2023: Igbos Should Convince Nigeria On Suceeding Buhari – Obi

Former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has asked the South Easterners to convince other regions why an Igbo president should emerge in 2023.

In an interview on ARISE NEWS on Monday, Obi said the South East must make a “convincing argument” to Nigerians why the region should produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor.

The former vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the 2019 elections also urged the region to embrace the politics of “engagement and consultation and not confrontation”.

He said: “We need to convince the other people why it should be us. And you know we have a convincing argument for that. But it needs to be convincing. We are not going to hold a gun in their head and say you must come here.”

“Politics is about engagement and consultation, and not confrontation. You consult and discuss with other people and say, ‘this is how we need to do it for us to have a peaceful coexistence.

“The decision will be done within the party. It’s not a question of my view or anybody view; it’s that of the party. Even if we say it should come to the South and the party zones it to the north, there’s nothing that can be done.”

“These are major parties with a lot of members and stakeholders who will sit down and discuss at round tables. Politics, for me, is something you sit down at a roundtable, discuss and agree with each other.”

Recall that the Southern governors had met twice in Asaba, and Lagos to affirm their demand that the South should produce the next president.

Their position subsequently got the backing of socio-political groups, House of Representative members and Senators from the region.