Movement for Justice and Equity/Solidarity for Election of President of Igbo Extraction, a human rights group with members across many countries, has tipped the former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, as the next president of the Senate.
Kalu is now a senator-elect on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), after he was declared winner of Abia North senatorial district, having polled the highest votes cast at the election.
Kalu
National President of the group, Chief Simon Chukwuemeka Ogonaezi, said: “Kalu is a vibrant, fearless and hardworking democrat, who always considers the interest of his people and not selfish interest.
“He is more than qualified to lead the new senate to the promised land, as he will work in synergy with President Muhammadu Buhari, to better the welfare of Nigerians.
“If elected the next senate president, it is also going to be an opportunity for Nigerians to enjoy the ingenuity bestowed on the Igbo man by God, towards development and progress in all aspects of the economy.”
Ogonaezi noted that since the assumption of president Buhari in office in 2015, the Igbo have not been appointed into any key positions.
“The president of the country, spresident and Speaker of the House of Representatives, all come from the North, while the vice president comes from South West, and as such, the South East is completely marginalised. We’ll not tolerate the unprecedented marginalisation of the area any further. The federal character reflection must be adhered to, to give the South East a sense of belonging.
“It is unfortunate that among the service chiefs, none comes from the South East, save for the compulsory constitutional statutory appointments that must reflect the federal character, like ministerial appointment.
“So, the choice of Kalu would douse tension and the marginalisation of the South East, and create room for the Igbo man to display that ingenuity that God created him with.”
The chairman reminded president Buhari that having been re-elected, he is not the president of APC, but Nigeria, and, as such, should do the needful, by ensuring that the marginalised South East is allowed to produce the senate president in the person of Kalu.
To buttress his point, he quoted late Chief M.K.O Abiola as saying, “no justice, no peace, any peace without justice is useless,” adding that “if what we are demanding was given to us, there would not have been agitation for a Biafran state,” he said.
