The ambition of the former senate president, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim to contest for the office of the president in the 2023 presidential election has received a fresh boost as a coalition of groups from Southern Kaduna and Niger Delta regions have thrown their supports behind him.
They group however pointed out to him that they will withdraw their support, any time they develop an inkling that the former President of Senate is playing a second fiddle game.
But the former senate president assured both groups that he will only contest for the Presidency of Nigeria, under the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, or nothing else.
In their respective delegations to Anyim at the weekend, the groups respectively urged him to stand firm in the contest and pleaded with him not to back down or play a second fiddle role.
Led by Professor Dogara Mato for Southern Kaduna and Joseph Opuma of Niger Delta, respectively, the groups pledged to remain resolute with him to the end.
Boosting their confidence, Anyim said, “I am only contesting for the office of the president and nothing else.”
He told the delegations that his confidence was buoyed by the enormous strides his party, the PDP, had made in the institution of Democracy in Nigeria, reminding the Niger Delta group that the PDP established the Niger Delta Amnesty program and ensured that it was nurtured to a very successful end.
According to him, the majority of the ex-Militants today from the Niger Delta are successful doctors, Engineers, politicians etc, adding that he made personal sacrifices to ensure the success of the exercise under former President Goodluck Jonathan administration.
Anyim said that the humane approach of leadership adopted by PDP which yielded a huge result in the Niger Delta experiment will be replicated under his administration if elected.
According to him, “Whenever you take your citizens as citizens and give them reasons to be resourceful, I am convinced they will surely become patriotic. My administration will harness the diversities of the country, run inclusive governance, give everyone a sense of belonging and weld the divergent interests together into a huge asset.”
He reminded them too that in addition to their hopes, that the resolutions of the Southern governors that the presidency must go to the South have added another impetus to his struggle.