Former Governor of Anambra State and the Presidential aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Peter Obi on Monday, said the South East region must be allowed to produce the next President of the country.

Obi insisted that, for the sake of equity, justice and respect for the zone, a president of Igbo extraction must be allowed to rule the nation.

He stated this during a meeting with the delegates of the PDP from Ogun state and other leaders of the party at the PDP secretariat in Abeokuta, Ogun state.

The former governor while addressing the delegates and party leaders urged them not to allow money and sentiment influence them at the primaries.

He said he remained committed to building a better Nigeria that every Nigerian will be proud of.

Obi, who was accompanied by Dr. Doyin Okupe, declared that Nigeria is in crisis and he remained the best candidate to take Nigeria out of the doldrums.

He said, “Let me assure you that my commitment is to building a better Nigeria, my desperation is to see Nigeria better than it is today. We cannot continue the way Nigeria is today.

“What we want to say is that a nation must be built on fairness, must be built on equity, must be built on respect for each other and we in the South East are saying we too should be allowed to serve and I assure you that that opportunity will change Nigeria.

“No country with 33 percent unemployment and 65 percent underemployment will survive. 60 percent of this unemployed and underemployed are among the youths, the most productive population of the country and in their young age are doing nothing.

“Today, our country is owing people pension, they don’t pay people gratuity. Our schools are closed, our universities have been closed now and nobody is saying anything. There are 15 million out-of-school children, the drug prevalence among our youths today is the highest in the world. We must change the situation.”