The South East APC Integrity Group has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) to integrate the South East geopolitical zone into the affairs of the party if it hopes to retain power post 2023.
Convener of the group, Dr Chinedu Jideofor-Ogbuagu, said the APC won both the 2015 and 2019 general elections because of the strong personality of Buhari.
He said the only way the APC will make an in-road into the South East is if the zone is integrated into the party.
“Over 50 per cent of the APC votes in 2015 and 2019 are because of the Buhari factor. Nobody should expect that all those millions of votes will still hold without Buhari himself as APC candidate in 2023. From where will APC make up the millions of votes expected without Buhari candidature?
“If APC will retain power and gain grounds at the end of President Buhari’s tenure on 29th May, 2023, we must re-strategise and a crucial part of that re-strategising must be to court Igbo votes for its potential absolute strength, which some estimate to be about 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the entire Nigerian electorate, as well as their spread in all states of Nigeria. We only need to persuade Igbo to register to vote and make APC most attractive to the South-Easterners in the South-East and all other Nigerian states plus Abuja.