Chief Ralph Nwosu, National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said on Tuesday that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State would fail in their quest to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
In a chat with Daily Independent, Nwosu said both men, who are believed to be nursing presidential ambition, should perish the thought since the North-West, where El-Rufai hails from, and the South-West, Tinubu’s region, had both produced the president for eight years.
Chief Ralph Nwosu said anybody who intended zoning the presidency to either the South-West or North-West in 2023 did not mean well for the unity and progress of the country.
“The Igbo question is what Nigeria must deal with. It is the most crucial matter on the table now, outside the rigged and fraudulent elections. Unfortunately, the APC national leaders and the incumbent president lack the leadership and vision to address this problem.
“They think power for power sake, and are too consumed by self-righteous parochialism to think of the good health of Nigeria yesterday, today, and tomorrow. At this stage of our nationhood, no ethnic group can dominate the others without causing serious dislocation.
“Any person having such agenda is not thinking well for the country. We should be strengthening the bond of unity and building diversity values into our culture. I have not heard of PDP 2023 plans.
“But El-Rufai and Tinubu cannot be president. The North-West has served two terms with Buhari’s first term. Yar’Adua served one term. The South-West has done eight years. The North-West should be careful and exercise restraint, even their northern brothers may become disillusioned with them if they wish to dominate the rest of the country, and continue to want to take more than a fair share in the Nigerian enterprise.
“Good governance, and leaders being deliberate in promoting diversity in governance, will help the country. Continued parochialism will kill Nigeria, lead to tragic end and obvious ugly consequences.
Nwosu said it was impossible for an ethnic group to dominate others, and argued that in the spirit of fairness and equity, it was the turn of the South-East to produce the president in 2023, adding that the current APC leadership was not working to address this anomaly.
“The North-West and the South-West regions cannot afford to come from their Olympian position to become the cog against building a great and united Nigeria. After two terms, one of the other regions, especially the South-East, deserves the presidency.
“I say the South-East not only because I am from there, but because it sends a strong message for the Nigerian project. Equity is critical. We need complete closure to all past mistakes and we have to move together as a country. It benefits the whole,” he added.
