Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, has said that Southern Nigeria would resist any attempt by the North to retain the presidency after the expiration of the tenure of incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Read Also: ‘Why Afenifere will not recognise Buhari beyond May 29’
Nigeria’s two leading political parties, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) are expected to zone the presidency to the South in 2023 after the expiration of the second tenure of Buhari, a Northerner, who was initially elected in 2015.
The arrangement, though not constitutional, has been practised since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999; political leaders say, the zoning arrangement is to avoid dispute that may arise between the South and the North over the presidency position.
However, speaking in an interview with journalists in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, last weekend, Musa Liman Kwande, acting chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), had said the region would only vote for candidates from the North in 2023 while charging qualified Northern Nigerians to vie for the presidency.
According to him, “Northern Nigerians who are tested and trusted should contest for any political office with anybody from any part of Nigeria and the people should exercise their democratic franchise to vote for their candidate of choice”.
But reacting in an interview with BusinessDay, Monday, Publicity Secretary of Afenifere, Yinka Odumakin, accused the North of being over-ambitious, stressing that the country does not belong to them.
Odumakin noted that the North was becoming arrogant on the issue of the presidency in 2023, adding that any plan to retain power in the North would be resisted.
“They are talking like Nigeria belongs to them only; they are putting their foot too much, and Nigeria does not belong to a section. They are becoming too arrogant on the issue; this is impunity, we await them,” Odumakin said.
