Akin Osuntokun, former political adviser to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has listed some possible candidates for the Igbo presidency.
During an interview with Arise TV on Saturday, Osuntokun says that he will be supporting a Southern presidency, adding that an Igbo president is what the country needs.
The former presidential aide listed a former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, a former Education Minister, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, and a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof Kingsley Moghalu as suitable candidates for the 2023 presidency.
According to Osuntokun, an Igbo President is very important in uniting the country, stopping various agitations and strengthening democracy.
He said, “I have a personal position on it (2023) and I have been passionate about it. We ought to have a nation first before we have bureaucracy or any internal system. If you are coming from the premise of nation-building, which is fundamental, all logic dictates that whoever is going to be the President of Nigeria should not only be restricted to the South; I personally believe that it should go to the South-East.”
Osuntokun also accused the Muhammadu Buhari government of being responsible for the secession agitations being witnessed by the country.
He stated that the President’s style of leadership has caused disunity in the nation and has broken all the negative records in Nigeria since 2015.
He said, “There is always this idea of blaming the victims. People are talking about separatists and blaming Igboho (Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo). There is a cost and effect logic to what has happened. The way President Buhari has governed this country since 2015 is directly responsible for the demands of separatists. He has been the one who has shown the initiative and set the agenda for that by the way he governs.
“One of their chronic moments was that some months ago, when they were to sign for a loan for the rehabilitation of the moribund Port Harcourt Refinery, the two signatories to the agreement were the Group Managing Director of the NNPC and the Managing Director of the PH refinery, both from the North – one is from Borno, the other is from Katsina. They will say they were representing Nigeria. You can replicate that in almost every organization.”
This article was originally published on Naija News