By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, an umbrella body of youth groups in the South East region have urged Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to drop his presidential aspiration and support a candidate from the South East in the interest of fairness, equity and fair play.

The coalition insisted that all men of good conscience in the country should recognize the fact that it is the turn of the South East to produce the next president of the country and anything to the contrary would be “unacceptable to natural justice, equity and good conscience.”

The President General of COSEYL, Goodluck Ibem, in a statement made available to newsmen on Monday in Makurdi noted that Prof. Osinbajo was eminently qualified to run for the office as a citizen of Nigeria.

He, however, noted that “the current situation and political calculation favours the South East zone to produce the President of Nigeria having been the only zone in the Southern part of the country that has not produced a Nigerian President.

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“We all know that the concept of equity and zoning is to foster unity and eliminate all forms of bitterness and bad-blood among Nigerians. Therefore the zoning of the presidential ticket by the APC, PDP and other political parties to the South East remains the only way to restore peace and unity in the country.

“This is imperative at this time because most of our youths from the South East zone have lost faith in the Nigerian project because of the way the people of South East are being treated by the federal government. The year 2023 is the ample time to restore the faith of our youths in the Nigerian project.

“The truth is that it is morally wrong for Prof. Osinbajo to declare to contest for the office of the President now, when he is very aware of the political implications of his actions as a legal luminary.

“We call on him to drop his ambition and support a South East aspirant to emerge as the APC 2023 presidential candidate in the overall benefit and progress of the nation.

“The political class must realize that zoning the 2023 presidential ticket to the South East will help in no small measure to bring our country out of the woods because a South Easterner as President will put in his very best to ensure the survival of the country and we will all be happier for it.”

Vanguard News Nigeria