North-Central insists on 2023 presidency, rejects party chairmanship position »

Leaders of the North Central zone under the auspices of the North Central Renaissance Movement, NCRM, Tuesday, called on the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to zone their 2023 Presidential tickets to the zone in the interest of fairness and justice.

The group stated this at a world press conference that was held in Abuja, saying the time has come for other geo-political zones to rally behind the North Central to produce the next President of Nigeria.

In his opening remarks, Chairman of the group, Dr Nghargbu K’tso said the zone will not accept the national chairmanship of any political party, stressing that nothing short of the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is good enough for the North Central in 2023.

He noted that North Central has never produced a democratically elected President or Vice President, in the history of the nation, adding that as a result, other zones should yield the floor to North Central in 2023.

According to a communique issued at the end of the One-day world press conference, the group said, “From 1960 till date except for the period of military intervention in Nigerian politics, the North Central region has not had the chance to produce an elected President of our dear nation Nigeria.

The communique which was jointly signed by Chairman of NCRM, Dr. Nghargbu K’tso, Secretary of the group, Aliyu Mustapha and Public Relations Officer, Chief Alexander Onoja, added that “as the APC and the PDP get ready for their respective National Conventions, we are alarmed as political juggernauts and elder statesmen from the North Central start to lobby in earnest for the same positions in both parties.

“It seems as if our leaders have concluded that in spite of their many years in top leadership as Governors, Senators or Ministers, they are by some unspoken code ineligible, unqualified or excluded from contesting to fly their parties’ flags as Presidential Candidates.

“From all appearances, they do not even see themselves emerging as Vice Presidential Candidates. The question is why?

“This mindset, whether real or imagined, is one which our generation must stop before it infects and affects our future generations in the North Central. There is no better time than the current political dispensation to terminate it by proving that we too have the same aspirational liberties as any of our fellow citizens from any part of our Country.

“It is on this premise that we, the North Central Renaissance Movement, NCRM, demand in the interest of fairness, equity and justice that the Office of President of Nigeria is ceded to the North Central.”

Asked if the group’s aspiration has the backing of governors from the zone, Dr K’tso said no state chief executive from North Central is opposed to the people’s determination to produce a President for Nigeria in 2023.

“The governors are representatives of the people. They can’t go against the will of the same people who elected them. They didn’t just become governors but they were elected by the people. So, I do not see how any of them will work against this genuine and patriotic call of people to have one of our own occupies the highest elective office in the land,” he added.

At the press conference were delegations from Plateau, Niger, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa and Benue states as well as the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.