Nigeria’s north-central and south east regions deserve a chance to produce the next president, said former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode.
Fani-Kayode, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), stated this on Monday on a monitored Channels Television programme.
Although he said he no longer believes in the emergence of a president based on zoning, he stated that such a person should come from the middle-belt or south-east region, preferably the former.
“I am not a big believer in zoning anymore,” said the former minister. “I believe that zoning could actually cause more problems … but if you insist on zoning, I believe it should go to a zone that has never had it before – the middle-belt has never had it, the south-east has never had it.
“The middle-belt has never had a democratically elected president, or a democratically elected vice president, while the eastern zone has had a democratically elected vice president.”
In the quest to find a successor for President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the 2023 elections, there have been a series of debates within the two major political parties in the country – the APC and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
But governors from the South, comprising the south-west, south-east, and south-south, had gone beyond party divide to demand that the office be zoned to the region.
Having supported the north-central to produce the next president, Fani-Kayode believes Nigeria needs a young and strong leader.
For him, one of the candidates he deems to be most qualified to occupy the highest office in the land is Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.
“Great candidate,” he said at the mention of the governor whom he described as his friend. “It is a progressive thing for me and in my view, I believe strongly that you just don’t get up and hold on to things, you have to look at the situation you have on the ground.
“There are people who will disagree with me in the party or outside the party, but I believe that the situation we are in now requires a strong person that can move the country forward decisively with energy and power, and I don’t think we should limit ourselves to any particular zone.”
