 All right, welcome back, it's still plus politics. The chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Rotimiak Keredolou, has reiterated that the next president of the country must come from the South. Akeredolou, who is also the governor of Undo State, won that any political party that failed presidential candidate from the North would lose the presidential election because such candidate would not have the support of the Southern Governors. According to him, those pushing against power rotation in the country are toying with the existence of Nigeria. Joining us to discuss this are Mohamed Abdelay, Chinadu, Ifei Chilobi, and Ayo. They are all the public affairs analysts. Many thanks for joining us, gentlemen. Thank you. All right, I'll start from you, Ayo. You are from the Southwest. You just had my introduction. The governor of Undo State is saying that if any political party present a candidate from the North, they will not get the support of the South. What's your position on that? Are you in agreement with the governor? Ayo. All right, I think we've lost Ayo. De Lettza, let me take it back to Mohamed. Thanks for joining us. I'm sure you can hear us. You've heard the position of the governor of Undo State, and he is saying that... Yo, yo. Mohamed, can you hear me? I can hear you. All right, so you have followed the position of the governor of Undo State. I just want to know your candidate opinion because he's saying that the South would not support any party which failed to govern candidate. First and foremost, thank you for having me. But as it is, all of the parties are shying away from the rotation of power because in less than, say, one year to the post, none of the parties to the best of my knowledge have come out to say we are in our candidate, or this is the particular region where we will be having our presidential candidate come from, whether it is the APC, the GDP, and all others, none of the parties are doing that, are saying that at the moment. So I think it is actually wrong for the Arapa-Umiya Kegyudu, I mean, the governor of Undo State to categorically say that if any party fails in Nodana, the Soudanas won't support. And I must say this. You see, democracy, whether we like it or not, is a government of numbers, is a product of numbers, I mean, to say it. And the fact is that the Northern part of Nigeria still holds swing in terms of voters' power. Or it holds on any candidate whether it's coming, the candidate, particularly candidates coming from the South to romance, excuse my word, to romance the Nodana, like what have Chinubu doing at the moment? For every little thing here and there in the Nodana, he was in Zampara before he traveled to London and so on. And even the vice president, whether he won, he has declared or not, but you see him romanticizing the Nodana, he was in Kano State for a public lecture two days ago, but he used the opportunity to visit the family of Hanifa that was murdered some weeks back. So I think it is very important that any candidate, particularly that wants to win the presidential election, must embrace the Nodana. Because like whether we like it or not, this democracy is a game of numbers. And at the moment the Nodana is constituted, I'm sorry to say, the Nodana region has an advantage. All right, thank you, Mohamed. Chinudu, let's talk to you right now. You have heard from Mohamed that he feels politics in Nigeria is a game of number and a search, so the South should romance with the North if they really would hold sway come 2023. But I'll take it further to say that wouldn't there be any issue of a conflict of interest in regards to the North or the South, whether who they are going to feel, shouldn't there be issues like should we field out a candidate from the South-South or the South-East or the Southwest? What's your position, really, Chinudu? Luke, we have to lay down the peanut butter at this point. First of all, the question of leadership should never, never, ever, ever boil down to tribe or tribalism. It should never. That point has to be made that this is the reason why our country is polarized. This is the reason why a lot of things are happening. I can talk about the Southeast when I was here the last time I talked about how this tribal undertone surrounding our politics has caused a lot of issues and there's so much unrest in the Southeast as it is. Of course, that's not what's on the table, but we should never make the issue of leadership tribal, it should never be a question of tribe or whatever. Coming to what the governor has said, well, he's the chairman of the Southern Governors Forum that can decide what they need to do, but Nigerians need to understand that what we need is a leader who will take us from the doldrums because we are the doldrums. I was in the radio program earlier today in Nogu and I told them that he that is down needs Fiannual Hall. Nigeria is on its back. We are falling to our worst. What we need to do is rise and what we need to do is to pinpoint that man who will be able to clear the clutter, who will be able to walk through the maze and get us out of where we are because we are, like I said, we are the worst and if I can find a better word to use, we are our worst right now. Now what we need is someone with the right initiative, the right thinking, the right tactics, to get us out of this nonsense that we are in. It should never be an issue of tribe. If we come to numbers, there are a lot of factors. You can't just say that the North is super when it comes to numbers. I'll just go against my values of not being tribal or following the line of polarization in any way, but if you look at it, the North is mostly made up of Muslims while the South is mostly made up of Christians and if you look at the religious constitution of a country by population, the Christians are more. So you would know that the Christian North will possibly go with a Southern choice. So you can't just sit down and say that the North is superior when it comes to numbers because there are other tiny, tiny factors that you need to look at. But to round this thing up so that other people can't speak, it should never be a question of tribe, which is completely that tribe again. All right, Cheney, do we still have Ayo there with us? All right, Ayo. So let me throw back the same question to you. Yeah, I can hear you. Let me throw back the same Ayo, we can hear you. Ayo, we can hear you. Okay. So I'm trying to back the same question to you now. Would you really say that the issue of ethnicism in Zonin and all of this talk about the North and the Southern dichotomy, you know, they've actually done us more harm than good and they've actually brought more disunity than even pushing Nigeria together as one. I think we lost Ayo. Well, if you can get me Ayo. Ayo, are you still there? Well, let me get back to the frequency. I can hear what you're saying, Ayo. Let me get back to Mohamed. Mohamed, you have followed the conversation. So for Anchi Neidu said it goes beyond numbers. It goes beyond the polarization as ethnic groupings, as the North, the South, the Southwest, the South East, that it's even more to religion and all of that. But as it is right now, shouldn't the conversation be more about who has the best interest of Nigerians at heart, who has the pedigree and who has, you know, all that it takes to bring a better Nigeria? Mohamed. The question should be, I agree with my brother, Mr. Chinin, that he as Nigerians should concentrate on who is best to deliver the dividends of democracy to the country and its citizens at large. But we must also understand that these things doesn't just come in. There must be a process. If you follow our process as a country from 1960, I'm sorry, we are not yet ready to film the very best candidate. It's shocking, but that is just the truth. Because if you are talking about the very best candidates for the position of presidency, I'm sorry, more than 80, 90% of those who have signal to the fact that they want to contest the presidency, they are not in that pedigree. They are not in that category at all. So the fact that we still play to sentiment, the fact that we still play to religious card is enough reason for us to rethink at this moment in time. Let me give you this example. Why on earth do you think as a nation we still have the federal character principle in our constitution that in itself is a hindrance to getting the best brain? Because you are saying if you have so-so here, you must have that there without looking at the competency, without looking who is best fit for the job. So if you have Mr. A from Quarra, you must have Mr. B from Anambra, you must have Mr. C from Ademara and so on and so forth. Without, like I mentioned, taking into cognizance these people, what will they bring to the table? So the conversation, we are just starting. And by, like I mentioned, the process that we've been in since independence, up to date, we are not yet ready. We've got a whole lot of things that we need to place for us to move forward in terms of getting the very best brains and the best hands to manage this country. But at the moment, we still play to religious card, we still play to terrible cards. It's unfortunate. All right, thank you so much, Mohamed. Chidi, let's just get your final contribution to this particular issue. As by the way forward, how we can get about better elections, better leaders, better governors, a better president irrespective of religion, tribe or ethnic groupings? Yes, there are a whole lot of things to do. And I think first and foremost is education and then education and then education. Education I mean overhaul of our own system from primary to secondary and tertiary institutions. People understand in fact that this country is not meant for a particular people or a particular cater of people or people from a particular religion or a particular tribe that it's meant for us all. We either decide to make it go to better it or want to destroy it all. So like I mentioned, education is key, is very, very vital. You can imagine we have more than 10 to 15 million children out of school, all over Nigeria. You know, nobody's talking about them. So it's shocking. So my own advice would be that we need to educate people. We need to go back to school and we need to implement education. Then that would channel every other thing. Even in terms of voter education, people are not coming out to vote. The last election we have less than 30% or 35% of the people registered who are eligible to vote, coming out to vote. It's shocking. So my own advice, like I mentioned, would be education. We have to restructure, we have to go back to a classroom to teach people and we must implement it in order to move forward. Thank you so much, Mohammed, yet again. Chinedu, can we get your final words on this particular issue? Chinedu, I'm afraid there's as much as we can take. I will take a short break now and when we return, I'll be giving you my take. As a 2023 general elections approach, the issue of zoning is once again central and as usual contentious. Why zone the leadership of the country to a particular region when any qualified Nigerian from any region is eligible to contest? Beyond 2023 elections, Nigerian leaders must begin to realize that the zoning policy is not a lifetime replacement for the missing unity in the Nigerian state. They must assist from widening the existing divides, be sincere with the people and truly unite a country so that we all can look beyond the limitations of region, ethnicity, and religion. Then and only then can we begin to truly assess the competence of competence. If Singapore, a country with multi-racial and multi-religious populace can unite and progress, it is definitely not impossible for their country, Nigeria. My name is Justin Akademiplos, politics returns tomorrow, see you then. South is, South is, because that is our turn. We're supposed to be a, have a president for next election, you understand? Because when you check everything, how the country is going, how the presidents are, where the presidents are coming, the regions, and you believe that we are, I'm saying the president will come supposed to be. I don't care about that. It's just a good person, a good person, that's all. I think God is the one that have a financing. And secondly, we need a God-fearing person in this nation of Nigeria. Eastern parts, it's fair enough, it's fair enough to come from the Eastern parts or I don't know if Yoruba should be the Western, right? Okay, because we are tired of the Northern side of the people who really know us and then. We also want something like, let's say, let them give a chance of younger persons instead of this old old man. Okay, the number is coming out now. For me, I don't think he's okay. The decision is from Cabals. Where they want, that's where they want. But, of course, if you look at it, you see that the rotation they are doing is not balanced. Since after war, they say Yoruba people will not rule them. That's shown they make, understand on it. So, if I have to say, Yoruba people have a chance to rule, but at first they deny them not to rule the country, what are we going to do? Nothing. South is, south is, south is because that is our role. We're supposed to have a president for the next election. We understand. Because when you check everything, how the country is going, how the presidents are, where the presidents are coming, the religions, and you believe that.