Ex-Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim insists the South East has yet to agree on a consensus candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant stated this on Tuesday in a Silverbird Television programme: “Real Talk”. The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation said although the South East presidential aspirants met recently and pledged to cooperate with one another, they did not take any decision on a consensus candidacy. Anyim said: “Aspirants from the South East met. The issue on the table now is not who becomes the candidate of the party (PDP) but where the presidential candidate should come from.
“The second issue is what qualifications should the candidate have? The qualification is not measured by academic qualification but by the experience of such a person, how much of the problems of the country the person knows and his capacity to confront the challenges facing Nigeria. “If you watched what we said the day we met, we didn’t talk about consensus. We avoided that word.
We said we are going to work together to ensure that a south easterner becomes the next President.” At a meeting of the four prominent aspirants from the South East on April 9, they resolved to work together to ensure that the region produces the PDP’s candidate for the presidential election. Anyim, who read the decisions taken at the meeting, said they also agreed to reach out to other zones on the issue on the basis of fairness and equity. The aspirants said the South East has always supported other zones and now expects them to reciprocate the gesture.
