Two prominent northerners have given reasons a Nigerian president of an Igbo extraction may not emerge in 2023.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Senator Adamu Bulkachuwa declared that the government would not bow to the demands of those he described as ‘insurgents’ in the South-East.
According to him, the South-East had tried separating from the country before which resulted in a civil war. Wondering if they (South- East) want to take the same route again, he warned that the Nigerian government would have no choice but to fight them and give them what they want.
Adamu also believes that the killings, kidnappings, banditry and agitations are all a prelude to the general elections in 2013, insisting there would not be zoning of the presidency because it is undemocratic and unconstitutional.
“There are people who feel democracy is not good enough for them and they want to devise their own means of belonging to this entity called Nigeria and if they don’t have their wish, they’ll let Nigeria go to pieces,” he said on Channels Television.
“So is that anything that the constitution allows or encourages? So they’re absolutely outside the realm of the constitution.
“They’re just rebels, arsonists and criminals in short. So, are we going to consider to even give them a chance to come and say their wish and let Nigeria tremble and bow before them and say ‘okay, we’ve granted you your wish’?”
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“Those insurgents in the Southeast, they’re all claiming that they want their own country called Biafra, right? If that is the case, is it by killing people that they’ll get their country?
“They’ve tried it before, do they want us to go back to the same route? I don’t think so. But if they do, if that’s what they choose, has Nigeria got any choice?
“Will we just allow them, bow and say, ‘we’ll grant you your own wish?’ No. The Nigerian government has to stand out, fight them and give them what they want.”
The South-East has been clamouring to be given the opportunity to produce the next president of the country come 2023, but Senator Bulkachuwa pointed out that politics is a game of number, adding that political parties should be allowed to present the right candidates from any zone for Nigerians to pick from.
“I believe these banditry, kidnappings, agitations and killings are all prelude to the 2023 election,” he added.
“I don’t even believe in zoning. I believe the right candidates should be fielded by all the parties and then let Nigerians choose from the best among them.
“And those who have the number, who believe in the same candidate will obviously win. Unless you don’t want that which is against the norms of democracy, then, I don’t know, you can devise your own means.
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“I don’t believe zoning is democratic. I don’t believe zoning will produce the best president for this country.”
Also, a former Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Assembly Matters, Abdurrahman Sumaila, says right-thinking Nigerians won’t endanger their lives to support the candidature of any South-East politician vying for presidency in 2023.
Sumaila made this known in a statement he issued to newsmen in Kano on Thursday.
“With these atrocities committed by the South-East people on record, how can Nigerians entrust them to govern us? I am sure not a single right-thinking Nigerian will endanger his life to support the candidature of any South-East politician contesting for presidency come 2023 general elections,” he said.
According to him, it has now become clear that the motive behind the attacks is to turn the country into anarchy, regretting that “the perpetrators of the attacks must understand that if the country is turned chaotic, then nobody including the perpetrators can escape”.
He, therefore, urged elders in the South-East to publicly denounce the ongoing attacks by suspected members of the Indigenous People of Biafra or be considered complicit in the dastardly acts.
The ex-presidential aide said until the South-east elite make their position definite, Nigerians would consider them part and parcel of the attacks being carried out in the region by armed militia.
“The elite in the South-East should borrow a leaf from their northern counterparts such as Arewa Consultative Forum and Northern Elders Forum, who have been persistently condemning the activities of Boko Haram fighters and bandits in the North,” he said.
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