Number Of Southern Presidential Aspirants Maddening, Says Clark

Coalition Insists On President From S’east, Federal Character

THE leader of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum ( SMBLF), Chief Edwin Clark, has cautioned politicians from the South to consider the collective interest of the region above their personal interests in the quest for Southern president in 2023.

The elder statesman, however, described as “madness” the unprecedented huge number of presidential aspirants from the South that obtained nomination forms of the major political parties.

No fewer than 35 politicians from the South have obtained Expression of Interest and Nomination forms from the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP).

The nonagenarian told newsmen in his Abuja residence that it would be catastrophic for the region, if the presidential aspirants did not come together and prune down the number before the primaries, disclosing that elders from the region, in the next few weeks, would look into the matter and advise them accordingly.

He said: “What is happening nowwiththislargenumberof presidential aspirants from the South is madness. If I’m to be realistic, they are not serious, particularly those from the South West and South South. There are some people that have gone to play double game. So, when it comes to where we say ‘ no’, some people would come out to say ‘ yes, we are contesting.’ So they know why some of them are there.

“For instance, there are reasons to be told that my friend, Adams Oshiomhole, the former national chairman of APC, was with Tinubu. I was surprised when I saw him entering the race. I’m surprised also that Senator Ibikunle Amosun, after seeing Vice President Yemi Osinbajo from his state, entered the race. If you come back to the South South, Nyesom Wike and Rotimi Amaechi want to be president, and both of them come from small Ikwerre. You can imagine what is going on.”

Clark advised politicians from the South to reject any move to make them a running mate to any Northern candidate. “They cannot do without us and we cannot do without them. That will show how serious we are. Anybody who offers himself as a running mate will be regarded as the most unpatriotic man, who has sold his own side of thecountryandnotworthyof being respected and honoured” he added.

In the same vein, leaders of the South East- based Coalition of Democracy and Human Rights Organizations ( SBCHROS) have adopted as a working advocacy document, tagged ‘ The Intersociety’s Roadmap/ Guidelines for Equity and Peaceful Transition of Top Federal Seats of Power in 2023 in Nigeria’.