South West has no moral obligation to support Igbo presidency – Olu Falae

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae says the South West has no moral obligation to support zoning the presidency to the South East.

In an interview with The PUNCH, Falae who was the Alliance for Democracy presidential candidate in the 1999 presidential election said the South East did not also concede to the South West to produce the presidential candidates in 1999.

He said while it was equitable to support the South East because they are one of the zones yet to produce the president, there is nothing stopping the South West from also taking a shot at the nation’s number one seat.

“The second point I want to make is the attitude of the South-West because some of our leaders are saying all the South-West aspirants should stop aspiring. All I want to say is that, without prejudice to their rights to ask for the Presidency, I want to say that the South-West did not produce the President with the assistance of the South-East.

“In 1999, there were two presidential candidates, one PDP, then one from the AD/APP alliance. By the grace of God, I was the candidate for the AD/APP alliance. The South-East didn’t concede my nomination in the AD/APP alliance. The extended executive of the AD had to vote for me when I received opposition from Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife. He contested the nomination with me, and I had to defeat him to become the candidate. In the PDP, General Obasanjo had to defeat Ekwueme in the Jos convention. Neither Ekwueme nor Ezeife representing the South-East conceded the two parties’ nomination to Obasanjo or me. The South-East did not concede it to us. They fought us, and we had to defeat them.

“I am saying that the South-West can support the South-East in the name of equity, but it has no moral obligation to do that. We can still support them because we are very fair-minded people. All I’m saying is that we are not morally obliged that when they are running, we should support them,” Falae said.

“I expect that the South-East will have a fair chance to ask for the Presidency of Nigeria because the President has not come from the South-East in recent times. I said in recent times.

“Yes, for national unity and peace, but the South-East is not the only zone that has not produced the President in recent times. There are six zones now, and in the recent past, the zones that have produced the President seem to be the North-West, the South-West, and the South-South. The North-Central, North-East, and the South-East have not produced a President in recent times, so there are three zones in that regard.

“We all have equal rights to ask for the number one seat if we want to be fair. If we want to use the North and South arrangement, it’s two (North and South). I insist it must come to the South because the present President is from the North.

“However, if we are talking of zones within the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria, then we cannot limit it. We must look at all the zones that have not produced the President.”