Adebanjo: North should support South, but restructuring imperative
By Mudiaga Affe
As the political space for the 2023 presidency hots up, Southern leaders are insisting that there is no going back on their demand for the number 1 slot to come to their region.

This comes as intense lobbying has begun by some southern gladiators to ensure that the prized position returns to the zone in the next dispensation.

Some of the leaders, who spoke with THISNIGERIA, said that is the only way to ensure justice and equity.

“How can we be talking of one Nigeria and have presidency in one zone for 16 years?” a political chieftain in one of the southern states, who would not want his name in print for strategic reasons, asked.

“The right thing to do is that after eight years of Buhari, power should go to any of the three regions in the south. It should be non-negotiable.”

The Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria, Chief Osita Okechukwu, specifically wants the presidency zoned to the South-East by the two major political parties.

“That is what equity demands. That is what justice demands. We will persuade other regions to see the justice and merit in our cause,” he said.

A notable Ijaw leader and nationalist, Chief Edwin Clarke, had similarly canvassed the position, insisting that Nigeria should not be run on a monolithic power structure.

“If we want peace, there should be fairness and justice. No part of the country should be made to feel superior or inferior.”

This is even as there are indications that more candidates from the north have begun intense power play than their counterparts from the south.

Before the recent power play in the leadership of the two leading political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and major opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), there had been clamour by stakeholders from the north and south that power should shift to the south after the eight-year tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari which elapses in May 2023.

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Power has been rotating between the north and the south since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999.

From developments in the PDP, it is becoming clearer that the party will zone its presidential ticket to the north and its party chairman to the south, while the political atmosphere in the ruling APC seems to be tilting towards the south as the party is likely to position a northern candidate for its chairmanship slot.

In the PDP, a group, Alliance for PDP South-West, came up with a list of 11 party chieftains from the South-West for the national chairmanship position of the party.

On the list are a former Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; former PDP Deputy National Chairman, Chief Olabode George; and former Ekiti State governors, Ayo Fayose, and Segun Oni.

Others are a former Lagos State PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Jimi Agbaje; former PDP National Secretary, Prof. Wale Oladipo; former Ondo State PDP governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN); Dr. Charles Akitoye; Mr. Jide Adeniji; Mr. Olusola Ebiseni; and Senator Bode Olajumoke.

While politicians angling for the national chairmanship are from the southern part of the country, in the north, the debate and lobby are over which geo-political region should get the presidential ticket of the party.

Indeed, some stakeholders have campaigned for the party ticket to go to the northeast, while others have canvassed that it should be micro-zoned to the north central in the spirit of justice, equity, and fair play.

For instance, a former national chairmanship aspirant of the PDP, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, has insisted that only a northerner can win the 2023 presidential election for PDP.

He said that PDP members seeking the south to get the ticket are in line with the APC whose members are agitating for a southern president after Buhari’s tenure ends in 2023.

On the other hand, the ruling APC may likely produce a consensus presidential candidate in the lead-up to the 2023 general elections.

This position was canvassed by the National Secretary, APC Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee CECPC, James Akpanudoehede, in a recent statement.

Akpanudoehedehad said, “After our (APC) congresses and the National Convention, we will shock them (PDP) by bringing a consensus and an agreeable candidate that will fly the flag of the party in 2023.”

Although it is not clear where the consensus APC presidential candidate will come from, pundits are of the view that the southern candidates will have to project themselves and work with their northern counterparts for their aspiration to work.

A professor of political science, Femi Otubanjo, said the south must take definite steps to show that they are united to present a common front ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

He, however, noted that in terms of unity, the north has shown that they are more united in terms of political force.

Otubanjo said, “When we talk about the north and the south in political terms in Nigeria, we are talking about two different political cultures. One, the south is not a monolithic enclave, they are not united as a single entity.

“There had been a multiplicity of interests in terms of political choices. So, that is why when you are talking about the south, there are the southwest, south-south, and southeast voices who would want to produce the next president. But the north will always present themselves as one.

“They are not specific about the geo-political zone that you must come from and that is the intricacy the north has over us in the south. It is that political coherence that has been their advantage.

“The most critical point now is that we have two major political parties, the PDP and the APC, watching each other. From the results of the last election, you will find that a large percentage of voters are in the north, at least, if you accept the figures that are given.
“The issue is that the northern voters are beginning to vote in one direction because they are easy to mobilise to vote in one direction and we can say they have the political and numerical advantage. So, any person who is going to choose a presidential candidate should take advantage of this situation.

“If you take a candidate from the south that is not united and pitch him against a candidate from the united north, the danger is that the northern candidate might win. The southern candidates are aware of this and that is why they are jostling to present a common front in collaboration with a northern candidate to get the equation balanced. If you have two northern candidates, the equation might be a different game, but the foundation from the south should be laid with unity.”

Also, an elder statesman and leader of the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, said his position had always been that the south would need the support of the north to produce the next president.

He said, “I have never said that candidates from the north should not take part in the next presidential election. I have always said the north should support a candidate from the south. I have said the little they can do from the north will be good. The north will only think of interests that will benefit them. If they can get a surrogate, it is the people from the south that will take care of that.

“However, I think that it is a waste of time being a President under the present Constitution. Any person thinking of becoming a President under this Constitution has lost before he started. I do not want to waste my time discussing the flaws in the Constitution that I have pointed out several times. The fact is that we are not serious as a country.

“Even within the political parties, they do not think of the interest of the country. They should project policies that will first move the country forward if they want us to remain as a country.”

Recall that prominent Nigerians, including the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, had canvassed the need for power to shift to the south.

Also, southern governors, had after a meeting in Lagos, clamoured that a candidate from their region should step into Aso Rock in 2023.

The southern governors, in their forum, stated that power must shift on the pillars of equity, fairness, justice, progress and peaceful co-existence between and among the southern people.