2015 IS THE TURN OF IGBO - ATIKU

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar yesterday said that the Igbo deserve to produce the president of Nigeria in 2015. He said they should allow the new alliance between them and the North to work for 2011 polls so that they can take their turn in 2015.

Abubakar, who spoke at the a lecture to celebrate Nigeria’s 50 years of independence at the Enugu Sports Club, Enugu, Enugu State, asked the Igbo not to allow the 2015 opportunity to slip past them. He said: "Some 40 years after the civil war, it is about time that someone who is Igbo, one of Nigeria ’s three largest ethnic groups, became president of Nigeria. This will be the boldest way to put the civil war behind us.

"That is why I fully support the agreement recently signed between the Northern leaders and the leaders of the South East. As agreed, the South East would support the North in 2011 to complete the remaining four years of its eight - year tenure, while in turn, the North would support the South East to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2015.

"This is the first time such an agreement for power rotation has been written and signed and made public. Again, I support that agreement. It is in writing, it was widely publicised and I want to be held to it". He said although all sections of the country have had experiences to complain, South-East has been acknowledged by most other sections of the country and that every government has a duty to address the situation in the South-East