US-based Nigerian intellectual, Prof. Farooq Kperogi, has called on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to zone the 2023 presidency to the South-East. The professor of journalism made the call on Sunday when he appeared as a guest on the inaugural episode of the online talk show “90 Minutes Africa” hosted by Rudolf Okonkwo and Chido Onumah.

Prof. Kperogi said he supports the ceding of power to the southeast so that the people of the region can be given a sense of belonging. “I will want the major political parties to be sensitive to people that have been excluded since 1999,” Prof. Kperogi stated, adding that he supports the ceding of “power to the southeast because that is the region that has never produced the president from 1999 until now.”

He further characterized his choice of a president as someone who should be “relatively young, energetic and amenable to new ideas” with adequate intellectual and political exposure. He said only such a person, supported by a coalition of people sufficiently animated to make Nigeria work can change the structure of the country and “tweak our democratic experiment” in such a way that shows sensitivity to our cultural uniqueness and make everyone feel a sense of belonging.

The popular columnist called on competent Nigerians who have realized the problem of the country and how to make it work to step forward as we move towards the 2023 elections so as to shake off the “disabling debilitating fatigue” that the Buhari government has created in the polity.

“Nigeria is a nation that is neither alive nor dead. It is perpetually in the twilight zone… We should avoid bequeathing such a nation to the next generation,” Prof Kperogi admonished.