2023 Presidency: Governor Diri Reveals What South Will Do to Lobby North
- Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa state has declared that the southern governors would lobby the northerners for support in 2023
- The Southern Governors' Forum (SGF) had recently resolved that President Muhammadu Buhari's successor must come from the south
- Diri stated that in the spirit of fairness and justice, the south must be allowed to produce the next president of Nigeria
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Yenagoa, Bayelsa - Amid the quest for shifting of the presidency to the south in 2023, Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa state has said that southern politicians would lobby their northern counterparts to achieve their aim.
Daily Sun reports that Diri stated this in a television interview monitored in Yenagoa against the backdrop of the resolution passed by the Southern Governors' Forum (SGF) that the region must produce the presidency in 2023.
Source: Facebook
Legit.ng gathered that Diri said the north had what was required to produce the president, the same with the south.
He stated:
“At this point what we need to do is lobbying. We have taken a position and our position is a political position. We don’t need to impose it on people. Now we have to talk to people, lobby them and make them reason with us why our position would be beneficial to the country and for the smooth power transfer from one region to the other.”
Diri says north, south must live in peace and harmony
Diri, however, said for both the north and the south to live in peace and harmony, there is the need to rotate the presidency.
The governor noted:
“We have this relationship and understanding, for eight years – that is two terms by our constitution – one region would be there and then the next eight years, it would transfer to another region.
"Now we are seeing the last term of President Buhari and it is only usual, normal and acceptable to us from the South that this would be reciprocated by our brothers from the North and that is why we took that decision yesterday to say in 2023, the President should actually come from the south."
He restated the position of governors of the southern states that it was an injustice to allot 3% of oil revenue for host communities that bear the brunt of exploration and exploitation activities.
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Former governor of Zamfara declares his presidential ambition
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that former governor of Zamfara state and a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Ahmed Yerima, said he would contest for the 2023 presidential election despite the recent stance of the Southern Governors Forum.
It was reported that the forum had on Monday, July 5, insisted that the presidency should be zoned to southern Nigeria in 2023.
Senator Yerima said he would not shelve his ambition since there was no provision for a power shift in the Nigeran constitution and the APC constitution.
Source: Legit.ng
