Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State has issued a stern warning to all the political parties in the country against fielding a northern candidate for the 2023 presidential election.
Akeredolu added that the southern governors will not support any political party that fields a northern candidate for presidency in 2023.
The governor stated this while speaking during an interview with Channels Television, Friday.
The Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF) during a meeting, had resolved that the 2023 presidency should be zoned to the South.
Speaking on the resolution, Akeredolu, who is the chairman of the forum, said the decision of the governors was unanimous, adding that any party that fields a northern candidate in 2023 is against the whole southern region of the country.
In his words, “There are about three political parties that are in the Southern Governors’ Forum, we have the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. All of us are unanimous in our position that the next president of this country must come from the South.
“For us, we are unanimous. It (the forum) is not a political platform. I believe that any party that picks somebody from the North would have to face the whole southern region because they will not support it.
“It has to come from the South. We are saying that there must be what I will call rotation. The justice of it and the fairness in it are what we are preaching. If my president – President Buhari — has been in office for eight years, it can’t be from the North. The next president must come from the South.”
The governor’s statement is coming after Governor of Ebonyi state, Dave Umahi said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors in the SGF are dishonest about their resolution on the zoning of the 2023 presidency to the South.
The governor had said the body language of the PDP governors is suggesting that the presidency won’t be zoned to the south.
