TheCable

Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, former minister of state for education, says the north would support the bid for a south-east presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress — if the south-west hopefuls quit the race. 

Nwajiuba said in the interest of national justice and fairness, the south-east should produce the next president of the country.

The former minister is one of the presidential hopefuls of the ruling party.

In an interview with ThisDay, he said “aspirants from the north” would be willing to “rest their ambitions” if their counterparts from the south-west tow the same path.

Bola Tinubu, former Lagos governor, Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, and Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state, are among the south-west politicians in the race for the ticket of the ruling party.

“There are three people from the north who purchased the APC presidential forms. The president of the senate, Ahmad Lawan;  the governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello; and the governor of Jigawa state, Abubakar Mohammed Badaru,” Nwajuiba said.

“They all have the right credentials to be Nigeria’s president. They are men of foresight. They are from the north-east, north-central and north-west. 

“They are possibly in the contest to make a statement but if we are talking about national justice and fairness, we should only be thinking of the south-east. This is because it is the only zone in the south that had not produced a president since 1999.

“However, for them to be seeing about eight people from the south-west suddenly laying claims to the same argument they had against the north, makes it look very silly.

 “This is because you cannot be accusing the north of something you are also perpetrating. Olusegun Obasanjo had been president for eight years; Osinbajo has been vice president since 2015. 

“Why should the south-west say the north should cede power to the south and that they must be the beneficiary? How does that make any sense of any type?  Yet, they are asking the young patriots in the north to cede power to them.

“I am sure if the south-west pulls out of the presidential race, aspirants from the north would also rest their ambitions and allow the south-east to produce Buhari’s successor in 2023.”

Nwajuiba was the first presidential hopeful in the president’s cabinet to step down from office.

On April 27, Project Nigeria, a support group, allegedly bought the N100 million expression of interest and nomination forms for the former minister.