2023: Fayemi Best Material For Presidency-Ashir
An opinion moulder of the northern extraction, Alhaji Ahmed Ashir, has declared that the governor of Ekiti State and chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), Dr. Kayode Fayemi, as the best man to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Ashir, in a release made available to Newscoven.ng, said he arrived at the conclusion after he had made a general assessment, based on experience, vitality, age and political networks of the possible aspirants for the office.
He said the All Progressives Congress (APC) has within its fold the likes of Senator Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Raji Fashola and Rauf Aregbesola all who he said have intimidating credentials, but added that Fayemi has “the most balancing in terms of religion, political acceptability and networks.”
Deconstructed the political permutations ahead of the 2023 presidential election and the attendant hoopla it generated across North and South, he said whoever emerges as APC Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections will go a long way in determining the fortunes of the party at the polls.
“Of course, all eyes are on the APC leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to succeed Buhari. It is true that Tinubu is a political genius who has contributed inmensely to the APC and helped Buhari’s emergence as president. As such, he stands in a good position to be considered as a good successor.
“But, in reality, the office of a president requires much energy and vitality which, as a result of age, Tinubu cannot offer. Tinubu, 69, cannot cope with the stress and huge demands of the first office.
“Nigerians have learnt a good lesson from Buhari’s presidency. It is not a good road to take again in 2023. Tinubu is better off as a chieftain and strategist, who should anoint or endorse a younger candidate.
“Also, Tinubu as APC presidential candidate will put the APC in a dangerous and tight corner of Muslim/Muslim ticket, a decision that would finally confirm public suspicion that the APC is out for an Islamic agenda.
“Nigeria of today is not the one of the 90s when late Chief Moshood Abiola and and Ambassador Babangana Kingibe ran on a Muslim/Muslim ticket and were voted for.
“With the level of religious division in the country, it will be easier for a camel to passs through the eye of a needle than for any political party to win a presidential election with an all-Muslim or all-Christian ticket. This same factor knocks Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola, and Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, out of the winning formula.
“Ekiti State governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi, however, looks like the perfect candidate for APC in 2023. This is not out of sentiment. In Dr Fayemi, APC has the political genius of Tinubu, the energy and competence to drive good governance of Fashola, a sellable candidate to Nigerian across divides,” he said.
Ashir also urged the citizens to be circumspect of who emerges the president in the next political dispensation, saying the quality of leaders who emerge in the forthcoming 2023 presidential election, will determine whether Nigeria will make good progress or otherwise.
The political commentator advised concerned Nigerians who have followed political developments in the last eight years, to place high premium on who the political parties put forward.
He warned that allowing a politician of northern extraction succeed President Buhari would backfire and threaten the sovereignty of the country.
According to him, the South should be allowed to produce the president for equity, justice, fairplay and political balancing which he said can fortify the bond of unity among diverse ethnicities.
“We are not in doubt that putting forward a northern candidate to succeed Muhammadu Buhari is a bad idea that will backfire and sink the APC.
“On the other hand, a presidential candidate of southern extraction will go a long way in dousing the tension in the country, help promote the One Nigeria project and as well change the notion that the APC is out to pursue northernisation agenda,” he added
Ashir said the Ekiti State governor, as the chairman of the APC 2015 Primary Election Committee, exhibited a high sense of organisation, coordination, fairness and transparancy that endeared the party to many Nigerians.
“The biggest spenders could not buy or manipulate Dr Fayemi as he conducted the primaries that produced Buhari. Without leaving the party in rancour or division after the primaries, Dr Fayemi displayed quality leadership.
“With this in mind, Nigerians (we northerners) have nothing to fear with a candidate like Dr Fayemi. He is not a bigot or a leader attached to regional interest.
“From his early days, his interest has been Nigeria. His tactful management of herders/farmer crisis in Ekiti State and his intervention on divisive call for state collection of VAT makes him stand out as a national leader.
“With a bridge-builder and devoted party man like Dr Fayemi, the APC will have no problem at the polls. His exposure and understanding of internal party politics and national politics will help in stabilising the APC and the country. Dr Fayemi is that candidate that can win for APC and, more importantly, win for Nigeria and Nigerians,” he said.
