IGBO PRESIDENCY IN 2015 NON-NEGOTIABLE – OBI
Director-General of the Gen. Mohammed Aliyu Gusau presidential Campaign Organisation, Chief Ben Obi has said that a president of Igbo extraction in 2015 was non-negotiable. In pursuit of this dream, he revealed that all presidential aspirants of Northern origin on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had pledged to serve only one term in office, from 2011 to 2015.
Obi made the remarks while speaking with journalists in Lagos at the weekend. He said the zoning formula of the PDP was sacrosanct since it was designed in the first place to enthrone equity and address perceived neglect of some zones in the political leadership of the country.
Obi said it was regrettable that President Goodluck Jonathan, who was a product of thearrangement, had chosen to go against it, without regard to the unity and stability of the country.
'It was by providence that he represented his boss, DSP Alamieyeisegha, at the meeting in 2002 and signed the rotation document. The records are there. Audu Ogbeh is a disciplined articulate leader, whose administrative acumen and capacity to keep records is not in doubt,' he explained. Obi, who was the running mate to former Vice President, Abubakar Atiku in his quest for the presidency in 2007, under the Action Congress, AC (now Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN), gave reasons why they were no loner together.
According to him, the former National Security Adviser(NSA), Gusau, approached him long before he returned to the office and intimated him of his desire for him to manage his presidential campaign in the 2011 elections.
He ruled out insinuations that his choice of Gusau stemmed from the affinity of their intelligence background, adding that his relationship with Atiku remained cordial.
On the consensus candidacy arrangement being worked out by the leading four Northern presidential aspirants under PDP, he said they had all decided that agreements reached was binding on all of them. He said: 'I know the four aspirants very well. The Directors-General of their campaign organisations have met and agreed on the binding nature of the arrangement. After that, they also met and agreed that it is irrevocable. We are pursuing it very seriously.'
The former senator expressed optimism that Gusau would emerge the consensus candidate, due to his track records, experience and commitment to the Nigerian dream. Dismissing skepticisms about his age, 67, which some people argue posed a major barrier to his ascendancy to the seat, Obi said 'age comes with wisdom.'