Nigeria news : 2023 Only S’East Presidency can guarantee national stability – Osita Chidoka

Nigeria news : 2023 Only S’East Presidency can guarantee national stability – Osita Chidoka. Former Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka has made a strong case for the South East geo-political zone, saying that only an Igbo Presidency can guarantee stability in Nigeria in 2023.

He urged the North to yield to the cry of the SouthEast in 2023 to avoid a serious political crisis in the country.

Chidoka who was also a Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps said that yielding to the call was the only sure way to guarantee the unity, national cohesion and political stability of the country, adding that the nation may have to contend with very serious consequences if the South East is alienated from the race.

The message was contained in a press statement signed by Ikechukwu Okafor, his media aide.

Chidoka said “I crave your indulgence to use the words of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), used in an advertorial where they warned President Jonathan not to contest the 2011 election, to sound a note of warning that, ‘If the country’s two major political parties do not continue in the tradition of the agreed rotation, they will “undermine the peace and tranquility of Nigeria”. Furthermore, failure to incorporate the South East in the 2023 calculations will be “ill-conceived, ill-advised, and definitely divisive.”

Further echoing the words of the NEF, Chidoka cautioned that using perceived strength to alienate the Igbos in 2023, “would open old wounds of primitive politics where ethnic, sectional, religious and other primordial, undesirable sentiments will assume center-stage with attendant unpleasant consequences”.

Chidoka noted that the South East has always been committed to the unity, harmonious co-existence, mutual understanding, economic development, social and political wellbeing of the country as a whole, adding that it is time, narrow minded individuals in other parts of the country drop their unfounded distrust of Ndigbo, and fight to enthrone the politics of live-and-let-live.

“Electoral results show that the South East is ethnically blind when it comes to voting. This voting pattern is the ultimate proof of the cosmopolitan ethos of Ndigbo.

“In Presidential elections, South East votes have been cast on a largely ideological basis in support of inclusion, rule of law, freedom, democracy and open markets. It is time for the country to take note of these salient points, drop their unfounded distrust of Ndigbo, and fight to enthrone the politics of live-and-let-live.

“It is also important to note that on January 12, 2020, it will be 50 years after the civil war. The generation born during and after the civil war are now in their 50s free from the prejudices of our chequered past, hopeful of a new paradigm of equal opportunities and conscious of global trends. That new generation provides a new opportunity which if lost will be at great cost to Nigeria.”

Chidoka however advised the southeast not to rest on its oars and wait for Igbo Presidency but to constructively engage with the rest of the country to actualize the dream.