Former Nigeria  Ambassador to Congo, Chief Greg Mbadiwe, has urged the people of the South East to openly declare support for President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2011 presidential elections.

He said a solid support for Jonathan by the people of the South East would brighten their prospect of occupying the plum position in future.

Mbadiwe, a lawyer and current chairman of National Bureau of Statistics, told newsmen in Abuja Friday that the passive stand of Igbos as regards the 2011 presidential election was not in their own interest.

“The South East should not tremble, neither should they equivocate. We must move forcefully to access power by supporting president Jonathan in 2011,” he submitted.

The former envoy posited that the emergence of Jonathan as president through democratic means in 2011 would send the right signal that Igbos could also be president.

According to him, the election of Jonathan would also break the myth of a particular section of the country holding power in perpetuity.

Said he, “Jonathan’s Presidency is a unifying factor in Nigeria . It is like the Obama’s Presidency when somebody from a disadvantaged area rose to the pinnacle of power in his country.”