2015: South East Mobilizes for Igbo Presidency Puts Pressure On Kalu to Run

Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu will run for Presidency next year. This will be explained in the report below. 

Barely 24 hours after some aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State threatened to defect, in protest against the way they were being treated, the ruling party and President Goodluck Jonathan may suffer a major upset, with the plan by some elements in the South East to sponsor a presidential candidate.

Members of the PDP faction in Ebonyi, backed by Governor Martin Elechi, had threatened that about 450, 000 of them would leave the PDP following the attempt by the national leadership of the party to favour another faction, which is against the choice of former Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu as the consensus governorship candidate of the PDP in next year’s election.

Daily Sun gathered that the anger in Ebonyi over the way PDP headquarters is shabbily treating governors, serving senators and members of the House of Representatives as well as other stakeholders, has spread to other states in the South East, prompting the aggrieved members to plan an action to upturn the apple cart.

Sources revealed that two aggrieved governors and some serving members of the National Assembly, who are unhappy with the way the national leadership handled the crisis in the states over the delegates congress and House of Assembly primaries of the PDP, are planning a third force in the presidential race.

It was gathered that besides the candidates of the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), these aggrieved PDP elements from the South East are perfecting a plan to sponsor a presidential candidate from the South East, who would contest next year’s election.

An authoritative source told Daily Sun that the aggrieved governors and serving National Assembly members are considering using the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) to execute the Igbo presidential candidate agenda. In effect, an emissary was sent to former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, to not only surrender the PPA for the project but also offer himself as the presidential candidate.

It was gathered that when the emissaries, made up of three serving senators and a former senator, arrived Abuja yesterday to meet with the former governor, Kalu was at the airport, on his way out of  Kinshasa, in the Republic of Congo.

When the team contacted him on phone and told him that they came at the instance of some aggrieved South East PDP governors and serving members of the National Assembly to tell him about their desire that he contest the presidential election on the platform of the PPA, he told them that he had pledged to support President Jonathan in next year’s election and wants to abide by it.

Kalu also told the team that he had promised PDP National Chairman, Adamu Mu’azu, that he would support him to succeed, as his friend and former colleague, saying that he wants to stick to this.

Sources, however, revealed that the team told Kalu that he needed to sit with the emissaries to understand the need for him to agree to the plan. Another meeting was, therefore, fixed for the weekend, where they are expected to convince Kalu to be the Igbo joker in the presidential election.

As part of the plan to sponsor a strong Igbo candidate in PPA, it was gathered that there would be a realignment in the South East, mainly as a fallout of the PDP delegates’ congress and House of Assembly primaries, in which some governors and serving members of the National Assembly are battling to get their preferred candidates chosen. Also, the realignment followed a deep self-appraisal by people of the South East, who are now asking themselves what they have benefited from the Jonathan government of five years.

One of the South East stakeholders, Chief Akina Otti, who is part of the plan for an Igbo presidential candidate next year, appears to speak the minds of most South easterners when he told Daily Sun: “I don’t know why the South East is following Jonathan, despite the state of Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Onitsha-Enugu Road, Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road Arochukwu-Calabar Road, Nnewi-Arondizuogu Road, which are impassable, and the second Niger Bridge, which is a political promise.”

It was gathered that the aggrieved South East PDP governors, who are pushing for an Igbo presidential candidate, say they have come to the realisation that they can’t put their eggs in one basket, as they believe that Jonathan has not rewarded their loyalty.  The governors complained that their structures were taken from them, since no delegates congress held in any South eastern state, while the PDP leadership accepted lists brought by factions supported by serving government officials and National Assembly leaders.  Therefore, they want to use PPA as alternative platform, where they will raise a presidential candidate.

It was gathered that part of the plan is to bring other related political parties into an alliance. All processes relating to the plan, it was learnt, will be concluded before the deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the close of nomination.

If it is not concluded by mid-December, it was gathered, the team will use the window set by the INEC for the substitution of candidates.

The PPA had earlier promised not to field a presidential candidate, having endorsed Jonathan for the 2015 race. However, the current reality may force a change of position.

The Sun report