According to Punch newspaper, a Niger Delta activist and spokesperson for the Ijaw Republican Assembly, Ms. Annkio Briggs, has downplayed the decision of the All Progressives Congress not to pick a South-South running mate for its presidential candidate, Maj.-Gen. Muhammed Buhari (retd.).
The APC, on Wednesday, named a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Lagos State, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as its vice-presidential candidate.
Top contenders for the slot from the South-South were Governors Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Adams Oshiomhole of Edo.
Briggs, in an interview with SUNDAY PUNCH, described the absence of a South-South vice-presidential candidate in the APC as irrelevant, as President Goodluck Jonathan is from the region.
She said, “I am not a member of the APC, and whoever they choose as their running mate is up to them. But for me, I will not support the party. I don’t see the logic in having a vice-president from the South-South when we already have a South-South president.
“Amaechi was supposedly elected as Governor of Rivers in 2007 on the platform of the PDP and again in 2011. All the while, there was development in the region because the resources were being used to benefit the people.
“It wasn’t until he defected to the APC that we stopped enjoying the resources of Rivers State.
“I don’t see how the APC’s choice of a vice-presidential candidate from the South-South would have been of any benefit to us. We are happy to have a South-South indigene as President,” she said.
Credit: Punch