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2023: Southeast Should Produce President – Ikpeazu

The Southeast deserves to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023, Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has said.

He, however, noted that an Igbo Presidency in 2023 cannot be a matter of right, but a product of negotiations and conversations.

Ikpeazu stated this while briefing reporters after a meeting with President Buhari in Abuja yesterday.

The governor argued that since the Igbo of the Southeast, more than any other ethnic group, have a better understanding of all parts of Nigeria, they should have a shot at the Presidency.

He. jokingly told the reporters not to be surprised that the Igbo see business opportunities in the dreaded Sambisa Forest in Borno State.

Ikpeazu, however, said he is not considering joining the presidential race yet as he is more concerned with delivering his electioneering promises to the people of Abia State.

He added that he would only start thinking of his post-governorship career after May 29, 2023.

His words: “I’m not interested in the Presidency. I’m very busy as governor and thinking about what I will become now will amount to shortchanging my people who gave me a mandate for an initial four years and renewed it for another four years and it will terminate around May 2023.

”We are yet in 2021 and it will be self-serving for me to begin to think about what I will become instead of concentrating on serving my people for the time they elected me. Maybe after May 2023, I’ll begin to think about what next to do.

”Having said that, I think that the Southeast people have a right to take a shot at the Presidency of Nigeria and I dare say that our qualification starts from the fact that we understand and know Nigeria better than people from the other zones of Nigeria.

”I dare say, this is my opinion. We go everywhere; we are everywhere; we invest everywhere and we are pan-Nigerian people.

“Today, a lot of people, on a lighter note are afraid of Sambisa. But for an Igbo man, Sambisa is a business opportunity. So, it will be preposterous of me not to add my voice to that one.

”However, the question of Nigeria President of Southeast extraction is a national question that requires negotiation, discussion, and conversation with all parts of this country and I am least qualified to determine what happened in 2023.

”I also want to spend my time supporting the incumbent President to do his time and do his best while we wait for what happens to begin to unfold. So, these are my views about the Presidency.”

On the role of political parties in the emergence of a desired Nigerian President, Ikpeazu said: “Political parties need to be sensitive to the feelings of the various contending forces because politics should not be a winner-takes-all thing.

” Political parties should be alive to the sentiments and feelings of their members in taking decisions and going forward. We are at a critical point in our history and anything that is self-serving, anything that is selfish, anything that leads to winner takes all mentality should be jettisoned at this time.

“We need to rescue our nation, we need to work hard to put Nigeria in a strong footing before we can begin to look at other things.

“As I said earlier, these can not be done in isolation. It’s not a matter right, it’s not a matter of ‘I have to’, it’s a matter of negotiation, conversation, and discussions and I think Nigeria is alive to all of these. We can find people who listen.”

The governor also spoke on the qualities that the 2023 presidential candidates must have and how the political parties may choose them.

He said: “In the first place, anybody who wants to aspire to the highest post of the Presidency, it doesn’t matter where you come from, must have what I regard as pan-Nigerian mentality.

“He must be somebody who has an understanding of all the contending interests and influences in this country. He must understand that we are a country of diversity with different persuasions, traditions, cultures, religions. All of these must be put in a place where you can understand and respect them. “

“That individual must also be somebody who is ready to accommodate the youth. We are drifting into an age that what youths understand may not be understood by those who grew up before this era.

“The next President must also reflect an extreme women agenda. Such a person must also be in investor-friendly; he must be an individual who understands the nuances of economics and what is the relationship between international politics and the economy. The person must be strong enough to face up to the issue on the front burner, which is security.

“He must be able to create jobs, he must be able to not deploy the kinetic device all the time; he must able to also listen and negotiate peace. ”

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Copyright 2021 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to  www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.

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