Why North-Central, Southeast and South-South may not support Tinubu’s presidential ambitions

As the presidential elections in 2023 draw, some indicators are already showing how the geopolitical zones in Nigeria may vote at the polls and which one of the candidates the regions may not support in the run-up to the elections.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu is one presidential hopeful whose declaration of intentions to vie for the presidency has caused a lot of reactions, with some persons questioning how the regions in Nigeria will support his candidacy.

It is noted that the 6 geopolitical zones in Nigeria will vote according to their regional interests. Hence, the contention in this article is that zones like the North-Central, Southeast, and South-South may not support Tinubu’s presidential dreams.

North-Central

The North-Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria may not support Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s presidential ambitions because of the possibility that he may pick a Muslim as his running mate.

Some reports have stated that Tinubu who is a Muslim might pick a Muslim running mate from the north as vice president. This may not go well with the sizeable number of Christians in the North-Central.

The North-Central geopolitical zone which is made up of states like Benue State, Kogi State, Kwara State, FCT, Plateau State, Nasarawa, and Niger State, has a sizeable population of Christian citizens who may not support a Muslim/Muslim presidency.

Southeast

In the Southeast, Bola Tinubu’s presidential aspirations may not be welcomed with open arms as they feel that his presidency might be in the way of a candidate from the southeast emerging president.

The Southeasterners have stated repeatedly that they are next in line to produce a president of the country, being that of the three major ethnic groups in the country, only the Igbos of the Southeast have not produced a president.

Accordingly, they may not want to support Tinubu’s presidential dreams being that he is from the Southwest and their support for him may mean that they will lose out on producing a president in 2023.

South-South

The South-South has a predominantly Christian population, which means that they may not support Tinubu’s candidacy if he picks a northern Muslim as his running mate as some reports are suggesting he would.

With a Muslim as a presidential candidate and another Muslim as a vice-presidential running mate, the electorates in the South-South who are mostly Christian may feel that they are not represented in the ticket.

Furthermore, the South-South may want to side with a candidate from the Southeast being that the Southeasterners also massively voted a presidential candidate from the South-South in the last election.