2023 Presidency: Utomi Suggests Best Candidate To Succeed Buhari

Former presidential aspirant and political economist, Prof. Patrick Utomi on Sunday educated Nigerians on how to elect the next leader after President Muhammadu Buhari.

Naija News reports that the All Progressive Congress, APC, administration led by Buhari will finish its tenure in 2023.

Speaking ahead of the February 2023 elections, Utomi said the country at the moment needs a pan-Nigerian nationalist, a selfless and intellectual leader to take power after the incumbent administration.

The economists, while addressing newsmen in Lagos on Sunday, said Nigeria needs a person of competence and compassion, someone with a track record of a life of service.

“Not somebody who spends his life just thinking about himself and suddenly decides that okay, I have enough money I can now lead them,” the African Democratic Congress (ADC) member said.

He added: “We need a true Nigerian accepted in all parts of the country, exposed to all parts of the country in the reality of his life, not in talks and the person must have friends in every part of Nigeria.

“We need a person who is interested in collegial leadership.”

Utomi said that the coalition that would change Nigeria would include the youths, women and professionals.

“The prospect of a coalition that will change Nigeria, which I envisage, and is being put together as we speak, is a coalition of the youth, the women, the intellectuals and the professionals,” Utomi added.

Meanwhile, former Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki has opened up on why and how he supported Muhammadu Buhari (then as the APC candidate) to emerge President of Nigeria.

The former Senate President said he believed the change agenda been championed by Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) then.

However, he added that it soon became obvious that President Buhari had no meaningful change to offer Nigerians and hence the need to cut ties with him and his party.

Saraki made the disclosure on Saturday during a Twitter space discussion with Rinu of the #End SARS protest.

The former Kwara Governor said he like many others had high hopes of the Buhari administration but ended up getting disappointed.

“My view in 2015, honestly, was that there was an issue of security and the level of corruption at that time and the issue of integrity, ability to lead the country with honesty and good intentions; a lot of us felt that there was going to be a change,” he said.

“There was nothing personally one was gaining out of it. It wasn’t that one was doing it out of any personal gain at all.

“You could see that when I realized that what we hoped to achieve and deliver for Nigerians was not happening, we parted ways.

“I think that that was an acceptance for me to say that this was not what we bargained for. That is the truth, I am speaking from the heart about what happened.

“We had great hopes and intentions. It did not happen. I, unlike others, said ‘look this is not what I promised Nigerians, and I can’t continue’, and we parted ways, and that is the truth about that.”