Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Middle Belt Forum, MBF, has assured the Southern part of the country that in the interest of fairness, justice and equity; it would support a President of Southern extraction to succeed Muhammadu Buhari.
The leader of the forum, Dr. Bitrus Pogu stated this while fielding questions from journalists as guest of Morning Show, a programme on Arise Television.
According to Pogu, the decision of the forum to go South in the search for the next President has already been communicated to the chairman of the Southern Governors’ Forum and governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu.
He said: “We visited the governor of Ondo state, who is the chairman of the Southern Governors Forum to tell him that we started a movement and that movement started at Awka where we decided to do two things: to declare our support for emergence of Southern government so that the rotation principles established in this country be adhered to and we believe that would address many of our problems.
“At the Akwa meeting, we also decided that we should launch a program that would sensitize the youth of this country and we called it the Forty Million Ballot Movement. The youths who constitute the majority of our voting population would key into this new development that would transform Nigeria.
“We told Mr. Governor that we met, that is, the socio-cultural groups comprising Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Pan Niger Delta Forum, Afenifere and the Middle Belt Forum at Abuja on the 13th January, 2022, and we also endorsed that same position that we would want to see the emergence of a president by 2023 of southern extraction.
“Went further to say that if any political party decides to fill a governor of northern extraction, we will campaign against such political party and the political parties should know that we are determined in that. We went to show solidarity and to tell him our position and that he may as the President or chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum convey the message to his colleagues that we support the emergence of a President of Southern extraction.”
That said, Dr. Pogu said the South is home to legion of competent people, one of which can lead Nigeria in the right direction beginning from 2023, saying, “we know we have so many competent people in the South who can transform Nigeria, who can stop all these insurgencies, who can transform the economic misdeeds which we are now suffering from. We spend as much as 85 percent of our earnings just to service debts and this is unacceptable.
He slammed those pushing for another Northerner to succeed President Buhari, noting that the group will continue to root for what is right and just for the nation at all times.
He continued: “Maybe, they are not used to being challenged that is why they now see statements like those made by the governor of Ondo state and Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum as a threat. As far as I am concerned, that is a demand which is legitimate and the south deserves to make such legitimate demand and there are so many people in the North who feel this thing has to move to the South and if by saying it has to move it is also a threat, it is up to them.”
“We are true Nigerians. We are the people who hold Nigeria together, holding the South with the North and we want things to work. That is what will benefit us. We have a lot of people in IDPs displaced from their ancestral homes and we feel when Nigeria works well for all Nigerians, we are the better for it. We will not say we have to have it our own way. We made a declaration before, if the south is not prepared, we will go for it,” he added.
