News Editor
Peter Jerome.
The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) had on Sunday made a unanimous call to the leading political parties in the country to file in a candidate from the south as their respective party candidate for the 2023 presidential elections. This was part of their resolutions at an expanded meeting of the group held on Sunday in Abuja.
In the meeting chaired by chaired by Elder statesman, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, OFR, CON, the group exhaustively discussed various issues about the State of Affairs in the country, particularly, bordering on the Security, National Dialogue, Restructuring, and the preparations for the 2023 General Elections.
While Condemning the cavalier attitude of the federal government towards the resolutions of the Governors of Southern States at their Meeting, held in Asaba, Delta State on 11th May 2021; as it pertains to ban on open grazing and restructuring, the group Insists that cattle rearing is a generally, private business enterprise, as such, the Federal Government should avoid committing state resources to promote any particular business, beyond providing the enabling environment, in the performance of its regulatory roles. Emphasizing that, if the security situation is not dealt with and banditry stopped or reduced to the barest minimum, it would not be feasible to have proper elections in 2023.
The meeting had in attendance leaders of various socio-cultural organizations as follows: Afenifere, for the Southwest; Ohanaeze Ndigbo, for the South East; Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), for the South-South and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF), for the Middle Belt, also in attendance, were former Governors, Ministers and Members of the National Assembly, from the respective Zones.
