#Opinion: South East For President 2023, Is Enugu not a South Eastern State? By Franklin Missa | CABLE REPORTERS


Since the return of democracy in Nigeria 21 years ago, the seat of the president of the federation and other principal offices have been chosen with critical consideration to some factors. This factors includes Zone, Region, Ethnicity, Competence, Acceptability and many other factors. Over this years, the President and Vice President have been rotated among the 6 major geopolitical zones and ethnic groups in the country. While this zoning and sharing formulae have been going on for the past 20 years, the South East zone had failed to clinch the President or Vice President positions. The first and second citizen of the country have been held by President Olusegun Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of South West and North East zone respectively. The duo handed over to Alhaji Umaru Musa Yaradua and Dr Goodluck   Ebere Jonathan of Northwest and South south zone, with untimely demise of Yaradua, his Vice "Jonathan" succeeded him with Namadi Sambo of Northwest deputizing him. In 2015, President Mohammed Buhari and Prof Yemi Osibanjo took over with both coming from Northwest and Southwest respectively, leaving Southeast and North Central as the only two geopolitical zones yet to smell the position of the president or vice president of the country.

This have raised dust of possible marginalization of the two zones. With 2023 election in view, a lot of quarters both in and outside Southeast is agitating for Southeast president. This agitation keep gathering momentum day by day as the 2023 election draws closer each day.  A lot of top political masquerades in Southeast are already on consultations, Consolidation, calculating, setting up structures and building up team for the presidential election. Some South eastern Governors are already packaging themselves or one of their citizens for the number one position of the country. This governors at times are not looking at the party affiliation of the citizen as can be seen in Abia and Anambra state for example. In Enugu, the political polity being heated is geared towards the positions within the state and mostly governor and Senate. This triggers the Question "IS ENUGU NOT A SOUTH EASTERN STATE?". For a state like Enugu that have produced the Senate President and a 3 tenure Deputy Senate President, one will expect them to be on the front run for a Nigerian President of south east extraction in 2023 but the reverse seems to be the case. Another question comes to my mind, are we second class southeastern? This is time to awake the WAWA spirit that make us to refuse and reject the second fiddle in the past. This is time for Ebano's, The GburuGburu's, The Ike is coming's and Chime's to join forces and hand together for a Presidential candidate of Enugu origin that will be the next president of Nigeria in 2023.




Post a Comment

0 Comments