2023: Northern Gov Speaks On Power Shift To South

By James Orji

Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State has joined those clamoring for the presidency to remain in the North. This is against the suggestion of those who insist there should be power shift to the south after the eight uninterrupted  years of President Muhammadu  Buhari , a northerner.

His party, the People’s Democratic  Party, PDP has thrown open the presidential  ticket.

Mohammed, a former minister of the federal capital territory, FCT and a presidential hopeful spoke barely a week after Raymond Dokpesi, a front line campaigner for former vice president Atiku Abubakar to be president, said power should be allowed to remain in the north for now.

Their views run contrary to those of Afenifere, Middle Belt Forum, the Southern Governors Forum and others who insist on power rotation to the south, on the basis that the north has had its own share of power under President Buhari.

But speaking on the controversy, Governor Mohammed while receiving the progress report of the Contact Committee, a body he set up to consult on his presidential  ambition, said the agitation of southerners is not enough to rob the north of the presidency,  adding that his party should ensure that power remains in the north.

According to him, “I want to seize the opportunity to say that I am in PDP, I am not in the APC. It is the APC that has this burden. In my party, the last President was from the South. He was my President, Goodluck Jonathan. During the period my party was at the centre for 16 years, 14 of these years were led by the people from the South.

“So where is the justice and justification? So it is the time of the North. When you come to the North, North-East and South-East have not been there for too long, only a short stint compared to other zones.

“We should be given the opportunity. This Presidency, if it wants to be just and equitable to Nigerians, should be open to everybody from other sections of this country so that Nigerians can be given the opportunity to elect the best that can provide solution.

“In my party, the last President, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, was from the South and he was my President.

“During this period, my party was at the centre for 16 years; 14 of those years were led by people from the South, so where is the justice and the justification?Therefore, it is the turn of the North to produce the next President,” Mohammed said.