The Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, has said that southern governors will not throw their weight behind any northern candidate come 2023.
He made the declaration known on Saturday on Politics Today aired on Channels Television, adding that parties such as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and the All Progressives Congress (APC) had reached a consensus on the matter.
His assertions echo the resolve of southern governors seeking the shift of power to the south in 2023.
Akeredolu said, “If we have anything that we have agreed, that we have unanimity, it is the issue of president in 2023. All of us, irrespective of our political party; there are three political parties that are in the Southern Governors Forum.
“We have the All Progressives Grand Alliance, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the All Progressives Congress and we all agreed on this.
“Any party that picks any candidate from the North will have to face all Southern governors because they will not support. But it has to come from the South.
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“We are saying that there must be rotational, justice, and fairness in it, that is what we are pushing.
“If my President, Muhammadu Buhari has ruled for eight years, then it cannot be from the North again. The next president must come from the South. We have not got to the stage where we will say let us give it to somebody who is competent.
“There are many people that are competent. We have competent people in the North as we have competent people in the South. So, the president can come from any part of the country. But if you have occupied the position for eight years, then it has to rotate back to the South.
“We can continue to do that until it gets to a point where the issue of zoning becomes an anathema. But for now, zooming is it and those of us from the South are determined that the next president comes from the South.”
