The Vanguard newspaper reports that a former Secretary to the Federal Government under the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, Chief Olu Falae, has thrown his weight behind calls for a Southeast presidency.
Recall that the leader of the apex Yoruba socio-cultural group, the Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, had recently declared his support for the candidate of southeast extraction in the 2023 presidential race, Peter Obi of the Labour Party.
Chief Olu Falae, who contested the presidency in 1999 under the platform of the All Peoples Party (APP) against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said though he is not aware of Afenifere’s position on Obi, he would support the Southeast in 2023.
The former Minister of Finance noted that the Afenifere, to which he belongs, has not taken a position as an organization on a presidential candidate.
He also argued strongly that the Yoruba is not morally obligated to support the Igbo for the presidency because when the rest of Nigeria conceded the presidency to the Yoruba in 1999 following MKO Abiola’s death, it was only the Igbo that did not concede.
According to him, he had to defeat Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife in the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to become the candidate of the AD/APP alliance and Olusegun Obasanjo had to defeat Dr. Alex Ekuweme in the PDP to become the party’s candidate.
But be that as it may, he said:
“However, if you are a fair-minded Yoruba person, you will realize that there are three legs to the political tripods in Nigeria, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo.
“The first two have been presidents and so, equity requires that the Igbo should be president. So, if you are a fair-minded Yoruba person like I am, then you will vote for the Igbo based on equity.”
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