TheCable

A group known as the South-East Patriots (SEP) has asked Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers state, not to run for the office of the president.

Last week, the Rivers governor said he does not think anyone is more qualified than him to be president in 2023.

“I don’t even know if you want to talk about the presidency,” he had said.

“For someone of my kind and my record as a governor and as a minister, I don’t see anybody who will tell me that he is much more qualified than me.”

But addressing a press conference in Abuja, on Tuesday, Obunike Ohaegbu, SEP convener, said it will be “self-serving” if Wike runs for president.

Ohaegbu said political parties should either zone their presidential tickets to either the south-east or the north-east — the region where former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar hails from.

“We believe that it would be insensitive to the agitation of the south-east for anyone in the south-south or south-west to present themselves for the presidency at this time,” the convener said.

“We in the SEP will consider such aspiration as being offensive to the sensitivities of the people of the south-east. We consider it a fraud on the people of the south-east in particular and Nigeria in general.

“Worse still, it would be ridiculous and totally self-serving if Governor Wike presents himself for the 2023 presidential election. We strongly plead and say, Wike, do not run.

“We need to categorically repeat that we in SEP are committed to ensuring the emergence of the president of Nigeria from the south-east extraction in 2023.

“However, we are also aware that nobody from the north-east has led Nigeria since 1970.”