Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Hon. Benjamin Kalu has said it is unfair to expect the Igbo people to wait 60 years to produce a president for just four years, citing proposals backed by opposition presidential candidate Peter Obi.
Kalu, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said any Igbo president should receive a full eight-year tenure, matching the two-term arrangement available to presidents from other regions.
“We can’t wait 60 years just to be president for four years,” Kalu said at an APC women’s rally in Enugu.
His comments come as Peter Obi, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, has said he would serve only one four-year term if elected, even as some South-East politicians have embraced that position as a way to broaden support for an Igbo presidency.
Kalu rejected the idea, arguing that previous promises made to the Igbo had not been fulfilled.
“Some people are going around telling us that they have made an agreement that Igbos will go for the presidency for four years,” he said.
“Even as Igbos, we have been promised things that never came true,” Kalu added.
He said that once the presidency rotates to the South-East, the region should be entitled to the same two-term period as other zones.
“Upon the rotation of the presidency to our zone, the Igbo people shall be accorded a complete eight-year tenure, identical to that granted to other regions,” he said.
