From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State has declared that southern politicians would lobby their northern counterparts towards achieving the Presidency for the South in 2023.
Diri who spoke in an interview monitored on Channels TV Sunrise programme against the backdrop of the resolution passed by southern governors that the South must produce the presidency in 2023, said the decision would not be imposed on the people.
He traced the history of Nigeria’s Presidency in 1999 with former President Olusegun Obasanjo from the South noting that with incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari from the North set to complete his two terms of eight years, the North should reciprocate the gesture for the South to take the Presidency.
“At this point what we need to do is lobbying. We have taken a position and our position is a political position. We don’t need to impose it on people. Now we have to talk to people, lobby them and make them reason why our position would be beneficial to the country and beneficial for the smooth power transfer from one region to the other. The North has what it takes to produce the President and ditto the South. The South also has what it takes to produce the President. And for us to live harmoniously with respect for each other and believe that power actually comes from God. We have this relationship and understanding for eight years that is two terms by our constitution one region would be there and then the next eight years; it would transfer to another region.
“Now we are seeing the last term of President Buhari and it is only usual, normal and acceptable to us from the South that this would be reciprocated by our brothers from the North and that is why we took that decision yesterday to say that in 2023, the President should actually come from the South.
“Whatever we have done is not constitutional backed up. It is not constitutional that the President has to rotate between the North and the South, it is more of gentleman agreement and to enhance peaceful coexistence and for us to have a democracy that all the groups and ethnic nationalities and all the regions would key in and buy in.”
Speaking on the recently passed Petroluem Industry Bill (PIB), Diri frowned at the definition of oil producing communities and host communities to include areas where pipelines are laid.
He said it was unthinkable and unacceptable to people of the South that a provision of 30 per cent profit of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was inserted in the controversial bill for “frontier exploration” in areas that were not clearly specified.
Diri called for a reversal of such proposal, saying it is a time bomb that if not properly addressed could create avoidable crises.