By PETER OKUTU
ENUGU—NATIONAL Chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, yesterday, declared the readiness of his party to field a presidential candidate in the 2015 general elections, in line with the collective desire of Ndigbo to produce the next president of the country.

Umeh, who spoke while receiving a delegation from the political office of the United States Consulate in Nigeria, said Igbos in the South East had remained the most cheated ethnic group in the country, especially in terms of the number of states and local government areas. He added that the persistent marginalization was principally caused by their involvement in the civil war.

He stated that the numerous agitations from difference ethnic groups in the country had underscored the urgent need to convoke a national conference to enable Nigerians hold a roundtable and seek ways of solving the nation’s problems.

His words: “This time around we (APGA) are going to field a Presidential candidate. The late Dim Chukwuemeke Odumegwu-Ojukwu was our presidential candidate twice in 2003 and 2007.

“In 2011 we didn’t field a presidential candidate because things were very fluid, but by 2015, I am sure, APGA will field a Presidential candidate and we are determined to fight for an Igbo man to become president of Nigeria under any arrangement possible, be it coalition.

“We must be prepared to work with some other political parties to form a coalition. In Germany what they have is a coalition government. Angela Merkel party controls just 34 percent and through coalition arrangement they are leading the country.

“So we want to see how APGA can engage in that type of process where our presidential candidate will also be available alongside  presidential candidates of other political parties and after the first round of election we see the performance of each party.

“Through negotiation we can pull our resources together , APGA, ACN, CPC and all the parties in opposition, we  should be able to give PDP a run in 2015.