By Olayinka Owolabi
With various primary elections taking place this week, a presidential aspirant under the platform of the National Rescue Mission (NRM), Onyeka Young Nwafor has urged parties to consider picking their candidates from the South East.
The 38-year-old Anambra-based economist stated this during an interview with Nigeria Info in Awka.
He said it is the turn of the region to produce Nigeria’s next President, in the interest of unity and justice and to forestall the country’s disintegration.
“This has been a fundamental issue in Nigeria today. I’m fully in support of the South East region producing the next president of Nigeria because, since 1999, the South East has not produced a single president.
“The South needs to produce a President so that it can be equal. All the zones in Nigeria have produced either president or vice president in the previous administration,” he said.
Mr. Nwafor, who recently declared his Presidential ambition in Awka urged aspirants of all political parties to withdraw from the race and allow only those from the South East states to vie for Nigeria’s topmost seat.
“Let me use this medium to urge all aspirants in other political parties that are vying for the seat to consider South East and withdraw from the race for South East to produce the next president in 2023,” he continued.
The NRM Presidential hopeful blamed Nigeria’s inability to achieve an efficient system on the absence of credible, selfless, and purpose-driven leaders.
Electoral Act Will Eliminate Rigging
But he pointed out that the new Electoral Act will help to eliminate all forms of rigging in the 2023 General Election.
“Nigerians want where they will see the change, where they feel the impact of the dividends of democracy, where they will see the price of PMS reduced.
“Thank God for the new amended Electoral Act that the President signed, it will help to eliminate various forms of rigging that have been affecting the electoral system in Nigeria.
“Time has come for the electorate across the nation to drop our religious, tribal, ethnic, and ideological rivalries and pull our electoral weights together towards making Nigeria a better place for both the rich and the poor,” he said.
Nwafor said he would focus on four key areas – education, security, health, and power – if he becomes President.
