Peter Obi gives condition for joining 2023 presidential race

Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, says he will run for the post of Nigeria’s President in 2023 if his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, zones its ticket to the Southern region of the country.

Obi, the running mate of former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar in the 2019 presidential election, made this known in a terse tweet on Tuesday.

He wrote, “Yes, I will step into the field to contest for the opportunity to serve this great country as President if my party, the @OfficialPDPNig, zones the ticket to the south. But if it is thrown open, Nigerians will also hear from me.”

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It would be recall that the 17 Southern governors as well as socio-political groups including Afenifere, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan Niger Delta Forum and the Middle Belt Forum had insisted that power moved to the South in 2023 after the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), who is from Katsina State.

The groups had declared that political parties that field northern presidential candidates won’t enjoy their support in the 2023 general elections.

Several presidential hopefuls have emerged from the Southern region in the last few days including All Progressives Congress National Leader, Bola Tinubu; media personality, Dele Momodu; former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim; Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi; ex-Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha; former Governor of Abia State and Majority Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Kalu; former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, among others.

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A few northerners including Atiku; former Senate President Bukola Saraki; Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; and former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, — all of the PDP — have been reported to nurse presidential ambitions but while Saraki and Tambuwal had declared intention to run, Kwankwaso and Atiku are yet to publicly declare the intention to run.

Though party primaries that would lead to the emergence of candidates are expected to hold later in the year, permutations, political bickering and serial defections continue as the race for who succeeds Buhari gets intense, while Nigerians wait with bated breath to see who would occupy the exalted office in Aso Rock in 2023.