By Peter Okutu
ABAKALIKI — ONE of the groups established to drum up support for the presidential ambition of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Arc. Namadi Sambo in next year’s general elections, Jonathan/Sambo Vanguard, JSV, said yesterday that it had the capacity, political will and resourcefulness to ensure that General Ibrahim Babangida, former Vice President Abubakar Atiku and others do not win at polls.

The group emphasised that the emergence of Dr. Jonathan as the incumbent president of Nigeria was a clear indication that the time for change in the rulership of the country had come.

It added that the pedigree of the president gave him the political edge over other presidential aspirants contesting in 2011 general elections.

National Secretary of Jonathan/Sambo Vanguard, JSV, Ikem Cecil Ohanugo, who was in Abakaliki on a one-day working visit to the organisation, noted that other presidential aspirants already had their fair share in the rulership of the country.

It pointed out that if they were allowed to chinch power again, it meant the country was yet to experience any form of political growth.

He said:  “Other aspirants should await their turn in the political scenario of this country. The pedigree of the president gives hope for the common man.

“If we continue to allow other aspirants to rule us,  that means that there is no growth in this country.”
Ikem strongly advised that the whole idea of zoning in the country should be discouraged as it remained the constitutional right of every citizen of the country to be elected into any public office during elections.

On the challenges facing the organization, Ikem said they were still battling with the problem of financial limitation, adding that some callous and self fish politicians had made bold effort to hijack the organization for their own selfish interest.

“The whole idea of zoning should be discouraged in this country. Everybody has the right to vote and be voted for.
“Political position is not the birth right of any ethnic group. As a body, we are faced with the constraint of finance but not withstanding, we will keep pushing on because we know that our cause is a legitimate one,” he said.