By James Jibril
A group, the South-South Presidency in 2023 has debunked a report in some section of the media alleging that former President Goodluck Jonathan has accepted to run for president of the country in 2023 during a meeting that the former president held with the group.
The National Coordinator of the group, Chief Dikivie Ikiogha, who is also a political associate of Goodluck Jonathan, made the statement on Monday during a conversation with newsmen, even as he said the South-South region has one tenure left in the presidency.
A report published on Monday has said that the former President has accepted to contest for the president of the country in 2023. The report further said that Jonathan met with his coordinators across South-South and charged them to return home for mass mobilisation for the 2023 elections.
The report also stressed that move to reconcile the former President with the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi by the group is currently on.
While debunking the report, Ikiogha noted that his group, which is pushing for a South-South Presidency in 2023, only visited the former president to share their mission with him as a political father of the region.
He, however, said that his group will ensure that any political party that presents a candidate from the zone as vice president will not get the support of the region.
Ikiogha stated, “I have seen a publication credited to the group, saying that the former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan has accepted to run for the presidency. That is not correct. We will be happy. Anybody who wants to run for the presidency from South-South, we will be very happy about it.
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“When it has not happened and people want to put the record in a wrong way that is not good.
“So we have been visiting people, making consultations here and there and visiting people, Just as we visited any other people or aspirants or suspected aspirants, we also visited him (Jonathan). And he cannot of course push us out. He is the father of South-South politics today.
“Obasanjo called him recently, his colleague. So if we want to take a major decision that concerns the South-South, there is no way we cannot meet him and sell our idea to him, which we did.
“That is the stand of the South-South Presidency in 2023. That it is our turn to present the next President. We want to complete our tenure. We have one tenure left.
“If we are going to be united and move ahead, move together in this country, whether we are minority or not, we should be given a chance to complete our tenure before we can call ourselves brothers.”
When asked if the South-South Presidency in 2023 has begun moves to reconcile Jonathan and the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, Ikiogha said it was not a major concern of the association, saying “they should decide to reconcile each other.
“What we are saying is that if anybody among them, just accept to become vice-president and become this or that and not the President. We will not be happy with that person.
“We have told them that nobody should accept the chairmanship of a party or a vice-presidential candidate of a party. So if anybody wants to come out, we have the political know-how to run that political party down.”
