Let South Have Presidency In 2023- Adebanjo, Yakassai ,Clark

AS race for the 2023 Presidency begins in earnest, some prominent Nigerians have canvassed power shift to the South. Those who took the position include elder statesmen, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo Adebanjo; a chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kano State, Brig-General Idris Dambazzau, retd, and National Chairman of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga, rtd.Second Republic lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed, Chief Bode George, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, Chief Supo Shonibare and Senator Femi Okorounmu also spoke in like manner.

In fact, most of the leaders in the South-South contended that the Presidency should be narrowed to the South-East which, according to them, has never had a taste of the office. Although Alhaji Yakassai noted that zoning of the Presidency to any particular region of the country was at the discretion of political parties, he said the South should be given the opportunity to produce the next President, since the North would have concluded its eight years run in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. His words: “Rotation or zoning is not sacrosanct; it is a party’s arrangement among members because it is not in the Nigerian constitution. So it is up to members of the party to decide where the Presidential candidate should come from. “The APC produced Buhari for second term and by the end of the term, he has completed eight years. So it is ideal for the party to respect and stick to the zoning arrangement on ground and look for a presidential candidate from the South. “The PDP fielded Atiku Abubakar as its presidential candidate in 2019. So, I don’t know what will happen to the PDP and other parties.” South should produce next President –  Dambazzau Speaking in a similar vein,  Brig. Gen. Idris Bello Dambazzau, retd, said the Presidency should go to the South in 2023, based on zoning arrangements in the political parties. “It depends on the political parties. You know the parties have zoning arrangements. But for the APC, since the North-West produced the President this time around, next is supposed to be the South.“South-West should produce the next president because APC government was an alliance of North-West, North-East, South-West and part of Middle-Belt. So, the Vice President should automatically be next APC candidate. “For the PDP, since there is zoning, they should zone theirs to maybe South, Atiku’s running mate was from South-East. So going by zoning arrangement, the South (South-West or South-East) is supposed to produce the next president. And then the Vice President should now come from the North-East or North-Central.” Competence better than zoning – Junaid Mohammed, Akintoye On the other hand, another prominent Northern leader, Dr Junaid Mohammed, said he was more concerned about competence than zoning of the presidency. “Frankly speaking, if you have read what I have been saying since I have been in politics in Nigeria since 1978-79, this question would not have arisen. Because I definitely have a viewpoint, I have explained that viewpoint, I see no reason I should continue to repeat myself for almost 30 to 40 years. “The question should be directed to those who believe they can produce leaders by simply shifting from one place to another or from one quarter to another and do not want to talk about ideology or principles which under-rate their stance as far as political matters are concerned. “I want to know, what are the advantages to be derived by having a president or the head of government from one part of the country or another? I believe Nigeria should be ruled by a competent Nigerian, irrespective of his tribe, region or religion,” he averred. President of the Yoruba World Congress, YWC, Professor Banji Akintoye, shared Junaid’s views. “You will be surprised by my answer;  I don’t particularly care where the President comes from or who he is,” he said. It should come from South but we need restructuring– Adebanjo On his part, Afenifere chieftain, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, said: “It should go to the South, that is not debatable. Let us not deceive ourselves, the South should have it and when it comes to the South, the question we will now ask is where should we go from there? “We need to review the constitution because the constitution is awkward. I don’t want anyone to divert my attention. I am glad that Olusegun Obasanjo and others have realized what I have been talking about. Let us agree to mount pressure on Buhari to restructure the country now. That is the way forward.” Let’s give South-East a chance – Ebenezer Babatope Similarly, former Transport Minister and PDP chieftain, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said: “As far as I am concerned, what will make Nigeria work is to ensure the Presidency goes round the country. “As it is now, the South-East is yet to be allowed to produce a President but this is not compulsory because the political parties have a right to do what they want. “I think, in all fairness, we should allow the South-East to produce the President but if that is not possible by the calculation of the political parties, they should ensure that justice and fairness dominate what they want to do in terms of zoning the presidency. I belong to the PDP and I believe the PDP will allow justice and fair play to play out.” Nothing novel about zoning – Shonibare On his part, Chief Supo Shonibare, another Afenifere stalwart, said zoning the presidency to the South is the ideal thing but was quick to state that there is the need for restructuring of the country. He said: “What is really critical is restructuring. We have had Southern Presidents so there’s nothing novel about another one emerging but we are also witnesses to the fact that this has not enabled us achieve the necessary growth in development or addressed security issues, nor a solution to our diverse economic, security and agitation for devolution and self- rule.” After Buhari, Presidency should go South – Bode George Former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, also supported the clamour that power should shift to the South.“South-West should produce the next president because APC government was an alliance of North-West, North-East, South-West and part of Middle-Belt. So, the Vice President should automatically be next APC candidate. “For the PDP, since there is zoning, they should zone theirs to maybe South, Atiku’s running mate was from South-East. So going by zoning arrangement, the South (South-West or South-East) is supposed to produce the next president. And then the Vice President should now come from the North-East or North-Central.” Competence better than zoning – Junaid Mohammed, Akintoye On the other hand, another prominent Northern leader, Dr Junaid Mohammed, said he was more concerned about competence than zoning of the presidency. “Frankly speaking, if you have read what I have been saying since I have been in politics in Nigeria since 1978-79, this question would not have arisen. Because I definitely have a viewpoint, I have explained that viewpoint, I see no reason I should continue to repeat myself for almost 30 to 40 years. “The question should be directed to those who believe they can produce leaders by simply shifting from one place to another or from one quarter to another and do not want to talk about ideology or principles which under-rate their stance as far as political matters are concerned. “I want to know, what are the advantages to be derived by having a president or the head of government from one part of the country or another? I believe Nigeria should be ruled by a competent Nigerian, irrespective of his tribe, region or religion,” he averred. President of the Yoruba World Congress, YWC, Professor Banji Akintoye, shared Junaid’s views. “You will be surprised by my answer;  I don’t particularly care where the President comes from or who he is,” he said. It should come from South but we need restructuring– Adebanjo On his part, Afenifere chieftain, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, said: “It should go to the South, that is not debatable. Let us not deceive ourselves, the South should have it and when it comes to the South, the question we will now ask is where should we go from there? “We need to review the constitution because the constitution is awkward. I don’t want anyone to divert my attention. I am glad that Olusegun Obasanjo and others have realized what I have been talking about. Let us agree to mount pressure on Buhari to restructure the country now. That is the way forward.” Let’s give South-East a chance – Ebenezer Babatope Similarly, former Transport Minister and PDP chieftain, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, said: “As far as I am concerned, what will make Nigeria work is to ensure the Presidency goes round the country. “As it is now, the South-East is yet to be allowed to produce a President but this is not compulsory because the political parties have a right to do what they want. “I think, in all fairness, we should allow the South-East to produce the President but if that is not possible by the calculation of the political parties, they should ensure that justice and fairness dominate what they want to do in terms of zoning the presidency. I belong to the PDP and I believe the PDP will allow justice and fair play to play out.” Nothing novel about zoning – Shonibare On his part, Chief Supo Shonibare, another Afenifere stalwart, said zoning the presidency to the South is the ideal thing but was quick to state that there is the need for restructuring of the country. He said: “What is really critical is restructuring. We have had Southern Presidents so there’s nothing novel about another one emerging but we are also witnesses to the fact that this has not enabled us achieve the necessary growth in development or addressed security issues, nor a solution to our diverse economic, security and agitation for devolution and self- rule.” After Buhari, Presidency should go South – Bode George Former Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, Chief Bode George, also supported the clamour that power should shift to the South.

South should put its house in order 

Unagha Former Presidential aspirant under the platform of the APC, Alhaji Mumakai Unagha, however, faulted Onuesoke and Eteng. He said: “The issue of Presidency is very dear to every component part of the country. Just as you have asked me which part of the country should produce the 2023 presidency, should it be North or South? I think we do not need forensic expert to tell us. If we are sincere to ourselves, it is the turn of the South to produce it. “Not just South, but the turn of the South-East. The North has had its fair share as well as the South-West if we must move forward. There must be equity and justice as Nigeria belongs to all of us, Nigerians. “No section should be denied or made to feel inferior. The North has over tasted the leadership, therefore, they should excuse themselves. Similar-ly, the South-West has had their fair share, they should also give way to others. “Every other component should rally round the South- East come 2023, as no section should monopo-lise the seat of power.” Culled from Vanguard Newspaper