2023: South-east should produce next president, says Kperogi

Farooq Kperogi, a US-based professor of Nigerian descent, says the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should zone their 2023 presidential tickets to the south-east.

The professor of journalism said this on Sunday when he appeared as a guest on the inaugural episode of the online talk show, ’90 Minutes Africa’, hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah.

Speaking on the show, Kperogi said he wants the major political parties to be “sensitive to people that have been excluded since 1999”.

“The north has been in power for the last seven years. The southern minorities have had a chance to rule. I would also support ceding of power to the south-east because that is the region that has never produced the president from 1999 until now. That’s the part of the country I believe should produce the next president,” he said.

He described his choice of a president as someone who should be “relatively young, energetic and amenable to new ideas” with adequate intellectual and political exposure.

He said only such a person, supported by a coalition of people sufficiently animated to make Nigeria work, can change the structure of the country and “tweak our democratic experiment” in such a way that shows sensitivity to the country’s cultural uniqueness and make everyone feel a sense of belonging.

He called on competent persons, who are interested in making Nigeria work, to step forward as the 2023 elections draw near, so as to shake off the “disabling debilitating fatigue” in the country.

“Nigeria is a nation that is neither alive nor dead. It is perpetually in the twilight zone,” he said.

“We should avoid bequeathing such a nation to the next generation.”