By Akinwale Kasali
Elderstateman, Chief Edwin Clark, has backed the South-East for Presidency, come 2023.
The demand for a President of Igbo extraction, ahead of the 2023 presidential election has gained more prominence with the latest support coming from Nigeria’s nationalist and foremost Ijaw leader.
This is coming just as the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), last week, declared its full support. while also endorsing Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
Also, speaking over the weekend, former Governor of Zamfara state, Abdulzeez Yari, canvassed the need for an Igbo to occupy the seat.
Clark said power should shift to the Southeast in 2023 after President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to him, “Nigeria’s unity demands that North and South should rotate the office of the President, and after President Buhari serves his eight years, the Presidency should return to the South, and specifically go to the South-East zone in 2023.
“Some people argue that they want people who are intelligent, who have integrity and worthy personality, I dare say that such people are not scarce in Nigeria, whether in North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-West, South-South and South-East.
“So also the Presidency should not remain in the North-West, it should also go to North-Central and North-East, similarly in the South, it should not be South-West, South-South and South-East
“Therefore, anybody who believes in the unity of this country knows its sustenance depends on quality leadership and ability of all sections of the country to aspire to any position in the country.”
Earlier on Sunday last week, Yari, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), said the All Progressives Congress (APC) would support a power shift to the South in 2023.
In an interview, Yari said it was expected that power would shift to the South after the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s final tenure, insisting, “that is how things are supposed to be.”
