Allowing the South-East to produce the next Nigerian president, according to Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, will ensure the unity and stability of the country.
In an open letter to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Sunday, Okupe claimed that the South-East has never produced a president in Nigeria’s history.
His plea came only days after Peoples Democratic Party presidential aspirants from the South-East urged that the party’s presidential ticket for 2023 be assigned to their region.
Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Mr Peter Obi, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, and Dr Nwachukwu Anakwenze are the candidates.
Okupe who earlier declared an intention to run for the presidency in 2023 later stepped down his ambition, saying it was done in the interest of equity and fairness.
An excerpt from his open letter reads, “The fact of Igbo marginalisation and political oppression is self-evident.
“Political parties will in a few weeks elect their presidential flagbearers. Many arguments for and against Igbo presidency, power rotation and merit and demerits if zoning are rife in our polity.
“In all this, the guiding philosophy ought to be, what is true, what is just and what is equitable? Rather what we have are puerile and self-serving propositions and assertions.
“It is the truth that the established convention is that power must rotate between the North and the South.
“Hence a President of northern extraction follows that of Southern extraction and vice versa. Any consideration outside of this is foul and untrue.
“It is just that after President Buhari, power must come to the south. Any argument against this is inimical to the unity and stability of our nation.
“It is equitable that once the above stands and power is conceded to the south, the next president must come from the South East. This is because in the South only the southeast is yet to produce a civilian president.
“Fellow Nigerians, let us come together as a fair and just nation that we are. Let us concession the presidency to the southeast in 2023 and decisively end the Nigerian Civil War forever.”
Some weeks ago, Okupe said the main opposition party in Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is on the path of implosion and self-destruct if it refuses to zone its presidential ticket to the south.
Okupe said the party would cease to exist after 2023 if it refuses to heed to the clamour by many Nigerians to zone its presidential ticket to the South.
