 Welcome back to the breakfast on PLOS TV Africa and the conversation is about the 2023 presidential zoning and has been caused from several quarters to zone the presidency for 2023 to the South. But still many leaders, especially Northern Nigeria disagree and they say that they have strength in numbers and of course would go ahead to push for a Northern candidate come 2020-23. Let's invite our guest now Mr. Ibrahim Oshenao. Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I want us to first get your way in on this subject matter regarding zoning to the South or to the North. In the South they're saying that leaders, especially Governor Maruti Mirakeri Dulu has said that the next president of Nigeria should come from the South and that he should follow the rotational system because of the principle of justice and fairness but on the other hand Northern leaders are saying that we should not neglect competence for justice and fairness and that there are also competent leaders amongst Northerners. Where do you come in? Anyway, I will start by going into the background of new Northerner leads and the young ones who are probably my age test like my friends. The Arewa Consultative Forum was his name, Shatima. He raised this issue back in probably in December in Abuja, where we are at the conference. And personally I told him that no, the major issue in this country is not about you being a party, a party be a party see, it's about fairness, equity and justice. The Northern elites who are clamoring for Northern presidency are so vicious in their thoughts because most of the challenges of security that we are having in this country, even right from the Boko Haram, the Masab and the rest of them are foundationed on fairness, equity and justice. There is no justice and any society where you don't have fairness, equity and justice, what you will see is a security breach, a participation of people from one point to the other in selection and the rest of it. And we need to look in what I expect the National Security Advisor to come in and advise at this point in time. We remember during President Jonathan and his Excellency, the Nationalists during the election, you know, changing postponement at the end of the year, the National Security Advisor advised in a crucial and I'm also in a crucial time and I'm also calling on the National Assembly to wait in into this, you know, shallow discussion because I'm sure by December, by grace of God, or by any next day, this denotant agenda is going to pop up. And when it pops up, it's going to eat our politics like never before. Now, their calculation is President Tabas on job, his Excellency has served for eight years for missile. President Umaru Musaia has served for two years. Then the southern president, President Gulog Jonathan, has taken off for another six years. That is eight plus six. That's 14 years. Then be sure allowed by grace of God, because everybody will finish his eight-year tunnel married to the plus two, married to the two from President Umaru Jaragua. That would be 10 years and they still have the left over of four years. The issue that warranted the last six and taking over from the south was just natural that nobody has control of. The southern does not force themselves into power. The nature take his course. And I told him, I remember I told some of my notary friends that look, the military has ruled this country more than any other tribe. And most of the military leaders are from the north from General Kupu Goa, President Tabas on job took over, just late as 1979, just late and two or three years, handed over to a civilian, President Buwari, General Buwari came in from there, Babangida, from there, General Abasha. From there, we have Abus Salaam, and so many others. Now, if we are calculating that at this point in time, where we have division across the country, people are clamoring for cessation, people are making this, we need to pacify the agitators. We need to be honest and be nationalistic. They going back to the North Indian that they are clamoring for, I believe you won't see the light of the day. And I hope some of the notary elites will rethink and believe that, okay, we have done 80 years, let the south, you know, come see me, I give food to the southern governor, like never before, the southern governor under the leadership of the sexual agency, and the governor has been doing wonderfully well. And I give it to the PDP governors in the south as well. They each the party affiliation and become a patriotic governor who sees that the coexistence of this country is so German and paramount to them. So I would advise those who are clamoring for the northern governor, the northern presidency, to please rethink and be, you know, and faith for the unity of this country. The PDP will be understood what they are doing. I can tell you for free that they are national chairman who come from the south, thinking that they can back on the strength of the North with numbers and move the presidency back to the north. But we can speak for them, tell them, tell them, yes. Yeah, so that's, you know, an angle that I wanted to, you know, get you to speak on. The PDP's decision, of course, they're going to be very careful, you know, with regards to who they eventually pick and also be watchful as to whoever the APC also puts forward to look at their chances. But there's also that narrative when you mentioned just now that they will pick their chairman from the south and then pick the presidential candidate from the north. There's that narrative that, you know, the north basically includes the middle belt, includes also the southern parts of different northern states, which seems to be a little unfair, because of course the middle belt have every now and then always try to point out that they don't necessarily belong and they should not just be grouped along with northern Nigeria. So I want you to speak with regards that. And then also there are certain promises that were made. If you remember, in 2015 and I believe in 2019, to the southeast, seeking their support and of course making those promises that they would be, you know, allowed to win presidency, doesn't it feel, you know, sad for, you know, the southeast now that they don't even seem to be being brought into the conversation? Look, the South Easterners, of course, they have one of the best, even some of my, you know, professional mentee mentor, who are in the south, like Professor Charles Soludo, Professor Mogululu, the rest of them, they are one of the, South Easterners is one of the fantastic and decent guys in terms of policy economy, in terms of governance infrastructure, in terms of, you know, growing the tech industry, I give it to the southeast, they are one of the pillars of this country and they have the right to the president. But unfortunately, politics is a game of number, is a game of negotiation. Nobody, I don't sit in my house and I expect somebody to bring a ticket of Senate or vote me into a national assembly. It's not going to happen, I have to go out there and push for it, negotiate, discuss and make sure things happens, you know, so the South Easterners needs to negotiate. You know, I think, I can't remember the, the, the, the name of the president, indigo youth, indigo association, I forgot the name. Yes, the old man is a fantastic man. He said, indigo has one of the best brain and they are ready to negotiate. If the power, if the, if the vote's leading party sewage they are ticket, presidential ticketing to the South, indigo has one of the brightest chance. There are some, personally, if my party nominates certain names from Igbo Land, I will be at the forefront of the national campaign. You know, yes, they believe that, you know, the North will not, you know, trust them with power, you know, even some, some section of the South, some the section of the South believes that as well, but they have to come out and campaign. What Governor B said on their right TVS, they also is to let them understand that they have the best brain, but they are ready to come out and channel their, channel their campaign into allowing other tribes and other region to see the quality they have. So they have to negotiate. They are not going to bring the presidency into their region on Salakat. They have to come out. They have to be strategic. They have to campaign even to the North, to the other region, not to East, not to West, South, to West, South, South, to let them see reason why they can leave the country and why they cannot show others that there is not going to be break up of this country. Because the issue they are having is that people believe that if they have the power, the country will disintegrate. And that we can actually protect for them or show them. They have to campaign. Like in the South West, where I come from, we have one of the best brain. We have some of our leaders who are showing their interests both directly and indirectly. And you see their participation of people popping into APC, believing that that's the vehicle where they can leave this country based on what they are doing right now. PDP also believes that they have some of the smartest guys in the North. And they are zoning their vice presidential candidate back to the South East. Some of them who are my friends believe that they are sold into the South East is the best as a vice president. In fact, all that got off in theory right now, they have the structure of you know how their government is going to look like. And I'm sure in the South, South East is going to take the shock of their government position. I'm not sure if they eventually wish I doubt I am not sure they can even you know come into that if they eventually form the government, which I'm sure they cannot. Obviously, most of the alignment of their position will go to the South East to use to pacify and let them through the inclusiveness. But however, they have to come out and campaign. The South South, we have quality governors like Governor Wiki, you know, governor of the state, we have the governor of Anambra, Stigwilubia, who have done pretty well for me. And we have some quality governors in the South West, Governor D'Aquabio, who is doing well or so, doing well. And I'm going to qualify a second time governor who is doing fantastically and leading the governors as well. So we have quality people in the South, so they have to come out and market their program. I'm not going to do that for them. They must rational. You have been talking about the issue of, you know, cessationist agitation and the way it's seeming like, you know, as though a presidential ticket is going to be a way to appease people who want to break out of Nigeria. Will that not be just avoiding the issue? Why don't we find a way to fix the root cause of why these people are agitating rather than just hand over, you know, a presidential ticket? What if the person isn't competent enough for leadership and they just give them the presidency simply because you want to appease these people who are agitating to break out of the country? Because bear in mind the fact that they want a Southern presidency, that's not the only reason why these people are agitating. They're agitating for all-round inclusiveness and not just the presidency. Loom, my dear sister, there's no way we can hand over. I'm not saying we're going to hand over the ticket to the Southeast. Agitation, or no agitation, is not coming from the Southeast Zealand. It's coming from the Southwest. It's coming from the Middle East. It's coming from every part of the country. So it's not about handing over. Nobody will hand over the ticket to them. There's better ways of pacifying them, you know, making them feel inclusive in what everybody's doing. And they are doing it. You can imagine, they have ministers for labor. They have ministers for environment right now, Sharon, they have so many ministers in the Jews, the head of budget is one of them. You know, they have one of the best brains in the government and, you know, there's better ways that the past can do better, probably giving them one of the top most, you know, kitchen cabinets appointment. But they have to market as well. Nobody will give them all these positions, you know, because they're agitating. I can agitate from the Southwest. So they both, it's agitating from my own region, believing that people are being killed unjustly. So everybody can agitate. I can decide tomorrow that I want to be a administrator. It's my choice. And because I'm agitating, it does not mean that they have to bring the presidency or they have to bring the, let's say, a shift of staff to the president or a secretary to the federal official to South, to Southwest. So it doesn't work like that. They have to market themselves. They have to discuss with other tribe. And Indigo is doing very, very well in terms, the new leadership is doing fantastically well, you know, negotiating. And you can imagine what they are doing in the Southeast, you know, disrupting job folks who are writing work. They are managing their small-scale businesses, shutting down their business. Most of the banks are not working there. They are not doing, they are not affecting Southwest. They are killing their economy. So these are the things I see that the young folks around there can do better. They can come to the table, negotiate. Even if they cannot come to the table and negotiate. Okay, these are my grievances. These are the things, these are the reasons why I want to move. And I encourage the federal government as well to allow them to come to the table. You can sit on the coffee table and negotiate. These are the things I don't want. These are the things I think is right. These are the things I think we want more. All right, Ms. Oshino, kindly hold on. Yeah, kindly hold on. Because of, you know, we have just a few minutes left. I want you to, you mentioned earlier, politics is a game of numbers and that will determine very greatly what the position the PDP would take if it wants, you know, to have a strong chance of winning. But can you share with us, you know, what direction you think the APC would also take if it really wants to stand the chance of winning again in 2023? Seeing the little details here and there as to where the people would likely want to, you know, vote. I've heard people say whoever it is that brings forth a southern candidate is who I'm going to vote for regardless of the party. So, you know, what position do you think the APC would like to take? Yes. Unfortunately, I may not be able to speak for the party. I'm not a sports but I'm a member of the party so I can speak on my personal, you know, renderings. Now, the party, our party has done greatly well in the north, you know, in terms of infrastructure development and attacking the security, you know, don't forget that we met the security challenge in place, we met the IDPs campaign in place, we met a lot of things in place and we are doing well to, you know, to subvert the pressure and we are negotiating, putting more investment in that hand. Now, if the party decides that the president is going to be zoned to the west, a lot of people to the south, a lot of people is going to vote for us from the north. Don't forget that if we put, if we strut zone the participants to the south, of course, the vice president is going to come from the north and under, you know, position. So, if the party decides, whatever the party decides, I'm fine with it and I can assure you, the north will vote for, APC is a tag on your chest, it's hard for you to remove it. So, you know, everybody is going to vote for APC, even in the north. So, we are waiting and, you know, we're just giving them a few months to, you know, to random their convention and we will string into action and make sure that, you know, the party performs credibly well. Most of our governors are doing well, name them, people are joining into our party. Recently, you can see one of the, some of the, some PDP steward, I don't want to mention them, I don't want to promote anybody who are tripping them. They can see the light now, as they rightly said, most of them, and I'm expecting some of them, like, you know, to distinguish them, most of them are still coming to join APC. So many governors from the southeast also are still coming to join APC. So, you can see, in my own states, you can see what we're doing in Lagos, you know, credibly with the good infrastructure development, good economic policy and the rest of them. So, we hope anywhere we zone our presidential candidate, we're going to have a quality presidential candidate, quality one, that will deliver the boost for online insurance, that will subvert the agitation of people, including the status discussed with them. So, we are, we are, we are safe for each other. I can assure you, we'll form the next government to be there. Um, Ms. Ashina, are you, are you saying that Dino Melayu is coming to the party? Yeah, you know, Dino, I've not been doing our school days as a last member. Dino is a very fantastic, you know, legislator. He's a vibrator, doggess, you know, doggess, you know, doggess gentleman. He, he, he will see the light again. He used to say that before he was blind and now he's, you know, he will see the light. Alright, Ms. Ashina, we're waiting for the official announcement. Thank you very much. No, no, don't talk about, you know, we just got about one gentleman that does join recently. We told you several, all the studio that is coming. Thank you, Ms. Ashina. Well, that's off for now. Thank you very much. Thanks for coming. Have a great day. Alright, that's it there on the breakfast this morning. We really talked about the fundamental difference between Bulkoram, Iswab and Banditry, and the conversation about the 2023 presidential elections and zoning. Thanks again for watching. Catch up on any part of the conversation you missed out on by following us on all social media platforms at PLOS TV Africa. I am Annetta Felix. And I am Usaugi Ogbawa. Bye for now.