Afenifere leader Chief Adebanjo says Nigeria risks disintegrating in 2023 if Igbo president is not elected

YORUBA pan-cultural group Afenifere leader Chief Ayo Adebanjo has warned that Nigeria risks disintegrating in 2023 if the southeast geo-political zone is not allowed to produce the next president.

Under an informal political arrangement, Nigeria's presidency rotates between the north and the south, meaning that when President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure ends in 2023, it will be the turn of a southerner to become president. There are three geo-political zones in the south but the southwest recently produced President Olusegun Obasanjo and the south-south produced President Goodluck Jonathan, meaning that it is the turn of the southeast next.

Last week, transport minister Rotimi Amaechi said that the southeast cannot produce Nigeria's next president in 2023 because the geo-political zone did not vote for President Buhari in the 2019 elections. His controversial comments have attracted widespread condemnation, with Igbo groups accusing Mr Amaechi of arrogating to himself the status of God.

Joining in the criticism, Chief Adebanjo noted that it was dishonest and invidious for anybody to be talking of the presidency coming to the southwest in 2023, adding that those making such utterances are not serious about keeping the country together. He added that Mr Amaechi's comments were propaganda and wondered how the southeast would be denied the presidency when all the units in the federation are equal partners.

Chief Adebanjo said: “This is just the propaganda as the southwest has said it is for them and we have been hearing things like this long ago. Why is the indigenous People of Biafra saying they want to break away? because they said they were not included.

“The southwest has been president, the south-south has been president and the north has been president, while the southeast has not but you want peace. I don’t believe any region or any section is to be given the presidency on sufferance,  you are not doing anybody any favours."

Known as the Jews of Africa, Nigeria's 25m Igbos are highly industrious and particularly dominate retail trade across the continent. They are also highly mobile as they are seen in every nook and cranny of the country, although they attract resentment because of their perceived Shylockian ways.

“Those of them they are deceiving are deceiving themselves. The north doesn’t want to leave power but there are sensible people in the north, even among the Fulani.

“For unity, for peace and equity how would you exclude the southeast, a part of the country from the highest position, as if it is not a part of the country? Are we dominating or overruling them?" Chief Adebanjo added.