A former Special Adviser on Political Matters to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr Akin Osuntokun, says he does not have any candidate outside of the South-East, adding that an Igbo President is imperative in keeping Nigeria together and strengthening democracy.
Osuntokun, who spoke as a guest on Arise TV on Saturday, identified a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Prof Kingsley Moghalu; a former Education Minister, Dr Oby Ezekwesili; a former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, amongst others, as possible candidates.
He said: “I have a personal position on it (2023) and I have been passionate about it. We ought to have a nation first before we have bureaucracy or any internal system. If you are coming from the premise of nation building, which is fundamental, all logic dictates that whoever is going to be the President of Nigeria should not only be restricted to the South; I personally believe that it should go to the South-East.
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“Now, I have heard the argument about IPOB and them wanting to secede, which is the more reason why you should do that. You put them… It is like the story of the prodigal son. The father didn’t chase him away; he pulled him back.
“How is that consistent with the idea of building a nation? They want to get any loophole, vulnerability or anything that challenges your objective of nation building, which is clear in the case with the South-East that is what you should do. Not everybody is IPOB in the South-East. You are going to find there people who are more Nigerian than Buhari himself. Buhari is not Nigerian. If you don’t want them in Nigeria, then let them go, because the message that is communicated in Nigeria.”
Osuntokun also claimed that the succession agitations in the country are direct results of the way Buhari has been governing the country since 2015.
“Buhari has broken all the records in Nigeria in a negative way. Even the INEC (Independent National Electoral Commission’s) Chairman, for instance, he (Buhari) is the first person to appoint the chairman of INEC from his constituency. It has never happened.
“There is always this idea of blaming the victims. People are talking about separatists and blaming Igboho (Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo). There is a cost and effect logic to what has happened. The way President Buhari has governed this country since 2015 is directly responsible for the demands of separatists. He has been the one who has shown the initiative and set the agenda for that by the way he governs.