* Says APC Will Field A Northerner After Buhari’s Tenure
By Temidayo Akinsuyi
Chief
Ebenezer Babatope, a former Minister of Transport, said on Sunday that
the South-West zone of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would
be fooling itself if it thought the national leadership of the party
would zone the presidency to the region in the 2023 general elections.
It
has been rumoured that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former governor of Lagos
State, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are both nursing the ambition to
succeed Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Speaking on the raging debate
on whether the Northern region would agree to rotation of the presidency
after the completion of President Buhari’s tenure in 2023, Babatope, a
member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Board of Trustees (BoT),
said it was certain that the APC would field another northerner as its
presidential candidate in 2023.
Babatope, in a chat with Daily
Independent, said the North would find it difficult to relinquish power
after the end of the Buhari presidency in 2023.
“Whatever happens
inside the APC is their headache. Some of our brothers in the
South-West have been deceiving themselves that somebody from the
South-West will be nominated by their party for the 2023 presidential
election.
“But they are merely deceiving themselves because the
North will not let go easily and, as such, they will not allow the
South-West to field a candidate”.
“So, if our South-West brothers in the APC think the North will hand over to them in 2023, they are only deceiving themselves”.
“They
will never hand over power to them or allow them to contest election.
After Buhari, they will field another Northerner. All I can do is to
wish them well.”
On whether the PDP will zone the presidency to
the South in 2023, Babatope said: “We of the PDP will contest the
election by the grace of God and what we do in our own party will be
determined by what happens within the political system in Nigeria.”
“But
we want the APC in the South-West to continue to fool themselves that
the national leadership will allow them to contest the election. They
will never allow that to happen.”
Source:- Independentng
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