An Afenifere chieftain, Chief Olu Falae has said that the next president of Nigeria should be of Igbo descent.
Falae said that he would be supporting the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the upcoming 2023 election.
He, however, stated that he was unaware of the position of the Afenifere on the LP presidential candidate.
The former Minister of Finance said that though he supports Igbo presidency, the Yoruba are not morally obliged to do the same.
He said: “I am an Afenifere but as far as I am aware, Afenifere has not taken a position as an organization on a presidential candidate. That is the position.
“I did say sometimes ago that the Yoruba, as a people, are not morally obliged to vote for an Igbo presidential candidate because in 1999, when the rest of Nigeria conceded the presidency to Yoruba because of MKO Abiola’s issue, it was only the Igbo, who did not.”
Speaking further, Falae explained that he had to defeat Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife in the Alliance for Democracy to become the candidate for the AD/APP while Olusegun Obasanjo had to defeat Dr. Alex Ekuweme in the PDP to become a candidate.
He insisted that the Igbos were the only ones against his and Obasanjo’s candidacy in both parties.
“However, if you are a fair-minded Yoruba person, you will realize that there are three legs to the political tripods in Nigeria, the Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo.
“The first two have been presidents and so, equity requires that the Igbo should be president. So, if you are a fair-minded Yoruba person like I am, then you will vote for the Igbo based on equity,” he added.
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