A founding member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, congratulated the party’s northern governors and political leaders for strengthening Nigeria’s unity by endorsing a power shift to the South.
Okechukwu, in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, described the endorsement as an uncommon patriotic gesture and principled response to building nationhood.
He said that by the singular act, the APC governors and political leaders from the north have exposed the leaders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who attempted to harvest from ethnoreligious fault lines in Nigeria’s polity.
Okechukwu said that PDP's attempt to harvest from primordial sentiments had not only breached the rotation convention in its constitution but had wittingly or unwittingly “dug their electoral grave” in the 2023 presidential election.
“It’s my considered view that the sophisticated northern voters, who voted for Chiefs MKO Abiola and Olusegun Obasanjo will in 2023 vote for APC presidential candidate and shame PDP,” Okechukwu said.
Okechukwu, who is also the Director-General (D-G) of Voice of Nigeria (VON), noted that the northern APC Governors and political leaders deserve commendation for ceding power to the south; hence hoisting Nigeria’s unity flag and advancing the frontiers of Nigeria’s democracy.
He said that with the decision to rightfully rotate power to the South, the northern leaders had upheld the progressive bent of APC and exposed the opportunistic tendencies of the PDP.
“I am very elated. I commend APC Governors and political leaders of the Northern belt for their profound patriotic statement, which aligns with Mr. President’s idea of consensus.
“By this singular decision, they have killed three birds with one stone.
“One, they hoisted the National Unity Flag by their position that it is the turn of the south to produce Nigeria’s President in 2023.
“This is about the loftiest way to fly the National Unity Flag at a critical time when our dear country is highly polarised and in a cliff-hanger.
“I must add that this is a national healing balm and bridge-building pedigree of APC governors and political leaders of the Northern belt, which they anchored on the doctrine of progressivism.”
The VON D-G added that the northern governors and political leaders from APC invoked the progressive philosophy of APC, by placing national interest above parochial interest.
Okechukwu said the overall patriotic display by the leaders was captured in their statement, where the governors remarked that;
“After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in the office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.
“It is a question of honor for the APC, an obligation that is not in any way affected by the decisions taken by another political party.
“We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united, and more progressive country.
“We, therefore, wish to strongly recommend to President Buhari that the search for a successor as the APC’s presidential candidate be limited to our compatriots from the southern states.
“We appeal to all aspirants from the northern states to withdraw in the national interest and allow only the aspirants from the south to proceed to the primaries.”
Okechukwu said that those words on the marble represent a new credo for APC in its march towards building on the foundation for national unity, stability, peace, and prosperity, which has been laid by President Buhari.
He described the action of northern APC governors and leaders as the noblest way to expose PDP for what it represents.
He said that Nigerians now see that the alleged ‘dollar rain primary’ that produced PDP Presidential Candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was a pyrrhic victory that has nothing in store for the new Nigeria of the citizen's dream.
He added that the victory at the primary may not lead to ultimate victory, especially with the patriotic stance of Abubakar‘s northern brothers.
He recalled that Abubakar willingly defected from PDP to APC in 2014 in protest of a breach of zoning by ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.
He also expressed disbelief that the same Abubakar who benefitted from the zoning convention in 2019 could allegedly deploy huge resources to breach the same zoning convention.
Okechukwu congratulated the APC Northern Governors, political leaders, and President Buhari for being true Nigerians.
He added that Nigerians had seen the difference between those who want a better Nigeria and those who want to trade with the nation’s future.