PDM chieftain in Ebonyi wants power shift to Southeast in 2023

A 2019 gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) in Ebonyi, Chief Aja Agha, has demanded that the Southeast should produce the next president.

Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Abakaliki, he said current agitation by the geo-political zone was a genuine campaign.

He urged the two major political parties, the APC and the PDP to give their 2023 presidential ticket to the zone.

“The zone has produced exceptional political leaders who have served the country in various capacities and are eminently qualified to steer the ship of the Nigerian nation.

“Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology; Chief Pius Anyim, former President of the Senate, Dr Chris Ngige, also serving minister, Mr Peter Obi and Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu among others as sons of the zone.

“We, as an opposition party is backing the current agitation by the zone because if the Southeast produces the next president, it will end years of perceived marginalisation.

“I urge our leaders to close ranks and drop personal interests and reach out to other geopolitical zones of the country to strike effective bargain that will make the struggle a reality,’’ Chief Agha said.

He argued that since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999, the Southwest, the Northwest, the South-south had produced presidents.

Chief Agha added that prior to 1999 the Northwest and the North Central also produced military heads of government.

“Other geopolitical zones have had their hold on the nation’s highest political office with the exception of the Southeast zone,’’ he stressed.

Chief Agha also told NAN that the PDM was expanding its membership base in the 13 local government areas of Ebonyi to make it one of the strongest leading opposition parties in the state. (NAN)