Posted by By Clifford Ndujihe on
LEADERS of the South-South geo-political zone have debunked a rumour gaining ground that they have entered into an alliance with....
LEADERS of the South-South geo-political zone have debunked a rumour gaining ground that they have entered into an alliance with one of the five other zones to produce a joint presidential candidate for the 2007 election.
Rising from an emergency meeting in Lagos at the weekend, the South-South Elders and Leaders Forum (SSELF) said their quest for the presidency was limited to the South-South.
"As part of the decisions taken at the Calabar meeting the SSELF reaffirmed that the South-South geo-political zone has not entered into any alliance with any zone to present a joint presidential candidate," the leaders said.
Southern leaders, at various meetings, had said that the next president should come either from the South-South or South-East, fuelling apprehension that both zones might field a joint candidate.
Hosted by Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, the SSELF chairman, the gathering was in furtherance of the meeting held in Calabar on June 23, which re-affirmed the Calabar Declaration of November 9, 2004 that outlined the South-South determination to produce the president in 2007, among others.
In this regard, South-South elders said they would approach prominent Nigerians and the political parties to explain their position.
The clarification came as the rank of those jostling for the presidential seat from the bloc swelled with the entry of former Chief of General Staff (CGS) Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe (rtd) and Chief Albert K. Horsfall into the race.
Horsfall, headed the defunct Oil Minerals Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC). The duo disclosed their intentions at the SSELF meeting.
Notable South-South leaders at the Lagos meeting included Chief Hope Harriman, Dr. Bolere Ketebu, Sir Michael Ogbeide Ihama, Dr. Emmanuel Nsan, Chief Godwin Ogbetuo, Akhigbe and Horsfall.
In a statement yesterday, Clark said Akhigbe and Horsfall's moves were in response to his appeal to South-South sons and daughters, who wished to contest the 2007 presidential polls to declare their intention.
He said an elaborate arrangement would be made for the duo to declare their aspiration "after due consultations with political parties."
Clark noted that Governors Victor Attah (Akwa Ibom) and Peter Odili (Rivers) had declared their interests in the office and called on more South-South politicians to do same.
Recently, two women groups in the zone, the South-South Women Organisation (SSWO) and Ijaw Women Forum (IWF) visited Horsfall and some South-South leaders and urged them to contest for the 2007 presidency.
Chief Mike Ozekhome, the chairman of the publicity committee of the SSELF, who said he was not at the weekend's meeting, confirmed Akhigbe's and Horsfall's entry into the presidential race.
"I was not at the meeting but I know that Akhigbe is contesting and Horsfall is running. There is truth to it. I think it is their constitutional right," he told The Guardian in an interview.