2023: 45 Northern CSOs endorse Igbo presidency

Northern civil society groups under the aegis of Concerned Arewa Civil Society Organisations of Nigerian, have insisted that power should shift to the South particularly South East come 2023 in the spirit of fairness and justice.

Addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Wednesday, spokesman of the group, Comrade Abdulsalam Mohammed Kazeem, said, Southeast should be given the opportunity to produce the next President in 2023 to sustain Northern political friendship with people of Southern Nigeria. He noted that equity and justice are the bane of development in any sane society hence the need for power to shift to the South East.

The civil organisations averred that it was for the sake of “our national unity that we are standing today and declaring that power should be rotated to South for the spirit of oneness, equity, justice, fairness and equal opportunities. Nigeria belongs to all irrespective of ethnicity, religion or region. We urge all political parties to zone their presidential candidates to the South. Any party that refuses to do so, we are going to mobilize our teeming youth and campaign against it. 

“We the Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organizations of Nigeria in the spirit of building our desired nation and our continued existence as an entity, also not jettisoning the principles of power balance and fairness calls for the total support of Presidency to the Southern part of the country. We have no other country than Nigeria and we will not sit down and see our country disintegrate due to the selfish desires of some individuals that think Presidency is the birth right of a particular region. 

“Any Northerner contesting President will be regarded as agent disunity and enemy of the nation.The South West is also a beneficiary of the benevolence of Nigerians who supported their first bid for an eight years presidency and vice president for yet another eight years should also be willing to relinquish the position in the spirit togetherness and nation building. 

“Our hope, dreams and prayers are for an Igbo man to emerge as president in 2023, more preferably, a private sector player, a technocrat and a detribalized Nigerian with rich experience in managing economy for peace, progress and prosperity. We have agreed to melt their interest in one pot and insist on power to be transferred to South in 2023 and we call on Southern people to support their own and also respect power rotation after eight years.

“For those who are beating the drum of hatred and division, trying to cause chaos and war in our dear nation because they benefit from a disunited Nigeria, we are watching and this will be a nightmare to all of them.”