2023: Presidency Must Shift to South for Nigeria to be Peaceful, Says Lawmaker

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The presidency of Nigeria must be shifted to the southern part of Nigeria in 2023 so that the country could have peace, political stability, social and economic growth.

This view was expressed by a member of the House of Representatives from Oyo State, Honourable Sina Abiola Peller, in Minna yesterday during a Peace Advocacy Mission to Niger State and a visit to former Military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (Retd) at his Minna uphill residence.

Peller, who fielded questions from newsmen after the visit held behind closed doors, declared that “everybody knows that the presidency should be in the south because if you are promoting peace you will understand that the Yoruba community are agitating for a Yoruba nation, the Igbos are agitating for Biafra and you have Northern Nigeria that has been in position of presidency for an uninterrupted eight years of two terms. You should be able to take the presidency to the south if you want peace.

“For you to promote peace you should be able to take the presidency to the south. But you can do otherwise if you don’t want to promote peace,” Peller said.

He, however, pleaded with the nation’s political stakeholders to put the unity and peace of Nigeria first and above any other consideration while taking critical and crucial decisions for the country.

The federal lawmaker called for “a change in the style of politics in the country” where a president is anointed before the
election.

He said: “Now we must be able to come together as forward thinkers and build an institution that will put the unity and peace of this country in the forefront. We must have criteria that can develop the unity and peace of Nigeria.”

Peller aligned himself with the clamour for Nigeria to have a younger president come 2023, saying: “We should have a younger president not that the person should not be above 60. I am sure we still have vibrant people that if they can have proper plans for the youth and can be able to create a bridge of transition of power from their generation to the generation coming behind it is alright, you can’t cut the head off to solve the problem of headache.”

He disclosed that his Leads Generation Initiative (LGI) programme has so far trained 1,700 Nigerians with each trainee training 100 other youths on national building, political mobilisation and organisation and political leadership among youth.

He said during his private discussion with Babangida, the former military president associated himself with the advocacy programme and promised to mobilise state government’s support for the scheme.

Peller also donated 50 bags of rice to the Emir of Minna, Dr. Umar Farouq Bahago, for distribution to Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) in his domain and promised to always come to the assistance of those affected by bandits attack.

The emir, in his remarks, appreciated the gesture of the federal lawmaker and asked for prayers by all Nigerians for God to bring an end to insecurity in the state and Nigeria as a whole.