A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State, Osita Okechukwu, has urged Nigerians, especially northern politicians, to allow President Bola Tinubu to finish his second term.
Mr Okechukwu, a former director-general of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), made the call during the flagging off of the APC e-registration at Eke Ward in the Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State on Saturday.
He noted that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar would be presumed the winner of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) primaries and urged him to adhere to the Nigerian presidency’s zoning and rotational formula.
Speaking after his registration, the party chieftain endorsed Mr Tinubu for a second term, calling on Mr Abubakar to allow him to complete his second tenure before power rotated to the north.
“By the time Tinubu finishes in 2031, any southerner who is coming for president, we will not allow the person because it will be the turn of the north,” he said.
Mr Okechukwu said Mr Abubakar did not have the interest and unity of Nigeria at heart if he decided to contest against the turn of the south.
He explained that Mr Abubakar benefited from the same rotation in 1999, when he became the vice president under President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“If not for good faith, restraint, and self-censorship, Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, Umaru Shinkafi, Adamu Ciroma, and Bukola Saraki were all qualified by any standard but conceded power to the south.
“This was how Abubakar became vice president under Obasanjo,” he said.
He disclosed that the origin of rotation began in Switzerland in 1848, and it was based on the principle that individuals should place the unity of their country first, with equity and a sense of belonging for every group.
“Other countries practiced it in one variant or the other, but for us, after the military coup and the long reign of the military regime in Nigeria, some Nigerian patriots came together.
“Their conclusion was that the only place to shift power was the South, and also to please Abiola and his followers, was to do a rotation convention whereby it would be the turn of the South, after which the north takes over.
“And that was exactly what happened because from 1999 to 2007, the South finished and handed over to a northerner,” he said.
He recalled that in 2003, Mr Abubakar breached the same zoning arrangement that brought the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into crisis, killing the party.
“So to sustain economic reforms of Tinubu, Nigeria’s democracy, and the peace of the country, the south under Tinubu should be allowed to complete their eight years in power,” he stressed.
Mr Okechukwu said the economy was bouncing back, expressing optimism that Nigerians would see more gains from the reform in Tinubu’s second term.
(NAN)
