Founder of African Independent Television, AIT, Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi said, no presidential candidate from the Southeast and entire South can win presidential election on the opposition political party in 2023.
Speaking on an interview, the media mogul cum businessman, however, posited that Southeast should be allowed to produce a president on grounds of equity, justice and fairplay, if presidency is zoned to the South.
Dokpesi said, a new Nigeria which was a dream of all demand however, that whoever emerges President of Nigeria would have to compensate the people of the South East but added that the disadvantage nature of the opposition calls for slot of presidency of PDP to be zoned to the North, if the party want to bounce back to power in 2023.
The South East cannot win the election for the PDP that is just the truth of the matter. I don’t beat around the bush; I treat issues as they are and as I understand them.
He said: “There is no candidate from the South East, even I dare say there is no candidate from the South that you put in the North today that will be able to win. It is going to be a humongous challenge.
“If we are the Nigerians, I want us to be, if we believe in the unity of Nigeria and we also believe in equity, justice, and fairness, there is no reason we should not give it to the South East if the slot is given to the South. However, is there equity, justice, and fairness in Nigeria’s politics? The answer is NO! So, don’t let us over flog the matter. I think that whoever emerges as the president of Nigeria would have to compensate the people of the South East if truly, we want the emergence of the new Nigeria.
According to him, as a member of the opposition PDP, he has nothing to do with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), but said it was a Southern candidate that ruled last on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), hence, it wouldn’t be out of place of PDP zoned its 2023 presidency to the Northern part of the country.
He said, APC was free to work with their strategy, but PDP, as it were, will not be doing anything wrong if it takes its presidency to the North, while APC takes its own to the South.
“In the PDP, you are aware of the fact that President Obasanjo had a full eight years as a Southern candidate; he was succeeded by Umar Yar’adua, a northern candidate. Yar’ adua used two and half years during his tenure and the remaining of his tenure was used by Jonathan, who did another four years, making a total of six years for Jonathan.”
Insisting that North was in deficit in terms of PDP’s presidential candidature, he called for consideration of PDP’s presidential candidate on Northern extraction.
Amid cries and hues over age bracket of some frontline aspirants, Dokpesi posited that he would mind less, but emphasized on capacity of the person to deliver and to unite the country, given that the current administration was almost disuniting the nation.
He stated further: “The fact that President Buhari is adjudged to be a complete failure does not mean that every Northerner is a failure; it is just a lack of policy. Even during the military regime, Buhari was a complete failure but those who brought him and decided to force him on Nigerians owed Nigerians explanations on why they brought him.”
He said, Buhari was dethroned in 1985, due to his incompetence, saying that those who brought him as civilian president owe Nigerians further explanation.
