A former Abia State Governor, Orji Uzor Kalu and a presidential hopeful under the All Progressives Congress, APC, has officially pulled out of the 2023 Presidential election.
Kalu, the current Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, announced his withdrawal officially in a statement on Monday.
According to him, the decision to pull out of the race was instructed by the fact that the ruling APC will not be zoning the presidency to any region.
He said if a candidate of South-East extraction was not victorious in clinching the APC ticket, he would support a candidate from another part of the country.
Meanwhile, Kalu declared that he had picked his ticket to run for Abia North Senatorial zone.
His statement reads, “I congratulate my friend, former roommate and boss, Senator Ahmad Lawan, as he picks form to run for President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under our great party, All Progressives Congress, APC. I am most delighted because he is from the North-East, the only zone alongside the South-East that is yet to achieve President of Nigeria.
“I have always conserved an unmistakable stand that for justice, equity and fairness in our country, the next president of Nigeria after President Muhammadu Buhari should come from the South-East or the North-East.
“I have also told Nigerians that I would only run for president if the two major political parties APC and PDP zone their tickets to the South-East. That is why I was dissatisfied with our southern brothers who are talking about fairness and equity but has zero tolerance for the same fairness and equity in the South.
“I thank those who announced they have picked a presidential form for me because they meant well for Nigerians. However, since there is no zoning and the contest is open to all Nigerians, I officially withdraw from the presidential contest in 2023. I have also picked a ticket to run for the Abia North Senatorial zone and to complete the promising work I started in Abia North."