FORMER Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, is interested in the 2023 presidential poll and has promised to roll out activities to actualise the quest, soon.

Anyim spoke at his Abuja Residence when members of a socio-cultural Organisation, the Igbo Unity Forum, IUF, led by a former member of the House of Representatives, Chief U.S.A Igwesi paid him a solidarity visit immediately after his interface with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

He assured that he will contest for the presidency in 2023 not because of the Principle of zoning even though he believes in it but primarily because he is a Nigerian and is qualified to contest, using every known parameter.

Anyim noted that Nigeria needs a president with experience, capacity and humane disposition to provide leadership and unite the country as one indivisible united entity.

He expressed joy and hope in the quality of the members of the Igbo Unity Forum and urged them not to relent in their avowed determination to sensitize and enlighten the Igbo in that direction.

Reiterating his determination to serve the country in any capacity, Senator Anyim disclosed that he had been thinking about the presidential project and the group has energized it.

Consequently, Anyim said he will soon roll out drums in that direction and observed that the visit by the forum was not only timely but also auspicious especially now that the country is in dire need of an upright and tested character to steer her ship and provide leadership in all sectors of the nation’s economy.

He thanked the group made up of seasoned politicians, technocrats and business moguls for the visit and solidarity during and after his interface with EFCC, and commended the leader of the delegation, Chief U. S. A Igwesi, describing him as a man of few words and one not known for frivolities.

Speaking earlier, the forum urged Ndigbo of the South-East extraction aspiring for the presidential seat in 2023 to come out and throw their hats into the ring, and lamented that South-Easterners are not showing enough interests to contest for the top job like their counterparts in Northern parts of Nigeria even when the zone has been agitating that it is its turn to produce the next President of Nigeria.

They cautioned that the presidential seat cannot be served a la carte but requires continued engagement, lobbying and constant inter-facing with other ethnic nationalities to achieve results.

The group described Anyim as a cerebral politician with rich political antecedents and credentials having paid his dues in the political engineering and administration of the country when he was the Senate President, Chairman of the 4th National Assembly and SGF.

Another member of the delegation and a legal practitioner, Chief Ifeanyi Nwabueze extolled the virtues of the former Senate President, describing him as a child of destiny whose political antecedents have portrayed him as a tested and impeccable leader and a huge asset for the country.

Meanwhile, the youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has hailed Senator Anyim Pius Anyim over his declaration of interest for the 2023 presidential election.

Anyim is the only politician from the South-East who has announced interest to seek the office of the President in 2023.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the President-General of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide, OYC, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, he said Anyim had demonstrated courage and clear political vision.

While noting that power is not given but taken, Okwu said, “we are concerned that several Igbo politicians are still sitting on the fence waiting for someone to hand them over the seat of the President.

“Such a dream is dead on arrival and that is why we commend the former SGF, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim for having the courage to step out when others are still peeping through their holes.

“We call on any politician of Igbo extraction who has interest to speak up now or bury the ambition. Their lily-livered approach to politics will not work this time.”

The Ohanaeze group, however, cautioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, not to be used against politicians ahead of the 2023 general elections.

“The EFCC must resist the temptation of being used to cajole and harass politicians who may have one ambition or the other in 2023.

“We as Ndigbo will not accept a situation where any Igbo man or woman that shows interest in the presidential election will be chased around with the instrumentality of the EFCC,” Okwu cautioned.