2023: Northern group ready to back Tinubu, other Southern candidates if…

A northern group, Arewa Mandate Initiative, has expressed readiness to support a Southern candidate for the 2023 Presidency because it is committed to the idea of rotating the Presidency between the North and South.

The group in a statement on Sunday listed 11 candidates it will be willing to support, including Bola Tinubu, Kayode Fayemi, Raji Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, should any of them run for President.

The statement signed by the Coordinator, Muhammed Mubarak, and Secretary, Aminu Muhammed, in Abuja, titled, ‘The North Is Ready For Power Shift To The South In 2023,” said after consultations across numerous political groups, especially on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in the north, it concluded that the next President of Nigeria emerged from the southern part of the country.

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The statement partly read, “While the North looks forward to the south to put forward the best and most acceptable material for the office of the President, the Arewa Mandate Initiative, had conducted a survey of the likely personally that could be said to possess the credentials needed to occupy the exalted office of the country.

“Among those that the North might be looking out for, include, the current Minister of State, Petroleum, Chief Timipriye Sylvia, from Bayelsa State, the current Minister of Transport, Chief Rotimi Amechi, from Rivers, and Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, a former Senate Leader and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, from Cross River state, all from the South-South.

“For the South-East, names like the former Governor of Imo State, Chief Rocha’s Okorocha, the current Minister of Science and Technology, Dr.Chris Ogbonnaya Onu, current Governor of Ebonyi, David Umahi and the former Senate President, Dr, Ken Nnamani, are listed as front runners for the plum job.

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“In the South-West, the Arewa may be looking at names like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the National Leader of APC, current Governor of Ekiti, John Kayode Fayemi, current Minister of Works, Mr. Raji Fashola and current Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, as likely materials with the requisite qualification for the office of the President.”

The current President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who hails from Katsina State, in northern Nigeria, will complete eight years in office by May 2023 and many Southerners have been agitating that power should shift to the South.