Igbo Group Insists On Rotational Presidency
A group, Igbo Presidency Project Movement , has asked Northerners not to truncate the political arrangement that has engendered seamless rotation of Presidency of the country between the North and South .
It said the system was one of the factors that had sustained the country ’ s democracy .
The group’ s National Coordinator , Arinzechukwu Igboeli, stated this at a press conference in Awka, Anambra State on Sunday .
His reaction followed a statement credited to the leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima , that the North would again produce the President of the country in 2023 .
Igboeli described the statement as insulting to the sensibilities of the 365 ethnic groups in the federation .
He said, “ Nations are not held together by force but by a sense of justice , fairness and equity .
“ Thus , it is important for young Nigerians like us who believe in the unity of Nigeria based on fairness and equity to immediately react to statements made by the coordinator of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima , which clearly called for power to remain in the North after the incumbent President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari( retd .) , would have exhausted his eight -year tenure in 2023 .
“ Such a statement smacks largely of ignorance or contempt of the attempt by those who fought to restore our democracy and preserve the fragile unity of Nigeria by reaching the conventional notion of zoning which encouraged the rotation of the Presidency between the North and South .
“ This trend has been followed almost religiously with the exception of the Goodluck Jonathan era which was brought upon us by the demise of President Umaru Yar’ Adua in office but was immediately corrected in 2015 when these progressive forces brought change .
“ Shettima not only made the call for the Presidency to remain in the North but also in a hubris-like manner dismissed the morally backed agitation of Ndigbo to produce one of its own for the office in 2023 .”
Copyright PUNCH .
A group, Igbo Presidency Project Movement , has asked Northerners not to truncate the political arrangement that has engendered seamless rotation of Presidency of the country between the North and South .
It said the system was one of the factors that had sustained the country ’ s democracy .
The group’ s National Coordinator , Arinzechukwu Igboeli, stated this at a press conference in Awka, Anambra State on Sunday .
His reaction followed a statement credited to the leader of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima , that the North would again produce the President of the country in 2023 .
Igboeli described the statement as insulting to the sensibilities of the 365 ethnic groups in the federation .
He said, “ Nations are not held together by force but by a sense of justice , fairness and equity .
“ Thus , it is important for young Nigerians like us who believe in the unity of Nigeria based on fairness and equity to immediately react to statements made by the coordinator of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, Yerima Shettima , which clearly called for power to remain in the North after the incumbent President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari( retd .) , would have exhausted his eight -year tenure in 2023 .
“ Such a statement smacks largely of ignorance or contempt of the attempt by those who fought to restore our democracy and preserve the fragile unity of Nigeria by reaching the conventional notion of zoning which encouraged the rotation of the Presidency between the North and South .
“ This trend has been followed almost religiously with the exception of the Goodluck Jonathan era which was brought upon us by the demise of President Umaru Yar’ Adua in office but was immediately corrected in 2015 when these progressive forces brought change .
“ Shettima not only made the call for the Presidency to remain in the North but also in a hubris-like manner dismissed the morally backed agitation of Ndigbo to produce one of its own for the office in 2023 .”
Copyright PUNCH .
