The Nigeria Governors’ Forum will do Nigerians a great service if they
can call all their members across the thirty six states of the federation to stay clear of the office of the president in 2023. I am
particularly averse to the idea of the presidency being retained in the North after it had stayed for eight uneventful years in the region. By this, I mean the North should give Nigerians the chance to
have a breath of fresh air in the national political landscape.
The precedents of our governors show that none can make a good president because they have failed as governors of their various
states. Then how can a student who failed an exam be promoted to the next higher class?
We Nigerian voters will not allow any All Progressives Congress (APC) governor to become vice president how much more of becoming the president of the country. They have failed as governors and they need to go back to their states of origin and contest for the Senate, which is seems to be governors’ retirement home.
My sermon against the state governors was not without genuine reason. These are governors whom President Muhammadu Buhari, in his early days as president, gave the Paris Club refund to better the lives of
the people of their states. When the refund was given, every Nigerian was happy thinking that the governors were going to make use of it judiciously to improve the people’s standard of living. But alas, the reverse was the case. An interlude of vain glory and profligacy came
around. Now if you ask any of the governors how he used the fund or on what projects he used it for, definitely he will begin to stammer.
Let us visit the issue at stake; the issue of the presidency of the northern extraction. governors from the Northwest who are going about making consultation towards presidential bid should keep quiet for now, Even if we are going to have a president from the North, he should come from either the Northeast or the Northcentral. But for now
fairness choses Southern part of Nigeria.
President Buhari who is about to complete his eighth-year tenure is from Katsina state, Northwest Nigeria. So why should
governors in the Northwest zone still want to succeed their kinsman?
In the spirit of fairness, it is the turn of the Northeast or Northcenral, that is, if the South is bypassed. Most of Nigerian hope that the next president will come from the South. We all believe in the capability of people outside from all the six geopolitical zones to do excellently in affairs of the state. Nigerians will be much happier if the president is picked from the South. So, APC should zone the presidential position to the southern part of the country to avoid internal bickering that might engender distrust and the much needed cohesion, harmony and the zeal to achieve victory in 2023.
APC must do everything in its power to guarantee peace and promote
trust between the six geopolitical zones. APC leadership should ensure that the principle of rotational presidency guide its decision
at all times. We as party stakeholders must avoid self-inflicted crisis before the
general elections. It is the turn of the southern part of the country to produce the next president. And if that is not done, we look upon the Senate President Ahmad Lawan to go Aso villa. He is a man who is
accepted by all.
We must not take the governors who want to run for the presidency seriously. This is because all governors elected on the platform of APC have all betrayed Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC national leader, so they cannot be trusted. These governors who want to be president today were nobody in 2015. They rode to their various government houses on the back of APC, which Tinubu almost single handedly built. Unfortunately, now they have made money enough to challenge their
mentors.
We have to say something as pafrt of our contribution to nationbuilding as the 2023 general election is exactly a year away.
The incumbent governors have up to 12 years to deliver on their mandates. The battle for who gets the flag of various parties, is being waged. In the main opposition PDP and the ruling APC the governors hold the levers of power through their governors’ forum. And
they want to use the forum to hijack the presidency in 2023 despite that among them those who are qualified to run are very few.
Many governors desire to take over from Presidency from Buhari. Some seem to be only fighting for recognition as presidential candidate in order to be later considered first when it is time for ministerial appointment.
Meanwhile, there have been speculation that Buni has been anointed as a vice presidential candidatel by some of his colleagues in the
all-powerful Progressives Governors’ Forum. But I assure you that Nigeria cannot accept a vice president that is a former governor.
Their antecedents don’t allow that.
Among the governors eyeing the presidency is Governor Nyesom of Rivers state one of the major faces of the opposition in the country. But at his home state, Wike has been very controversial because of his actions and utterances. Also Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state are among prominent contenders from
the opposition PDP.
Other governors are Atiku Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi state; Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano state; Babagana Zulum of Borno state and Bello Aminu Masari
Zulum has been rated very high because of his superlative performance amidst the distraction to quality governance thrown up by the terror gang, Boko Haram.
In all, Nigerian governors are not good enough for the presidency, not even for the position of vice president. If APC erroneously bypassed
the South, then Senate president Ahmad Lawan is the answer.
Kaugama writes from Dutse, Jigawa state.