From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, has warned that the 2023 presidency may tear the country apart if care is not taken.
Director, Research and Strategy of the group, Dr. Akin Fapohunda, in an interview with Daily Sun, cautioned Nigerians against dissipating energy on whether the president should come from the north or south in 2023.
He said what Nigeria needed to move forward was a nominal president like the one the country had at independence when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was president-general and each of the regions had premiers.
He warned that if care was not taken, the quest for the 2023 presidency by various zones would tear Nigeria apart as it has become impossible to have a candidate that commands the respect of all ethnic groups in the country. He said the north was not homogenous as most northern politicians make it appear given the agitations from the Middle Belt states.
“Based on the existing protocol, the presidency should come to the South in 2023. If it doesn’t come to the South, it will be a trigger of what will happen. If it doesn’t happen, it means that the silver bullet has been thrown, and everything will just fall apart. We can’t really have a central president in Nigeria again. If the presidency goes to the East, they will not let the person rule. He will never command respect. If the president goes to Bola Tinubu and his group in the South West, the Igbo will fight to the last man. This presidency thing is what will tear Nigeria into pieces. If the Igbo gets it with the way they are angling for it, it will be an empty shell. If Yoruba man gets it, it will trigger an enmity between the Igbo and Yoruba, and then the rest of the country. We can’t get a national president in Nigeria again. We just need a nominal president like Azikiwe. Let each region have its own premier. Then, we remain neighbours and the land will still be the same.
