The Senate’s chief whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, says it is politically correct for people from the southeast extraction to support an aspirant from the north-east.
The lawmaker who stepped down from the presidential race is backing Ahmad Lawan for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket.
Kalu said supporting a candidate from the north-east would be the shortest route for the South-East zone to produce the president “after 8 years instead of waiting for another 16 years”.
The senator made this known via a statement he released on Thursday to react to calls by elder statesman, Edwin Clarke, that the next president should come from the south-east,
The former Abia Governor wondered why the elder statesman and others couldn’t declare their support for a candidate from the south-east two years ago.
Kalu said Chief Clark knows the South-East cannot get the ticket of any party in an open contest without a gentleman agreement.
“If aspirants from the South-West and South-South cannot support their brothers from the South-East, It is only politically correct to support the North-East geo-political zone”, he noted.
The Senate Chief Whip expressed shock that Clark didn’t call the majority of Southerners, “including governors working against the South-East to order or the names he called me”.
He quipped: “What did you say or do when all the aspirants from South-South and South-West were buying forms to run against South Easterners who have always supported them?
“If you meant well for the South East, you could have discouraged other aspirants against running for President.
“Nothing stops the South supporting only presidential aspirants from the South East. The betrayers are those who don’t care about South. We are wiser.”
Kalu told Clark that majority of the Southerners “in his party (PDP) are secretly supporting a Northeasterner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari”.
