Orji Uzor-Kalu, Senate Chief Whip, has stated that he has not dropped his presidential bid for 2023, as several media outlets have claimed.
He stated that he would run for the All Progressive Congress presidential ticket if the party zoned it to the South-East.
Kalu, who clarified a remark he issued on Tuesday, insisted that equity necessitated that the South East be supported for the APC presidential ticket.
He said, “My stand is very clear, I didn’t drop my presidential ambition and I will never drop it.
“I only urged our brothers from the South-South and South-West geo-political zones who came out en masse to contest for the office of the president to drop their ambition and support us because of equity.
“If we are talking about equity, the presidential ticket should be zoned to the South-East being the only zone that has not tested power since 1999.We can’t have people from South- South and South-West running when we are talking about equity.
“Former president Goodluck Jonathan, was vice, and later president for six years. Former president Olusegun Obasanjo was president for eight years and Prof Yemi Osibanjo is going to be vice president for eight years again.
“So if there is anything called equity and justice, it should be support for the South-East and unless that support is given to us, every other zone in the country should contest for presidency in 2023 including people from Buhari’s village.
“We are negotiating for them to support us, because I know there’s no single aspirant that the president, Buhari, has told to run for presidency. I know him and his antecedent, Buhari can never tell anybody that he would make him president.
“He will always tell people who go to him to consult with their people. I have not told him that I want to run for presidency because it has not been zoned to the South East”.
Kalu also enjoined politicians seeking various political offices in the country to put the peace and unity of the country above their ambitions.
He insisted that no meaningful progress could be made in the country in absence of peaceful coexistence of the Nigerian people.