TheCable

A group known as the Igbo Leadership Development Foundation (ILDF) says it approached a court to compel all political parties to zone their presidential ticket to the south-east ahead of the 2023 polls.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Godwin Udibe, ILFD chairman, particularly asked the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone their tickets to the south-east.

“May we also use this opportunity to appeal to the two leading political parties namely the PDP and the APC, to complete their actions on rotation by zoning their presidential tickets to south and particularly to the south-east, the only zone yet to produce the president of Nigeria since 1999, and indeed since after the civil war,” Udibe said.

“The PDP particularly needs not to be reminded that they wrote the principle of rotation of presidential power between north and south Nigeria into their constitution since 2009 and must obey their own rule to avoid litigation.

“By the way, may we also inform you that ILDF has made good its threat to go to court on the issue of rotation of presidential power and we are in the federal high court with the political parties on this subject matter.”

The chairman asked Peter Obi, former Anambra governor, to run for the office of the president.

“We will not end this press conference without advising and appealing to his Excellency Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to forget his perennial presidential ambition and support the south-east that have supported him,” he said.

“We extend the same appeal to His Excellency Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the Jagaban, and to any other aspirant from the southern part of the country, to also shelve their presidential ambition for the sake of southern solidarity and to support the south-east that has always supported them.”