A Nothern group under the aegeis of Arewa Concerned Civil Society Organisations of Nigerian, have called for presidential power shift to South in 2023.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the group which is of Northern extraction is made up fof over 45 civil societies.
Addressing newsmen in Kaduna, Spokesperson of the group, Mr Abdulsalam Kazeem, said:”we have resolved and pledged to mobilise youths to campaign against any political party who fails to zone their presidential tickets to the South.
“The call for Southern presidential candidate is aimed at sustaining the Northern political friendship with people of Southern part of Nigeria.
“To us, equity and justice are the bane of development in any society.
“What is good for the goose is good for the gander, 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,”Kazeem said.
He further noted that Nigeria, amalgamated in 1914 had an agreement that the country belongs to all irrespective of ethnicity, religion or region.
“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, we are calling for the total support of Presidency to the Southern part of the country.
“We have no other country than Nigeria and we will not seat down and see our country disintegrate due to selfish desires of some individuals that think presidency is the birth right of a particular region.
“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 another eight years, they 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 preferable a private sector player, technocrat and a de-tribalized Nigerian with rich experience in managing economy for peace, progress and prosperity.
“We have agreed to melt their interest in one port and insist on power to be transferred to Southern Part of the Country in 2023 and we call on our Southern people to drive this opportunity and support their own and also respect power rotation after eight years.
“We reaffirm our previous stand that we won’t support any Northerner as successor for President Mohammed Buhari in 2023 for the sake of national unity.
“This will help to build trust and heal the wounds calling for the dismemberment of our dear country, we say no to any Northern candidate and should Incase any candidate show interest, he/she will never get our support, we shall frustrate such selfish ambition that we believe is even dead before arrival.
“We know power comes from God and he never allow injustice, greed and selfishness to rule our land. We will make or mar any candidate who has the unity of Nigeria at heart and vice versa.
“We have a voting capacity cut across all the polling units, wards and Local Government Areas in the 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, therefore urging all political parties to zone their presidential candidates to the south,” Kazeem said. (NAN)
