Anthony Iwuoma
The race for who succeeds President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 has widened with the declaration of interest to run by the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim.
Anyim, who was also a former Senate President, made his intention known in an an interview with journalists at the Eagle Square, Abuja, during the ongoing national convention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, adding that the convention indicates the beginning of political activities for the 2023 electoral exercise.
He said his decision to run is regardless of whether the PDP zones the presidential slot to his South-east region or not.
The former SGF said: “Posters of my presidential bid and agitations by groups for me to contest flooded the social media in 2020 and I disassociated myself from such calls.
“I felt that it was too early for such a declaration, to enable the present administration to concentrate on governance.
“Such calls resurfaced in the early part of 2021 and I chose to be quiet over the issue.
“We currently have less than 18 months to the next elections, and I feel the time is ripe to indicate my interest.”
According to him, the party’s zoning committee was only tasked with zoning party positions and not other positions.
Therefore, he reasoned: “Zoning of such positions was deferred but nothing stops anyone from South-east Zone from contesting the presidency even if it is not zoned to it.“The most important thing is that the party’s national convention is a sort of rebirth for a group of people who have recovered from a setback. The party members are focused and determined.”
Anyim who was Secretary of the Federation under ex-president Goodluck Jonathan was recently invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for questioning over allegations of misappropriation of funds.