The Pacesetter Frontier Magazine

Tag: 2023 presidency

  • Everywhere I go, I’m asked to contest 2023 presidential seat – Kalu

    Everywhere I go, I’m asked to contest 2023 presidential seat – Kalu

    Orji Uzor KaluThe Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, on Wednesday expressed his willingness to contest the 2023 presidential election only if Nigerians canvassed his candidature.

    The two-time governor of Abia State, however, said his ambition for now is to return to the Senate in 2023.

    The All Progressives Congress chieftain, who is representing Abia South Senatorial District at the red chamber, stated this during an interaction session with journalists after receiving traditional title of Kibiya (Arrow) of Argungu Emirate from the Emir, Alhaji Mohammed Mera.

    He said, “I don’t have Presidential ambition ahead of 2023 because my plan for now is to return to the Senate which to me. It is a very interesting place to mingle with other Nigerians and serve one’s father’s land.

    “There are only two zones that have not produce the President of Nigeria, including the North-East. I have never thought of running for Presidency.

    However, everywhere I go, everybody is asking me to contest in 2023. I have told the leadership of the Senate, my wife and my immediate family members, including my mother, that I want to come back to the Senate.

    “My mother’s breasts are two. I want to have the first and the second breast. My first four years in the Senate will end in 2023. I will like to do the second term and retire from politics to become a farmer.

    “Nigeria President is not what I want; they know how they arrange it, if the arrangement was done and I was picked; no problem.

    “It takes a lot of consultations. Other regions must agree that I should run, it could be possible because I have the capacity and ability to do the job giving to me by every Nigerian not by some people.”

    He, however said the unity of Nigeria should be the focus of all Nigerians now, than politics of 2023.

    On the violent secessionist move in the South East , he said, “The agitations in the south east need to be addressed or tackled out of politics by way of setting up a committee for required pacification.

    “The governors need to redouble their efforts in meeting those behind the agitations and violence just as the President needs to passionately listen to all concerned in the area, , he said.

    (punchng.com)

  • 2023 Presidency: Ohaneze pushes for Igbo President

    2023 Presidency: Ohaneze pushes for Igbo President

    APEX Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, yesterday, appealed to political parties in the country to zone its presidential tickets to the South East to pave way for a Nigeria president of Igbo extraction in 2023.

     

    It lamented that the South East remained the only zone, out of the six geo-political zones, that was yet to produce president of the country.

    The Igbo group said the task of national unity should be one of the core mandates of political parties, saying the continued marginalisation of the South East in the rotation of presidency was one of the reasons for the agitation in the zone.

    National Youths Leader of Ohaneze Ndigbo Worldwide, Mr. Damian Okafor, stated this in an interview in Abakaliki, where he said youth groups in the South East were unhappy with the level of political marginalisation of the zone. He said it was time the political marginalisation of the South East was brought to an end in the interest of the country’s peace and unity.

    He appealed to leaders of political parties to correct the injustice in 2023 by zoning their presidential tickets to South East.

    “It is believed that every political party in Nigeria should have the task of national unity as their core mandate and as such would do everything within their capacity to ensure the oneness of Nigeria. Nigeria as a country is currently challenged with the agitations of secession. Most of the agitations are based on provable points which all of us cannot shy away from. It is already a problem and all hands must be on deck towards proffering the desired solution.

    “Nigeria has six geopolitical zones and almost all the zones have produced the President except the South East. This was the same zone that the Nigeria government engaged in a civil war that last for about three years. The region was grossly damaged and there is urgent need to consider them in the zoning of the 2023 presidential election so that as significant progress can be recorded in the journey of healing the wounds and scars of the civil war.

    “Other regions should in interest of one Nigeria cede the position of the highest office in the land to the South East. I hereby call on the youths, elders and women who love this country to prevail on all the political parties in the country to zone the position of President to the people of South East. One indivisible Nigeria is more than anything individual, group or even political party goals.”

    Source: www.sunnewsonline.com

  • Atiku signifies interest for 2023 elections in leaked memo to PDP.

    Atiku signifies interest for 2023 elections in leaked memo to PDP.

    Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has appeared to have signified interest to run for the 2023 Presidential elections according to a leaked memo seen by NewsWireNGR.

    In the memo dated June 29, 2021, the Presidential aspirant expressed gratitude to the Peoples Democratic Party for their role in the 2023 elections and urged the party to gear up for the upcoming 2023 elections.

    “It is with utmost respect that I convey to you, my deep appreciation and profound gratitude for the overwhelming support and massive electoral votes cast to support our Party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and my candidature for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria during the 2019 general elections,” he said.

    “Now, we are better equipped, and all our compatriots must team-up today towards a new political and economic order that should radically reinvent our beloved country.

    “We are fully prepared to work in synergy to restore hope, pull Nigeria back from the brinks and relive the patriotic spirit of our founding fathers! I believe that together we would rebuild our broken fences, mend our cracked walls, restore hope, and return Nigeria to the path of greatness again. Surely, we can, and we must.”

    He further claimed that the party lost the 2019 Presidential election to President Muhammadu Buhari because of the “massive fraud perpetrated by the ruling Party (APC) using its strangulating hold on the National electoral system, your efforts would have produced one of the loudest expressions of political rejection of the ravages and abysmal decadence to which our beloved nation has descended, since 2015.”

    And since he lost the election, he has reflected on the country’s electoral processes and his Presidential ambition.

    This reflection showed that the very issues that urged him to vie for President like, “insecurity, poverty, educational decay with an alarming rate of out-of-school children, economic backwardness, socio-economic and environmental dislocation, marked by sweltering hubs of internally displaced persons, decadent infrastructures, absence of national cohesion, leadership failures arising from lack of capacity to galvanize our peoples’ energies and restore hope,” still exists in the country.

    Atiku further laid to rest speculations that he was planning to dump the party that gave him platform to contest the 2019 presidential election as a candidate. He said he had been in Dubai, UAE learning and equipping himself with skills needed to better fix the challenges the country is facing.

    “Several persons, particularly associates and compatriots may have felt frustrated, some have even privately expressed so, while others have publicly complained that we have left them without leadership guidance democratic forces who have visited severe stress on our political economy. I concede that individuals are justified to hold such opinions and even more. But they are not entirely correct,” he added.

     

    “I assuage these feelings. Yes, I may have been apparently out of regular physical presence in Nigeria. My absence was not completely deliberate. Rather, it was strategic, as I have kept close contact and monitored events in our polity, reviewing and studying the changing dynamics. In addition, I also tried to undertake personal educational improvement, equipping myself with new knowledge, capacity and skills that would methodically review the appalling situation. Our nation is indeed in the intensive care unit and would require delicate surgical procedures. We are all members of that surgical team.”

    (newswirengr.com)

  • Kogi State Governor Declares his Intention to contest and Succeed President Mohammed Buhari in 2023

    Yahaya Bello

     

     

    Weeks after his posters surfaced in some states of the country, Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello, declared at the weekend that he would contest to succeed President Muhammad’s Buhari in 2023.

     

    The governor said his ambition is predicated on calls by Nigerian youths, women, the less-privileged, among others.

     

     

     

    Bello, at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, however, noted that he would not jump the gun, but wait for the “official time” to formally join the race.

     

    “I don’t refer to this as my presidential ambition. It is the ambition of the youths, the younger generation, the women, the less-privileged, the deprived and the oppressed in the society.

     

    “These are the people calling me to come and serve, to run and contest for president in 2023 and in order that I don’t run foul of the law, I am waiting for an appropriate time to officially give the nod to that call.

     

     

     

    “And, as a matter of fact, because I belong to that constituency, humble background, young, and I’m seeing exactly the less-privileged, the oppressed, the needy and quest for good governance in Nigeria, I don’t think when the time comes, I am going to turn the request down. I won’t turn it down; surely.”

     

    He equally dismissed calls by some high-ranking members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to respect the zoning arrangement with regards to the presidential ticket, between the North and South.

     

    “There’s no zoning arrangement in our party; none that is existent that I know. If we want unity, if we want togetherness, let’s jettison all that divides us.

     

    “I believe the younger generation has the antidote to fix the country because it’s only with the youths that there’s nothing like north or south or I am a Muslim or Christian.

     

    “The focus should be on what unites us. In Nigeria, today, I’m more concerned about the unity of Nigerian youths and the younger generation. I think we should tread carefully on that.

     

    “In 2015, nowhere was it zoned to the north; everybody contested, including Rochas Okorocha, who contested against Mr. President. In the People’s Democratic Party, same, and in other political parties.

     

    “In 2019, nobody was willing to come and challenge Mr. President. It wasn’t as if anybody was deprived (of the opportunity) and so in 2022 election, it should be for everybody, let everybody contest, let the best emerge, the best that Nigeria would be proud of tomorrow,” he said.

     

    On the issue of ‘flying kites on his presidential ambition’ before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has officially opened the gate, he jocularly retorted: “I don’t fly kites! I fly planes.”

     

    He reiterated that he “would continue to be a lone voice in insisting that there is no Coronavirus“ in his state; even if  it is deemed controversial.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Source: www.sunnewsonline.com

  • 2023 Presidency: Moghalu declares his intentions to make a second run for the presidency

     

    A former presidential candidate, Kingsley Moghalu, says he’s making consultations on a second run for the presidency in 2023.

    Kingsley Moghalu

     

     

    As a candidate of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), the former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) contested in the 2019 presidential election but won less than 22,000 votes.

     

    The 58-year-old promptly left the YPP and partisan politics to focus on electoral reform and voter education with a non-partisan platform called To Build A Nation (TBAN).

     

    Moghalu said in a statement on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 that he’s already thinking about running again in 2023 to give Nigeria a competent leader.

     

    “Will make my decision known when it’s final. And it won’t be 12 months to the election. Lessons learned.

     

    “Nigeria needs a modern leader for the 21st century. Someone New. Different. Bold,” he said.

     

    The political economist noted that an important criteria for choosing Nigeria’s next president should be competence.

     

    However, he also hinted that the regional rotation of the presidency should finally be allowed to favour a candidate from his south east region to promote inclusivity.

     

    “The key is to put competence first, and then look for it in a part of the country that has not been given the opportunity that has been given others,” he said.

     

    The Anambra native said he’s got assurances from voters in 2019 that they would vote for him when it was the turn of his region to take the mantle of the nation’s leadership.

     

    Nigeria has never had a president from the south east region, even though its Igbo population is one of the nation’s major three.

     

     

     

    Source: www.pulse.ng