A former aide to Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okupe has asked political parties in Nigeria to zone their presidential tickets to the south east so an Igbo man can become president.
In a letter he entitled, ‘2023: Igbo presidency as a national imperative’, addressed to the National chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sen. Iyorchia Ayu and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Sen. Abdulahi Adamu, he said giving the ticket to a Northern will be unjust.
Okupe recalled how the death of Moshood Abiola and Sani Abacha birthed the issue of zoning in Nigeria today.
“In the wake of the National crisis following the deaths of Chief MKO Abiola and Gen Sanni Abacha, very notable leaders in the country especially from the north and majorly of military background, came together and decided that to assuage the South west and ensure national unity and stability, the southwest must be allowed to occupy the position of President in the country.
“And so it happened that the two leading political platforms at that time chose their presidential candidates from the southwest. By so doing, a major national concession was made.
“Inevitably and democratically a yoruba man, olusegun obasanjo became the president of Nigeria.
In all the scheemings and persuasions that went on behind the scenes nationally, the yorubas did not participate.
“In fact mainstream Yoruba took a hard line position which was even antithetical to the stabilizing concessionary process that was underway.
Today Nigeria stands at a similar crossroad .
“The fact of Igbo marginalization & political oppression is self evident.
Political parties will in a few weeks elect their presidential flag bearers.
“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.
“It is the truth that the established convention is that power must rotate between the North and the South. Not between the zones. 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 conceeded 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.
