It Is South-East's Turn To Produce President - Afenifere Leader, Adebanjo

Chief Ayo Adebanjo

Leader of pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has said that the next president of Nigeria should come from the South-Eastern region of the country.

While speaking on the Channels Television show, Politics Today, on Wednesday, March 2, Adebanjo, 94, said it is in the spirit of federal character and equity for the Igbo to produce the next President of the country.

He said the South-West produced former President Olusegun Obasanjo who led for eight years and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo who has served for almost eight years.

He added that the South-South produced former president Goodluck Jonathan.

However,  he says the South-East has been denied the presidency.

He explained: "How can you say rotation in the North and South, and when it comes to the South, it would be South-West and South-South every time? Is the South-East not part of the South? What is the moral we are talking about?

"Is it not the South-West that has served Obasanjo for eight years, Osinbajo for another eight years as Vice President? South-South has served its own. Is the South-East not part of the South? That is the question we should answer."

He continued: "Is it not to accommodate the North that we put the federal character in the constitution, to accommodate less developed areas?

 "It doesn’t help the unity of this country if anybody is talking about merit now. It is because of the heterogeneity of the country to keep us together that the question of this rotation comes in, to accommodate ourselves as much as possible. Why do you want to overlook that now? Coming to the South for the 2023 presidential candidate is the equity, moral, and principle, except we are deceiving ourselves."