By Victoria Ojeme
Abuja—Former Anambra State governor,  Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, has distanced himself from organizers of the South East Political Forum meeting, which was aborted in Owerri penultimate week.

Elder statesmen from the South East, including former Vice President, Chief Alex Ekwueme, and other members of the forum,  were prevented from holding a scheduled meeting by security operatives, leading to wide spread condemnation and controversy.

However, one of the names associated with the Forum, Chief Ezeife, in a chat with journalists last weekend, said he had since resigned his membership of the Forum.

According to him, “my name has deliberately been put in the publications of the Forum, even very long after I had withdrawn from the Forum. I withdrew from the Forum on August 12, when we met to review our 10th of August meeting with the Northern Group.

Despite denials by some members of the Forum that the aborted meeting was not intended to endorse a Presidential candidate, Ezeife insisted that one of the expected out come of the meeting would have been to endorse the outcome of a previous meeting between the Alhaji Adamu Ciroma led Northern leaders Forum and the Simon Okeke led South East Political Forum, in support of a Northern candidate for the 2011 Presidential elections.

The former Anambra governor further re-iterated his support for the President Goodluck Jonathan Presidency in 2011, saying that, it offers possible guarantees for an Igbo Presidency in 2015.

Said he, “The road to Igbo Presidency in 2015 is still open. For, with the election of Jonathan, by 2015 every geopolitical zone in the country shall have held the office of the president for at least five years.

“I call on my former colleagues to see the ugly situation in which we find ourselves and beat back. We should not pile damages upon damages obstinately worsening our situation.

Remember, nobody can deny that the South-South was first to approach the Southeast for discussion, even though they might not have appeared as desperate as the Northern group, and they didn’t have to” Okwadike Ezeife added.