South-East issues as 2023 presidency rages
PanNigerianNews
2 min read
By Taiwo AYANNIYI
It is no news that the 2023 general election is drawing nearer. More discussion has been trailing the issue of presidential zoning than any other topic regarding the election.
In what seems laughable, some people have opined that the reality of the 2023 elections is in doubt, owing to the myriad of challenges bedeveling the polity. Importantly, the most pressing is the agitation for the president of South-East or Igbo extraction to emerge.
I believe that for the sake of fairness, equity, and national integration, the two largest political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), should present a southeasterner as their candidates.
For the over 22 years since the nation’s return to democracy in 1999, Igbo has neither produced the president nor the vice president. Perhaps, this is largely due to the animosity brewed during the Civil War. In many quarters, Igbos are perceived to nurse the hurts of the war. They’re still secessionists at heart. They still feel largely ostracised and marginalised.
As such, some pundits don’t seem to trust them with absolute power with that attitude. Ceding power to them might translate to offering them all they need to set the nation ablaze and seek revenge of the age-long 1967 to 1970 war. It is tricky.
For the zone to realise the much talked about ambition to the coveted seat, I believe the zone needs to get their house in order if at all they would have a fair shot come 2023. For the coming elections, I believe they have viable candidates and prospects to offer Nigeria in terms of human resources. But who will give power to people whose heart disposition is unknown?
Therefore, I am also of the opinion that the zone should get it, preferably former Anambra State governor and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar running mate in the last presidential election, Peter Obi. I am also skeptical of the political will of Igbo to wield power morally. They seem to nurse some kind of resentment for anything Nigeria.
…Ayanniyi, a civil engineer, sends this piece from Ibadan.
