Southeast: voting with an eye on the presidency

The South states returned the highest number of votes for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the recent elections.

But it is apparently with an eye on the nation's presidency in 2015 that the South east voted strongly for the PDP.

For the citizens and political actors in the South east, voting for President Goodluck Jonathan is more than a civic duty. It is an investment in the political future of the region.

The southeast is now the only geo-political zone in Nigeria that has not occupied the presidency since the return of civil rule in 1999.

In the run up to the 2011 election, President Jonathan had pledged support for the Southeast's presidential aspiration but urged them to first guarantee his own election.

The South east rose up to the challenge and President Jonathan got his wish. The PDP now controls three of the five states in which elections were conducted in the region. A fourth could be added when elections are concluded in Imo State on May 6.

But a presidential pledge is not a statement to be slightly esteemed; so the Ibos of the southeast are already on the count-down to cash in on the promise come 2015.