• * Power Must Shift To South Based On Rotation, Insists South Youth Alliance

By Danjuma Williams (Gombe State Correspondent) and Dare Ajayi (Oyo State Correspondent)

The northern youth group agitating for Sokoto State Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, to run for the presidency in 2023 have given a reason why they feel southern Nigerians will likely support Tambuwal.

According to the group, the bad policies of the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has cleared the coast for a widely accepted person like Tambuwal to get the mantle of leadership of the country easily.

Addressing journalists in Gombe, the Northeast coordinator of the group, Ibrahim Mohammed Inuwa, along with his Gombe State counterpart, Jamilu Inuwa, the group said southern Nigerians are only agitating for presidency because the current government of Muhammadu Buhari has completely shut them out from the administration of the country.

Jamilu Inuwa said, southern Nigerians just want to be carried along in the administration of the country and not the current situation where they don't occupy any key political positions in the country.

According to him, "what is happening now is not that southern Nigerians really want to rule Nigeria. They fear marginalization which they already face in this current administration.

"They feel neglected and want to be involved in government and not really to grab the leadership of the country.

"I believe that whoever comes from the north and will carry them along, they will forget about the presidency. They will follow whoever grabs the power and they will be involved in ruling the country", he stated.

The group said they are setting the agenda for Tambuwal for President because he best fit in with the expectations of all Nigerians including that of the South. The group therefore set aside zoning, which they said, is not constitutional but a gentleman's agreement by political parties.

"Politics is a game of numbers and the north has that numerical political advantage over other zones. Since the political parties are looking for a chance to grab power, if a man can deliver better than someone from the South, any party will go for that person rather than insisting on a zoning arrangement.

"It is for this reason that Tambuwal from Northern Nigeria stands a better chance to win the 2023 election and we came up with this agenda considering his advantage over others.

" He is young, has the unity of the country at heart, he has proven himself in the past administration especially in the House of Representatives. He has no corruption or mismanagement charges against him", the group said.

Meanwhile, a Southern Youth body known as South Youth Alliance (SYA), on Tuesday, faulted the claim that the South is not interested in the 2023 Presidency.

The group which is an umbrella body of youth political activists from the South East, South West, and South-South geo-political zones, spoke through their protem president, Comrade Olutayo Falana, at Ibadan, Oyo State capital, during an interview with NIGERIAN NEWS-LEADER Correspondent on the forthcoming regional convention of the Southern Youth Alliance which is scheduled to hold in Enugu in October this year.

Falana stated that the convention willfully deliberate on the 2023 Presidency and how the group will collaborate with the various political stakeholders across the country, particularly the South, to ensure that the Presidency shifts to the South, in line with the existing power rotation understanding between the North and South of Nigeria.

Falana who spoke for the group maintains that the South Youth Alliance (SYA) fully backs the recent declaration by the Southern Governor's Forum, that presidential power must come to the South in the 2023 general election.

According to Falana, "The issue of whether the zoning arrangement will hold in 2023 is definitely not in contention. It was discussed in the past and agreed on, that in the interest of the peace and unity of this country, power must revolve between the North and South of Nigeria every eight years until the power goes round to every one of the six zones of this country under a North/south arrangement.

"As a matter of fact, after the eight years tenure of the North under the current Buhari presidency, there is no justifiable reason why any other person from the North should be posturing that he or she wants to take another eight years, almost succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari. It is absolutely impossible. It definitely won't work. The youths of Southern Nigeria in particular, will not allow such political greed.

" Even as it stands now, as far as our group is concerned, the right thing which is politically moral, just, fair, and equitable, should be done. There is also no way our group will not back any of the Southern zones for the Presidency in 2023, particularly the people of the southeast zone. If the right thing must be done in this country for peace to reign, the Igbo people of the southeast must be given a chance in 2023 to rule this country.

"They have been grossly marginalized and unjustly excluded by others. That is why they have Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and his Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) agitating up and down. Nigeria must listen to them and redress the injustices against them. We can't continue to be afraid of giving them power the way other zones have been given. That fear is unfounded. The argument against the Igbos taking power in 2023 can never be tenable. They have several qualified candidates for that job", Falana argued. NNL.