Afenifere leaders asks Yoruba presidential candidates to stand down as 2023 is the turn of Ndigbo

AFERNIFERE leader Chief Ayo Adebanjo, has asked presidential aspirants from the southwest geo-political zone including Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to stand down as it is the turn of the southeast to produce Nigeria's next president.

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.

Each half of the country is made up of three geo-political zones, which in the south is made up of the southeast, south-south and southwest geo-political zones. However, since the return to democracy in 1999, the southwest has produced President Olusegun Obasanjo. while the south-south has produced President Goodluck Jonathan, so the next president should ideally come from the southeast.

Making this point, Chief Adebanjo, 94, asked the Yoruba candidates to forget their presidential ambitions as 2023 belongs to Ndigbo. He added that the south-south has also had a shot at both president and vice president positions with Dr Goodluck Jonathan between 2007 and 2010 and from 2010 to 2015 as president.

According to Chief Adebanjo, it is an injustice for a southwest president to emerge in 2023 after ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo from Ogun State had ruled from 1999 to 2007. He added that to make matters worse, vice president Yemi Osinbajo, also from Ogun State, has been in government since May 2015 and would have spent eight years in power by May 2023.

Chief Adebanjo said: “Right now, is there a country for them to be President? There must be one country first before you can talk of an election. Is this the country Jonathan handed over to Buhari? Whether a southern or a northern candidate, let us unite everyone. We can’t get everyone united until we change this constitution.

“Are you safe? Talk about security. How am I sure that I won’t be shot when I go to the police station, when electoral officers, soldiers and policemen are being shot dead and I can’t travel to Maiduguri safely?"