Senate President Ahmad Lawan and chief whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, on Thursday visited Katsina as part of consultations ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Mr Kalu, in a statement by his media office said, “If there is any zone that understands the pains of South-Eastern Nigeria for being shut out of the presidential seat, it is its counterpart, the North-East.

The visit came ahead of the APC presidential primary scheduled to hold on May 29.

According to Mr Kalu, the two zones have yet to produce a president despite having the most capable hands to govern the country.

“I believe in regional zoning and I will continue to repeat it as long as the issue of equity, fairness and justice is concerned,” said the former Abia governor. “My reason is not only because it worked in 1999 when all the parties zoned their presidential tickets to the South-West, but because it is the only true definition of fairness and equity.”

He added that his clamour for the South-East to produce the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure “was borne out of the enormous clamour and desire for the development and strengthening of our dear nation.”

“I have also maintained that anything less than South-East must be North-East, otherwise it is hypocrisy and wickedness,” said the senator. “The South-East has given its full support to the South-West and the South-South and when it got to the turn of the South-East, the language changed to ‘power is not given but taken’.”

Mr Kanu lamented the lack of support for the South-East to produce the next president and said he would throw his weight behind a North-East presidential aspirant.

“In the absence of this clear non-agreement of the southern brothers to support zoning of the tickets to the South-East, I wielded my support to the North-East with the hope that justice is closer to the South-East,” he reasoned.

Mr Lawan is from the North-East and is seeking to be APC presidential candidate for the 2023 general elections.

(NAN)