Cross River Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade on Monday in Abuja, said he would be Nigeria’s next president given his pedigree and the support enjoyed from Nigerians.
Ayade made this known when concerned group of persons known as sons and daughters of Cross River, presented him the All Progressives Congress (APC) nomination form to contest for Presidency in 2023.
The governor, who assured that he would tackle the problem of poor electricity supply head-on, said that he was ready to deploy workable solution to fix the problem once and for all.
On whether or not he stood the chance of emerging as the party’s choice being a southerner, Ayade assured that the leadership of the APC would find lasting solution to the issue.
He said the inheritance of democracy as a practice in Nigeria and other African countries without customising the ethnic sensitivity and diversity of the people had become a critical issue.
“As other democracies deal with population and numbers, which is the supremacy of numbers over the minority, democracy as an instrument for egalitarian distribution, equity, fair sharing and equal access to power is a subject for discussion.
“So, if power by the nomenclature of democracy supposes that people will have fair and equal access, one will imagine that by the extension of that definition, power should go to the Southern part of Nigeria having done eight years this way.
“I think that the sensitivity of this is such that the President is cautious. That explains however the proponents of the many candidates from the southern part of the country.
“Hopefully it has to be a southern candidate. That is one of the major ways of guaranteeing the unity of this country.
“If we rely on the muscle of numbers then it becomes the situation where power belongs to the man with the greatest fist,” he said.
Explaining that he propounded a theory called, “Afropolitan theory”, which was the basis for the word “afrotionism”, he said it derived it’s meaning from the need to offer ones shoulder for others to lean on.
According to him, irrespective of the population disbalance in Nigeria, what is fair is fair.
He said if it was the turn of the South, power should be allowed to go there.
On his chances given the huge number of people aspiring for the same position on the platform of the APC, Ayade said he was optimistic.
On security, the governor said the security situation could have been worse but for the dexterity of the present leadership.
He said the collapse of Afghanistan and the equipping of ISIS, with the aim of taking over West Africa, had put the subregion, particularly Nigeria under threat over the years.
He added that the aim of the infiltration was to get the “economic soul” of African countries, particularly those with huge resources like Nigeria, Congo among others.
Ayade promised to tackle insecurity with modern and more strategic measures like the use of technology.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the APC puts its Presidential nomination fee at N100 million per aspirant and more than 25 persons from different geopolitical zones have picked nomination forms to run for the position.