Former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, has said the Southeast cannot produce a president of Nigeria without building political alliances with other regions.
Anyim said this was one of the reasons he left the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and joined the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Speaking on Arise News, Anyim said political support from other regions would be necessary for any presidential ambition from the Southeast to succeed.
“The President is entitled to a second term; after his term, the rotation goes to the North, and then it will come to the Southeast. You need to support others so they will support you,” he said.
Explaining his decision to join the APC, Anyim said his primary consideration was finding a political platform that could advance the interests of the Southeast.
“So, in choosing which party to go to, I had to weigh the party that would serve that primary interest. The experience we gathered from that process, from that context, the experience I personally gathered, is that no person from the Southeast would make it in isolation,” he said.
Anyim added that political cooperation across regions was essential for the Southeast to achieve its presidential ambition.
“We must have an alliance with other regions in order to make it. So, there is no amount of effort from each and every one of us that will make it possible for us to become president if we do not have an alliance with other regions,” he said.
He said the same political reality applied to other regions, adding that he concluded that the APC was better positioned to serve the interests he had prioritised.
“The President has taken it from the Southwest. After his second term, I believe in rotation. Of course, it will go to the North. Then, after the North, it will come down. In other words, after eight years, it will come down to the Southeast,” Anyim said.
Anyim is among Southeast politicians who have joined the APC and declared support for President Bola Tinubu’s second term. His position comes amid preparations by political parties and groups for the 2027 presidential election.
