APC chieftain wants Falae/Obasanjo model in 2023

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Director General, Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, yesterday appealed to the two dominant political parties to adopt the Falae/Obasanjo model by fielding an Igbo presidential candidate.

Okechukwu made the appeal while reacting to raging issues on the country’s democracy and the 2023 presidential election.

The VON DG, who said the only pragmatic answer to peaceful 2023 presidential election “is the Falae/Obasanjo Model, advocated a national consensus on Igbo presidency as recipe to create sense of belonging and save Nigeria’s threatened democracy.

Okechukwu, who spoke with journalists in Enugu, said if APC and PDP produced Igbo presidential candidates in 2023, it would remedy the “prevalent gun-box democracy” and return “ballot box democracy” to the country Nigeria.

According to him, rotation of president is the ligament holding the country’s fledgling democracy.

Asked to explain what he meant by Falae/Obasanjo Model when there were discordant tunes to such model from many quarters, especially from the Atiku Abubakar and Bola Tinubu axis, Okechukwu said, “I have tremendous respect for His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, our national leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, especially Tinubu, who more than anybody contributed the critical supplement to President Buhari’s 12 million vote-bank in 2015 which led us to victory.

“I also salute other prominent Nigerians who are angling to be president in 2023. However Nigeria, our fatherland is bigger than any of us and her unity is of paramount importance.

“The Falae/Obasanjo model was founded in 1999, on equity, natural justice, and good conscience, with the sole objective of a harmonious and peaceful country.

“We may recall that in 1999, two Yorubas were fielded by national consensus under PDP and AD/APP alliance. That was the genesis of rotation of president between North and South. The destination was peace, unity, equity and good conscience. We need that now more than ever, especially now that Mr President had denounced those fifth columnists who bandied 3rd Term.”