2019 Atiku/Obi ticket: Eastern mandate backs Governors forum

THE controversy over the position of the South East Governors Forum on the Vice Presidential slot given to the geopolitical zone has been described as a mere distraction from the issues in contention.

Rising from a meeting of the Eastern Mandate yesterday In Awka, Anambra State the body led by its coordinator, lchie Michael Nwamkpa, the organization said that the South East Governor’s Forum is not against the choice of former governor, Peter Obi, as the presidential running mate off Atiku Abubakar.

According to Nwamkpa: “It’s important to note that the South East governors are not against the choice of Mr Peter Obi but what Gov Dave Umahi and his colleagues are saying is that the Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has to discuss with the Governors on the fate of the geopolitical zone in respect of 2023 general election in the country.

Continuing Nwamkpa noted that the mistakes of the past where Ndigbo just endorsed successive Presidential candidates without a clear definition of the position of the South East should not be repeated at this point.

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“We have witnessed the election of Goodluck Jonathan and nothing was discussed about our people. We learnt that Atiku Abubakar is saying that he would go for only one tenure and we would like to know after that which of the zones would take over.

“So the stands of our Governors are not out of place. Gov Dave Umahi and the Governors of the South East are not against our brother, Mr Peter Obi. In fact, the choice of Obi is the best that Atiku Abubakar can have in PDP.

Nwamkpa urged the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Igbos Leaders of Thought and other pan Igbo organisations to see the position of the South East Governors Forum as such that is in the best interest of Ndigbo at large.

“If Atiku Abubakar is sure of what he is saying he has to discuss with us and have a concrete agreement with us because we all know that President Muhammadu Buhari has only one more tenure of four years before it gets to the South East while Atiku Abubakar has the constitutional right to go for second term.”

We urge the Ohaneze Ndigbo and other pan Igbo organisations to see reasons in what our Governors are demanding for.