2023: Why South-West, Not South-East, Should Produce Buhari’s Successor – Yakassai

Salihu Tanko Yakasai, popularly known as Dawisu on Twitter, has claimed that the South West is more deserving of the presidency in 2023 than the South East region.

Yakasai stated this against the backdrop of recent political brickbats that have trailed calls for rotation of the presidency in 2023.

While the Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF) had said that power must shift to South in 2023 for the purpose of fairness, equity and justice, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) argued that the presidency is a democratic and not a rotational office.

But speaking on Arise TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Friday, Yakasai advised the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone its next presidential ticket to South West.

He said the region deserved to produce the next president because of the role it played in helping President Muhammadu Buhari emerge victorious in the 2015 presidential election.

Yakassai, who was sacked as media adviser to Kano Sate governor because he criticized President Buhari, is the son of  Tanko Yakasai, a human rights activist and former Liaison Officer to ex-president Shehu Shagari.

He said on the programme, “I am of the view, particularly in the APC, that power should rotate to the South and even in the South, I am of the opinion that the candidate of the APC should come from South West in particular and I have my reasons for saying that.

“The reason is simply because I know, being a part of the APC family, what the South West in particular has contributed to the victory of the APC in the 2015 general elections.

“Even in the formation of the party, they contributed immensely to the formation of the party as well as the success of the party in the general elections.

“And as such, even if you look at the major contenders in APC, the contenders are majorly from the South West region of the country. So, I see no reason why the rest of the party should not put its weight behind any candidate of their choice, from the South West in particular, in order to produce the next candidate for the APC in the next general elections.”

He, however, faulted the Southern Governors Forum for allegedly “heating up the polity” by openly demanding for the presidency twice as though it was a right, saying it is “unconstitutional”.

“…that is why I faulted the Southern Governors’ Forum, you know, by going public. The Southern Governors Forum is a very important platform and for them coming out twice to say that power has to go South, I think that is unconstitutional. What they should have done is to reach out to their colleagues, particularly in the political parties, to have a bargain [and] to understand the need for diplomacy in getting the support of their colleagues in the northern part of the country and other parts to ensure that the candidates emerge from the South.

“But I think to come out and say that it has to be or it’s a must for the South to produce the candidate is obviously unconstitutional and this is why the Northern Elders Forum, particularly Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, had to react to that.

He said for the APC, the 2023 presidency “has to go to the South West” and that he sees “no reason why the APC should not support any of the candidates from the South West, because they are the biggest contributors to the victory of the APC [in the 2015 elections].”

He opined that “behind-the-scenes diplomacy” was the surest way to get the support of the elites, nothing that there hasn’t been any move by the APC to indicate that the party wants power to remain in the North.

He added that, “I’ve not seen any indicator that the APC is going to field any candidate from the South-East to be frank and candid and I don’t think that’s going to happen. Even if the South West does not get it, I don’t see the APC giving it to anybody in the South East.”

On why the South East may not get the presidency in 2023, Yakassai said: “they keep agitating individually, but they have not come together collectively to say, ‘OK, this is who we want’…let them come together to show a unified front to the rest of the country that they are ready for the presidency. There is no unity amongst the governors, the political elites and there is no unity amongst the followers.”