who came out en masse to contest for the office of the president to drop their ambition and support us because of equity.

“If we are talking about equity, the presidential ticket should be zoned to the South-East being the only zone that has not tested power since 1999.We can’t have people from South- South and South-West running when we are talking about equity.

“Former president Goodluck Jonathan, was vice, and later president for six years. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo was president for eight years and Prof Yemi Osibanjo is going to be vice president for eight years again.

“So if there is anything called equity and justice, it should be support for the South-East and unless that support is given to us, every other zone in the country should contest for presidency in 2023 including people from Buhari’s village.

“We are negotiating for them to support us, because I know there’s no single aspirant that the president, Buhari, has told to run for presidency. I know him and his antecedent, Buhari can never tell anybody that he would make him president.

“He will always tell people who go to him to consult with their people. I have not told him that I want to run for presidency because it has not been zoned to the South East,” the former governor said.

Meanwhile, the APC on Tuesday commenced the sale of nomination and expression of interest forms. The presidential form will be purchased for N100 million, the ruling party said last week.