Mr Simon Mwadkon. (Photo credit : Facebook)
Abasifreke Effiong
The member representing Riyom/Barkin Ladi federal constituency in Plateau state, Mr Simon Mwadkon, has told the vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo and the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to drop their presidential ambition.
Mwadkon said for justice, the South East should be given an opportunity to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023, calling on leaders of the country to protect the sovereignty of Nigeria by giving equal opportunities to all ethnic nationalities.
The national lawmaker, who is a member of the PDP, said in an interview that Osinbajo and Tinubu who are said to be interested in becoming Nigeria’s president in 2023 ‘should go and rest.’
‘The 2023 election is clear that if we belong to this country, what is paramount is the issue of justice to every part of this country. I am from the Middle Belt, we have ruled this country at a time, the North East and North West have done, the South West and South South have done it.’
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‘It is high time we recognized the South East if we want to claim that we are one Nigeria because nobody will want to live in a country where there is absolute subjugation or oppression of his ethnic nationality.’
‘Nobody will see the country as his/her own if it is like that. What makes us belong is the fact that we have agreed that we are citizens of the same country so we have not reached the stage where we will say let the best come because you cannot say this is something that we are sharing, these people have gotten theirs, these ones have gotten but when it gets to my turn, you say you don’t want to give me, it will cause problems.’
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‘I would not want to see this country in disarray, let us carry everybody along and if we do that, I am sure we will be doing justice to every ethnic nationality in this country. I see no reason why somebody will want to deny the South East the opportunity to lead this country. They have contributed a lot to the growth and development of this country, economic wise. Let nobody begin to misunderstand me, I am from the Middle Belt, my wife is from the Middle Belt, I don’t have any relation in the South East but they are citizens of Nigeria, if we want peace, let us do what will help us get that peace.’
‘For Tinubu and the Vice President, I think they should go and rest and allow the South East to bring a candidate. There are quite a number of credible people in the South East that can rule this country but it is left for Nigerians to decide, it is just my personal opinion, it not the opinion of my ethnic group or my constituency, this is what I feel is the best for us to live in peace’, Mwadkon said.
Despite a strong agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, to secede, the South East region has strongly canvassed for opportunity to produce Nigeria’s president in 2023.
