Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, Chief Edwin Clark, has again reiterated his advocacy for a southern president to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.
Clark, who is a core advocate for a Southern president in 2023, noted that Nigeria will not remain a country if zoning is not respected.
The Ijaw National Leader, said the South East is deserving of the apex seat of power in the country, arguing that the North has been unfair to them.
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In an interview with Arise TV, Clark regretted that former military Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, should have allowed the Igbo nation to secede at the start of the civil war in 1966.
Clark particularly called on the ruling All Progressive Congress to zone its presidential ticket to the South East.
“My idea of zoning the Presidency to the South-East is well-known. No Nigerian will like to live in a country where certain people believe that they have the only right to lead. The APC believes the 12 million votes by President Muhammadu Buhari might be eroded if it is zoned to the South. The PDP is also considering zoning to the North. This is unfair.
“Nigeria stood on three legs, and it has never been steady since one of the legs was destroyed during the Civil War. I unpacked all these facts in my forthcoming memoir ‘Brutally Frank’,” Clark stated.
The former Minister of Information said there was no moral justification to keep a people unfairly treated in the country.
He stressed that the South East must be treated with a true sense of belonging.
Clark noted that it was unacceptable for a region to have a domineering spirit because of its population adding that those opposed to a South-East presidency in 2023 were ready to see the end of Nigeria.
“Gowon should have allowed the Igbos to go if they are to be treated as second class citizens. If zoning which will heal the wounds is not done, there will be no Nigeria. Nobody will remain in this country as a second class citizen.
“The North believes their population can be used to oppress other Nigerians. This is not acceptable. The era of that has gone. There are many good Northerners but the Fulani-oriented ones want to dominate everywhere.”
