Uche Nwosu, the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate in Imo State for the 2019 election, said politicians fighting for a power shift to the south without backing the South-East to produce the next President in 2023 are “not honest” and “unfair to Ndigbo.”
To accuse the North of trying to keep power in 2023 while depriving the sole zone (the South-East), which has never produced the country’s president, the opportunity to do so, he believes, would be a double standard.
In an interview with journalists in Abuja, Nwosu stated that the only way to achieve true equity and justice was for other zones in the country’s southern regions to rally behind the South-East as power shifts to the area.
“He who comes to equity must come with clean hands,” Nwosu stated. You can’t be campaigning for a power shift to the South under the pretext of fairness and justice and then stop preaching equity and justice when power shifts to the South; that’s simply unfair.
When our brothers from the South West or the South-East declare their desire to be President in the name of fairness and justice, they are simply not being fair; there is no equity or justice in that.
“For me, true equality and justice are ensuring that every zone in this country has the opportunity to control this country; that is peace, equity, and justice.”
“The South-East is committed to gain power with the help of other zones, but I still implore our brothers from other zones to understand that the country is based on three legs: the South East, South West, and North, even though others have tasted it in the six geopolitical zones we now have.” We have Ernest Shonekan and Olusegun Obasanjo in the South West; Abdulsalami Abubakar and Ibrahim Babangida in the North Central; President Muhammadu Buhari in the North West; and a Vice President in the North East; it is just the South-East that remains.
It is now the turn of the South, and when you come to the South, it is the turn of the South-East, and if we have brothers from the South who are accusing the North of wanting to retain power, but when power shifts to the South, you who have occupied the office are attempting to reclaim it and accusing the North.
“So when we communicate, we talk with dignity, principle, and an open conscience,” she says. People should come out and act in accordance with their consciences, since this will please God in some way.
“You’re not honest if you accuse the North of not wanting to relinquish power to the South and you who have tasted power in the South want to take it back, because if you accuse the North of doing eight years and you who have tasted power in the South want it, you’re just playing to the gallery.”
“If you’re going to the equity, make sure your hands are clean.”
“We are not discouraged that other zones are interested,” Nwosu said. “This is democracy, and you don’t just sit at home and expect them to give you power; you have to move and campaign for it, so we know that you can’t sit in the Southeast and expect power to come from the North, South West, or South-South and be given to you.”