Tanko Yakasai who is an elder state man has said it will be unjust for the Northern region to still take a shot at the presidency in 2023 despite the agitations for power shift to the South at the tenure President Muhammadu Buhari.
There has been a heated debate among stakeholders in the nation’s polity about power rotation between the North and the South, especially with regards to 2023.
It was learnt that a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso; Governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal; and a former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, are some of the politicians from the North eyeing Buhari’s seat.
Yakasai on Sunday said while he was not a card-carrying member of any political party, he remained a politician and believed it would be injustice to the South for a Northerner to replace President Buhari in 2023.
He said, “How can it be that it is always we the Northerners that will rule? There is no justice in this matter, we rule, they (South) rule that is justice.
“Even though we didn’t do much in all the years that the Northerners ruled, what will we say to the people? What will we show to the citizens of Nigeria that they benefited or will benefit in order for them to give us their votes?
“In these six to seven years, what have we done? What achievement have we accomplished that helped in the development of the country, its economy or any other development that helps the people? What major achievement do we have that we can use in order to call upon all other Nigerians to give us their votes?
“Because of that, my opinion is, when Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure is over, the North should stop. He (Buhari) is finishing his eight-year tenure, and how can another Northerner contest and also go for another eight years, since each term is four years and it’s allowed to run twice? Honestly, this is not justice.”
He further said his interest in politics from the beginning had always been about justice, adding that concerning his support for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015, “I wanted to make sure we went with the method of letting any president to run his second tenure after his first; just like I said earlier.
“If the first four years of the tenure are not enough for the president to accomplish his goals, then eight years will be enough for him as long as he has the plan on how to accomplish them.”
