Bishop Okonkwo opens up on Southeast agitation for presidency

The presiding Bishop of the Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) says the Southeast should not produce a president for the country on the grounds of pity.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos, the TREM founder pointed out that the Southeast should not allow themselves to produce a president so they can be appeased, noting that a presidency produced under such a condition would not succeed.

 “To the best of my knowledge, the easterners are not asking for anything other than live and let live. They are not saying, ‘give us everything’. For me, to be honest with you, I am not in agreement with any easterner saying, ‘it’s time for us to be president’.

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“So you should beg to be president? If it’s going to be a case of making you president so that you can be appeased, that is stupidity; I don’t want that. You are a Nigerian; you have an equal right to everything that every other person in Nigeria.

“So, it’s not a matter of being appeased. In fact, I don’t even want any easterner under this situation to be a president because he will fail. Do you know why? The present system can never allow you to succeed. That is why we have to look at the system.” null

His comment is coming when people of the Southeast have been agitating for the presidency ahead of 2023.

Comrade Igboayaka Igboayaka, the National President Ohaneze Youth Council, OYC, said an Igbo presidency would favour Nigerians more.

Meanwhile, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said the country’s Southern part should be allowed to produce Nigeria’s next president.

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However, Northerners have insisted that the North still has four years at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second tenure.

Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, had said the Southern part of the country had ruled Nigeria for 14 years while the North would have ruled for ten years at the end of Buhari’s second tenure.

Against this backdrop, AYCF National President said the North has four years left.