We cannot continue to demand that the Igbos remain in Nigeria as we brutally marginalize and exclude them from power dynamics

“In the countdown to the general elections of 2023, long before the parties conducted their conventions to elect their national executives and their candidates, we had insisted and still advocate the restructuring before the elections by proposing a synthesis of the identical resolutions of the 2014 National Conference and APC. True Federalism Committee El-Rufai 2018.

“We have done this as Afenifere and across the broader spectrum of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF). The SMBLF unanimously proposed that the minimum condition for a peaceful transition after the disastrous 8 years of Buhari’s government led by a president of northern origin was to have the next president from the south.

“This position was also endorsed by all Southern Governors irrespective of their political parties at a meeting held in Asaba, Delta State.

“By the way, this North/South consideration which is at the very root of our merged federation is also the most important testimony of all political parties in Nigeria. The principle of federal character enshrined in the constitution states that the government of the federation or any part of it should not be concentrated on one ethnic group or a combination of such groups.

“It is therefore absurd to adopt this principle for employment in the civil service, admissions to educational institutions, political appointment, the composition of the executive committee of a political party, to throw it into the question the most important of the direction of the federation.

“In this quest for peace, based on equity and inclusiveness, the Yoruba took the first turning point in the zoning arrangement in 1999, and this led to the emergence of Chief Obasanjo; the current vice president is a Yoruba and fairness prohibits us from claiming to support another Yoruba for the presidency in 2023. The current president is a Fulani from the North West and under the zoning arrangement that has governed Nigeria since 1999, power is expected to return to the south shortly.

“The Southwest, as I have pointed out, has produced a President and currently sits as Vice President; the south south spent a total of 6 years in the presidency, but the Igbo people of the south east never tasted the presidency in Nigeria, and now that power is returning to the south, fairness demands that he be ceded to the Igbo.

“We cannot continue to demand that the Igbo people stay in Nigeria, while at the same time we continue to brutally marginalize them and exclude them from power dynamics.

“Peter Obi is the person of Igbo descent whom Afenifere has decided to support and support; he is the man we trust to restructure the country towards federalism as soon as he takes office.

“We will not compromise this principle of justice, equity and inclusion because one of our own, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is a frontline candidate.

“It is on this same principle that we condemn the PDP for sponsoring Atiku Abubakar, a Fulani Muslim from the north, to succeed General Muhammadu Buhari, another Fulani Muslim, who will soon complete 8 years of uneventful and disastrous rule.

“One can imagine such a degree of political insensitivity.”