A former Senate Chief Whip , Roland Owie , on Sunday said the North would still retain power in 2023 to balance the period already spent by the South since 1999 .
Owie , who spoke with journalists in his Benin home , said such arrangement was imperative in the spirit of equity , justice and fairness .
The 2023 presidency has been a source of controversy among the political class in the South who are already calling for a rotation of power to the southern part of Nigeria after the President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd . ) must have completed his second term in 2023 .
But Owie said the South had had more time at the Presidency than the North since 1999 .
The former Senate principal officer said , “ Presidency came from South- West with Obasanjo even though he lost his unit , he lost his Local Government Area and even lost the entire zone but he became President of Nigeria and completed his two – term tenure .
“ Then, power shifted to the North and produced Yar ’ Adua , one of the best presidents Nigeria has ever had .
“ The man, who agreed that his election was flawed , and brought peace to the Niger Delta region , died and the vice – president took over .
“ You can see the wisdom in the late General Sani Abacha ’ s constitution which was not adopted . He made provision for a second vice – president from the zone that produces the president .
“ If we had adopted the Abacha constitution , it means when Yar ’ Adua died , the vice – president from his zone would have taken over , we would not have been where we are today .
“ Yar ’ Adua died and ( his vice , Dr Goodluck ) Jonathan took over and completed the remaining years in their joint tenure and also secured another four years .
“ If there were no greedy leaders , my suggestion at our South- South leader ’ s meeting that Jonathan should allow somebody from the North to run for the presidency since age was still on his side should have been adopted.
READ ALSO : Pick your successor, Bakare urges Buhari
“ However , those who felt that they owned the PDP, who were not there when PDP was formed lured the man and pushed him to go for a third term .
“ Today, when you calculate , after Buhari ’ s tenure expires in 2023 , the North will have four years and 244 days to complete their own quota of the presidency .
“ So , it is not the turn of the South yet . When there is no justice , there can’ t be peace . So the slot for 2023 is for the North , ” he said .
Owie also posited that “ when power eventually shifts to the South, post 2023 , it should be ceded to the South – East . ”
Punch
