A former Senate Chief Whip, Sen. Roland S. Owie, has urged political parties in the country to pick their presidential candidates from the Northern part of the country so as to enable the region complete its presidential slot.
Sen. Owie gave the advice on Tuesday, in a statement, while reacting to the debate in the media by some Southern and Northern elders over which region should produce the next president in 2023.
“My attention has been drawn to page 6, of the Sun Newspaper of Monday, August 19, on the debate by our respected elders, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, H.E. and my in-law, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, and H.E. Amb. Yahaya Kwande, on the issue of Presidential slot for 2023.
“I didn’t expect the elders to debate a settled matter that Nigerians mutually agreed on rotating the Presidential slot in 1999.
“In 1999, former president Olusegun Obasanjo from the South became President and spent eight years and the slot shifted to the North. However when President Yaradua passed on, the Presidency returned to the South,”
According to him, May 2019 made it 20 year of democracy in Nigeria and that out of the 20 years, the Southern part has produced president for 13 years, while the Northern part has only would have taken seven years.
“As it is now, from May 2019, the North has a total of seven years to complete her slot. We should all know that ‘where there is no justice, there can’t be peace.’
“I urged all political parties to start sourcing for experienced, intelligent, and compassionate candidates from the North to complete the Northern presidential slot,” he said.
