By Emeka Alex Duru
(08054103327, nwaukpala@yahoo.com)
The argument that the choice of who becomes President of Nigeria in 2023 is of strategic importance to the future of the country, is in order. It factors in the attributes of competence, character and capacity – qualities of leadership needed in nation building. There are also considerations of equity, justice and fairness, the totality of which make for unity and development.
These factors become more compelling as the 2023 elections draw near and the clamour of the president of South East extraction gains traction among fair-minded Nigerians.
As it is, apart from the ultra-conservative few that insist on the old ways, there is near unanimity among Nigerians on the need for the region to produce the next president. The matter is currently, a mantra of sort.
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It is particularly heartwarming that the clamour is resonating among many people and groups across the country. Apex Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) and Middle Belt Forum (MBF), are enthusiastically sold to the idea, promoting it at every forum.
The groups did so on April 25, when Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, his PANDEF counterpart, Chief Edwin Clark and Dr. Pogu Bitrus of MBF, argued eloquently and persuasively that it was the turn of the South East zone to produce the president in 2023. They spoke in Abuja at a conference to unveil the South East presidential hopefuls in some political parties to other Nigerians.
They stressed, forcefully, that on the basis of equity, justice and fairness, the political parties in the country should pick their presidential candidates from the South East as a way of giving the people of the area a sense of belonging.
Adebanjo, was emphatic that his group, the Afenifere was in support of the agenda. Clark, added: “We (PANDEF) stand for power shift to Southern Nigeria. Igbo people deserve the presidency of Nigeria.” For Bitrus of the MBC, “It is the turn of the South
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