The pan-Yoruba socio- political group, Afenifere, yesterday said it was insisting on the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, for equity, inclusiveness and respect for the abiding covenant of ‘national engagement.’
The group said its position on the 2023 presidential election was informed by the fact that other parts of southern Nigeria had taken their shots at the presidency.
The position of Afenifere was re-emphasised by the former Secretary General of the group, Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on the 2014 National Conference, Senator Femi Okunrounmu,
in a statement entitled; “The Imperative of Nigerian President from South East Extraction.” Okunrounmu, who highlighted some of the recommendations of the 2014 Confab, said the issue of federal character and power rotation was paramount. He said: “The government of Goodluck Jonathan constituted the 2014 National Conference, in which I had the privilege of being appointed as chairman of its Presidential Advisory Committee and a delegate.
“The resolutions at the 2014 Confab have since become the new testament of our national political engagement. One of the fundamental gains from the conference which derived from earlier conferences under Sani Abacha and Olusegun Obasanjo was the rotation of the office of the President between the North and South and among the constituent six geo-political zones.
“While the military imposed the 1999 Constitution, it has made itself not amenable in its fundamental essence; the rotational principle has become the binding convention which can only be breached at the health of the federation.
“On the rotational presidency, Okunrounmu specifically said the South West and South-South had taken their turns through Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, respectively.”
