2023: Northern Youths Kick Against Atiku’s Presidential Ambition, Demand Power Shift To South

A group of northern youths under the umbrella of the Coalition of Civil Society for Good Governance has backed the calls for the presidency to be zoned to the southern part of the country in 2023 for the interest of justice and equity.

The group staged a peaceful protest in Kaduna state capital on Monday and asked the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar to drop his presidential ambition on account of old age, noting that he does not have enough in the tank to put in the high level of physical and mental effort required to fix Nigeria.

National Coordinator of the Coalition, Okpanachi Jacob, who addressed journalists, said Nigeria is confronted by myriads of challenges that require a young and proactive person with energy to cope with the rigours of the office of the President.

He, however, urged the former Vice president to project national interest outside of his desire to become the President.

National Coordinator of the Coalition, Okpanachi Jacob, speaks during a press conference in Kaduna on February 14, 2022.

While stating that the south deserves to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor come 2023, the northern group urged the people of the region to focus on searching for the best candidate that can run for the presidency and promote unity in the country.

“The presidency should go to younger candidates in tune with the realities within which we exist in today’s world and capable of making decisions at the pace required therefrom. The south deserves the Presidency of Nigeria come 2023 and we must narrow down our focus to searching for the best candidate from the region rather than allowing the public discourse space to be crowded by a cacophony of distractions that will end up robbing us of the very best of us,” Jacob said.

“We for our part have promoted the candidature of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for years. But we humbly call on the former Vice President to do us a good turn in return for the many good turns we have done for him. We have sacrificed a lot pushing for democracy for the presidency of Atiku Abubakar all these years, even though we have been abandoned in a way by him after each election cycle.

“At almost 80, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar does not have enough in the tank to put in the high level of physical and mental efforts required to fix Nigeria. We equally call on other aspirants who are old to leave the field allowing for younger and vibrant candidates to emerge and take the reins of power.”