Buhari woos Ndigbo with offer of presidential ticket in 2023 after his second term

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has stepped up his campaign for re-election next year by offering an olive branch to the southeast geo-political zone promising Ndigbo that if they back his candidacy they will produce the president come 2023.

 

Since assuming office in 2015, President Buhari has had a frosty relationship with the southeast over his perceived marginalisation of the zone in terms of appointments and infrastructural projects. This has fuelled calls for secession, with the Indigenous People of Biafra, leading a campaign for the creation of a sovereign state.

 

With presidential elections due next year, President Buhari looks certain to stand and keen to woo the southeast, where he is highly unpopular, the president is now offering the zone an olive branch. Several of President Buhari's close associates have begun talking to leaders in the southeast in the hope that their carrot will help sway votes in next year's elections.

 

According to sources close to the talks, the president’s men are said to hold the view that the prevailing circumstances provide the best opportunity for Ndigbo to produce a president in 2023 since it is the only zone in the south that is yet to produce one since the return of democracy in 1999. They add that by supporting a fresh candidate from the north in 2019 would mean pushing the Igbo hope to 2027, as the new candidate would want to do two terms.

 

It is the belief of the president’s strategists that some of the prominent southern leaders who have begun to declare their support for President Buhari are doing so because they have their eyes on the nation’s number one seat and importantly, they are doing so to secure a tacit understanding of the president to support them in the 2023 presidential election. However, these allies of the president hold the view that if there is any part of the country deserving of producing the presidency in 2023, it should be the southeast.

 

One source close to the presidency said: “The Igbo cannot get secession or any other request that is antithetical to the unity of the country because other parts of the country would not even back such a move. It is to that extent that the presidency could be theirs to lose in 2023 only if they can clearly read the political climate, build consensus and tag along with the current frequency.

 

“This is doable but to get it done, they must support the Buhari project. They must not play the hate card they played during the 2015 elections, where they gave their votes to someone else and lost total relevance by no fault of anyone else."

 

Although this strategy looks plausible, it would however have to contend with the two other zones from the south that might want to field candidates in 2023. For instance, it is not yet clear what would happen of vice president Professor Yemi Osinbajo decides to throw his hat into the ring come 2023.

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