2023: It’s The Turn Of Southern Nigeria To Produce Next President – Akeredolu 

Ondo State Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu has urged the All Progressive Congress (APC) leadership to zone the presidential seat to the country’s south.

News Agency of Nigeria

In a statement titled “Our Party, APC, Must Tread The Path Of Equity,” which was made accessible to newsmen on Tuesday in Akure, Akeredolu made the plea.

The governor stated that the party could not afford internal squabbles that would breed suspicion and undermine cohesiveness, unity, and the will to achieve specified goals.

According to Akeredolu, the existing democratic framework is based on an unwritten convention guided by the idea of equity, and the APC must do nothing to upset the delicate balance that ensures peace and encourages trust.

According to him, “Our party just elected officers on the established principle of giving every part of the country an important stake in the political calculus.”

He said that the attention has now switched to the process that would lead to the party’s participation in general elections in 2023.

“All lovers of peace and freedom must do everything to eschew tendencies which may predispose them to taking decisions which promote distrust and lead to a crisis, the end of which nobody may be able to predict.

“The leadership of the party ensured that the principle of rotational representation guided its decision at the just-concluded convention,” he said.

Akeredolu, who claimed that the party chairmanship had gone to the North and that all other positions had been filled, said it is now time for the party’s leaders to make a definite, unequivocal pronouncement on the succession plan.

He stated that the party executive committee had set a price for purchasing the nomination form for the position. It is earnestly expected that it would finish the process by confining the proclivity for disagreement to a zone that can be micro-managed.

“It is very expedient that we avoid self-inflicted crises before the general elections. It is the turn of the Southern part of the country to produce the next President.

“The party leadership should have no difficulty in making pronouncement on this very important issue, just as it has fixed various fees for the purchase of forms.

“This must be done without delay. The principle of Federal Character is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It will be disingenuous for anyone to argue against rotation at this period.

“We must not keep our party men and women guessing on the position of the leadership of the party. This is the time to weigh in and take control of the process.

“No statement must suggest, even remotely, that the party harbours certain sentiments which may predispose it to consider throwing the contest open.

“This is certainly not the time for equivocation. Equity Dictates That We Take A Stand,” Akeredolu said.