2023 Presidency: Northern group charges parties on Kalu, Obi tickets 

Ahead of 2023 general election,  a northern political group has called on other zones in the country to throw its weight behind a president of Nigeria from the Southeast, insisting that the two major political parties should zone their tickets to the zone.

The group, Northern Elite Forum, explained that its position was borne out of the “need to keep Nigeria united beyond 2023 and consolidate the country’s gains amid the lingering security and economic challenges.”

In a statement, on Saturday, in Borno by its National Coordinator, Alhaji Isa Ibrahim, and National Secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Shehu, the group insisted that southeast should produce the next president to balance the occupation and rotation of the presidency between the North and South, which has helped to douse the political tension in Nigeria.

It also appealed to  the two major political parties,  the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone their tickets to the Southeast in the hope that Chief Whip of the Senate and former governor of Abia state, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu would clinch the ticket of the APC while former governor of Anambra state,  Mr Peter Obi would clinch that of the PDP

The group, however,  expressed its full support for Kalu considering his national acceptance, economic expertise and a clear and deep understanding of how Nigeria works along with its diversity.

The northern group, in fact, appealed to other zones to back Kalu as the new face of Nigeria in Southeast’s quest to produce Nigeria’s first citizen in the next political dispensation.

The group noted that “the right thing after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure is to have a president of Nigeria from the Southeast. And since South West and South-South had occupied the office in the current dispensation, the Southeast is next in line in the spirit of justice, fairness, rotation principle and  equity.

“This will bring an end to the acclaimed marginalisation of the Southeast. This will foster national unity and also bring to a close the bitterness of the 1967 civil war, which has lingered for more than 50 years.”