Doyin Okupe says he will bow out of presidential race if there is a consensus to hand it to Ndigbo

FORMER presidential spokesman Doyin Okupe has declared that he will bow out of the 2023 race for president if his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) reaches a national consensus that the position should be zoned to the southeast.

Mr Okupe, a one-time aide to former president Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, is one of the candidates seeking the PDP's presidential ticket for next year's election. However, he has vowed to voluntarily step down from the race if there is a national concession to give the position to the southeast in 2023.

Although not constitutional, Nigeria's component parts have a gentleman's agreement that the presidency will rotate between the north and the south of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure will end in 2023 and being a Fulani northern Muslim, it is expected that the next president will come from southern Nigeria.

Since the return to democracy in 1999, the southwest has produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south President Goodluck Jonathan, so come 2023, the presidency should automatically go to the southeast geo-political zone. However, the All Progressives Congress and the main opposition PDP have yet to reach an agreement to zone the position to the southeast.

Mr Okupe said: “Of all the people who have come out to declare their interest in the residency, I believe that I am the most qualified. I have worked with two former presidents which gave me the opportunity to understudy them and learn from them and this has prepared me well.

He however, said that in 1998, there was a national consensus to zone the presidency to the southwest, which is why Chief Obasanjo emerged as the PDP's presidential candidate. He added that were such a consensus reached today, he would stand down and back an Igbo candidate like Peter Obi.