-Ikenna Okafor
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to field a Southern candidate for the 2023 Presidential election. The Chief Whip of the Senate warned that doing so would plunge the party into political retirement.
Senator Kalu in a statement congratulated the PDP for the victory of Atiku Abubakar at its just concluded primary election, adding that Atiku’s emergence as the PDP Presidential candidate shows that Nigerians now understand his political calculations towards the 2023 general elections.
He stated that with Atiku’s victory at the PDP primaries, “it is no longer feasible to talk about Southern candidates except the APC wants to go on political retirement.”
He went on to demand that the National Chairman and the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC insist on zoning the presidential ticket to the Northeast.
Also, he appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to endorse the President of the Senate, Ahmed Lawan as the APC presidential candidate for the February 2023 elections.
According to Kalu, “In every democratic setting, presidents and governors support and pick their successors. I call on President Buhari to pick a successor from the Northeast and that will be the equity the Southeast needs. With the Northeast, the cycle will be closest to the completion of regions producing the president of Nigeria.
Some months back, Senator Kalu dropped his presidential ambition and endorsed the Senate President Lawan as his candidate.
2023: Orji Uzor Kalu urges APC to field a Northern Candidate