Yahaya Bello, Kogi state governor, says the north-central deserves to be considered for the presidency more than the south-east. The governor said both zones are “disadvantaged in terms of the position of the presidency”. Bello spoke on Tuesday at the presidential villa in Abuja while reacting to Ohanaeze Ndigbo’s comment that zoning the presidency to the south-east is a key ingredient for national unity. He said: “Well, if you’re talking of south-east, then you will equally talk of north-central. Not only since 1999 but since 1960. So what do you say about north-central; both the president and vice-president? “So put the situation of the south-east and that of north-central side by side, then who is more disadvantaged in terms of the position of presidency; both presidents and vice presidents? So if you put both sides together, then let’s do justice. And whichever way you look at it, I’m eminently qualified.” Bello added that the north-central has never produced the president nor vice-president of the country, and it is only proper that the region produces President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor. Contrary to Bello’s claim, the north-central has produced military heads of state. Yakubu Gowon, who is from Lur in Kanke LGA of Plateau state, ruled Nigeria as the head of state between August 1, 1966, and July 29, 1975. Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalami Abubakar, both from Minna, Niger, another north-central state, ruled Nigeria as military heads of state from 1985 to 1993 and between June 9, 1998, and May 29, 1999, respectively. 2023: ‘I have all qualities Nigerians desire in a leader’ The Kogi state governor also said he has the qualities Nigerians want in a leader, adding that the president would want a vibrant and patriotic Nigerian like him as his successor. “Mr. President would want a vibrant, experienced, energetic, patriotic Nigerian to take over from him and in all of the qualities that Nigerians are yearning, or looking for today, I possess all of these qualities by the special grace of God,” he said. “Nigerians are yearning and asking me to run for the president come 2023 and by the special grace of God I will not turn down that offer. “Also, Mr. President is one of the Nigerians who would want a qualified person to take over from him. Informing him is between myself and him, it is not what I should come to the public to tell the world that I have informed Mr. President that I want to run. But surely in days, and possibly weeks ahead, we are going to come to the public to declare our intention by the special grace of God.” Asked what he has done to qualify for the presidency, Bello said: “First, on what have I done to merit the presidency of this country, you simply refer to 2016 when I assumed office, compared it to this moment security-wise, in terms of unity in terms of infrastructural development. “I think we should not be laid back to the extent that we don’t read and research. I don’t have to come to the television to be blowing my trumpet. You come to Kogi state, you’ll see exactly what we have done. Simple, you can visit our website and then you’re going to see what we’ve done. We have surpassed more than any other person can ever imagine. “Then in terms of unity, Kogi state today is more united than ever before. Today, nobody cares where you come from or the religion you practice, Nigerians are yearning for this. In terms of security, before, if you travel through Kogi state, you hold your breath, today you can travel day and night. Yes, pockets of issues sometimes, but it can never be the situation it was in 2016.”

  A renown Igbo Newsmaker, a celebrated Scholar, astute Politician and a Social Scientist, Professor Udenta Udenta has described any Aspirant from Southwest and certain parts of Nothern Nigeria jostling to contest for the office of the President of the country come 2023 as a Politician without conscience. Prof. Udenta who made this known during an interraction with newsmen said he was particularly suprised that men in the calibre of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar could be running around campaigning for Presidency when both are very much aware that their zones had for severy years at one time or the other interchanged as President or vice President respectively, even till date with Osinbajo as vice President. Prof Udenta who was vividly pained, in an emotionally laden gesture lamented that, how could some people who were assumed to have human conscience continued to pretend as if a section of the country who laboured, sacrified and put in so much for the unity and development of the nation, does not exist. Continuing, Prof Udenta stated that “for me, there is no way that Obasanjo 8 years of Presidency, Osinbanjo 8 years of Vice Presidency should not translate into a clear, visible, unambiguous statement for power to shift to that part of the South that has not experienced this Presidential power after all the sacrifices of Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, Dr Ezeife and Alex Ekwueme and the rest of them. Prof. Udenta said “Let me explain few myths to further buttress my bearing, “Falaye and late uncle Bola Ige squared off at the Royal Hotel in Ibadan and Falaye won and became the AD candidate, the same way Obasanjo defeated Ekwueme and emerged as PDP candidate. The rovan selection was a Southwest selection of the AD. However, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife who is alive today, purchased the N1million form of the Alliance for Democracy to participate in that process and won a strong vote of the Southeast and Southsouth of the country, but the expanded meeting of the AD leadership, the National Working Committee (NWC), National Executive Committee (NEC), the caucus of the party, the Board of Trustees, the owners of the party met at the Cultural Centre opposite UTC to decide between Falaye and Ezeife who will be candidate of the party. Our leader who was my father, Arthur Nwankwo actually misfired that day; he knows from his grave that I am not lying, and the Southeast and Southsouth went up in anger, led by Bassey Ekpo Bassey. We had entire North, Southeast and Southsouth with us, Ezeife had beaten Olu Falaye right there in that hall, but After three, four, five hours of robust conversation, they asked Ezeife to step down and he graciously did so and raised the hands of Olu Falaye. That was how Falaye became the candidate of the Party.” “Therefore, the Southwest of this country should know that they stand morally disqualified to run for the office of the President until the Southeast has taken their turn, and whoever is in the Southwest called by whichever name presenting himself for 2023 Presidential seat, for me, is rapacious, in his appetite and insufferably greedy to seek for the office.” he said. Explaining further, the Prof stated that the second thing worth noting in the interaction is that he was the founding Secretary for the Alliance for Democracy in 1998 and secretary of the AD/APP Alliance, that the election was between PDP on one flank and AD/APP on another flank, explaing that, that was why the faceoff between Falaye and Obasanjo . Prof. Udenta further stated that “being the Secretary of the summit of the two aligning parties, the AD/APP, I am in the a very comfortable position to announce and declare that nobody can talk about this forth republic without me. Quote me, no Nigerian born and alive can discuss the formation principles and historical emergence of this Republic and the forces that shaped it’s direction and trajectory without putting Udenta O, Udenta’s view points, practice and performance into consideration. He explained that, that was the sacrifice of the Southeast block for a Southwest presidential quest. That is a historical record. I was the secretary of the AD and I have the records in my file. On the side of APP, His Excellency Dr Ogbonnaya Onu who is a serving minister today, won the primary of the party at Kaduna, we abandoned him to his fate, but he didn’t step down, he didn’t negotiate his away and didn’t sell it, we went ahead and formulated the AD/APP Alliance that produced Falaye and Shinkafi. It was an attempt to have a stable Nigeria, a peaceful Nigeria coming from the crisis of June 12 struggle and the tragic mandate of Abiola. When Dr Ogbonnia Onu got to know about it, he didn’t alter a word, he didn’t call a conference to disown it. He worked with the party towards it’s electoral fortune even though we didn’t win. That is another high sacrifice of Igbo political leader for the emergence of what became a consensus arrangement between two Yoruba sons. So today, when they talk about zoning to the South, so far, the construct of zoning to the South is fraudulent, mischievous, duplicitous and full of concealment of intentions. It’s based on false binary of the North and South, as if these two entities are without subdivisions or subunits, structural units in them. When you talk of the South, it consists of the Southeast, Southwest and Southsouth, and so it is possible for one zone out of the three in the South to perpetually grab the Presidency and hold it firm to themselves alone to the exclusion of the other two and then hide under this false narrative of equity and justice, the Power shift from the North to the South is a generic indeterminate shift, it doesn’t specify for me which side the power should go. Therefore there is need for a clear-cut definition of