Ahead of the 2023 general elections, the Coalition of Civil Society for Good Governance, CCSGG under her project #thenextpresident has begun a multi-stakeholders consultation tour of the Northern part of the country with a view to seeking support of the region for Southern Presidency.
The group, in a statement issued yesterday and jointly signed by its Convener, Comrade Okpanachi Jacob and Coordinator North East, Comrade Saleh Kanada, said its major aim of the engagement is on power shift to Southern Nigeria in 2023.
It added that the project was also meant to “X-ray leadership profiles that will fit in the final project 2023 through consolidated consultation thereby providing an open political engagement with a focus on Southern president with a specific focus on President Goodluck Jonathan.”
“It is imperative to note that we have been engaged in this search for a Southern president and have consulted and still in consultation with some political leaders, civil society groups, faith, women and students based organizations as a build up to an intensified campaign for power shift to Southern Nigeria in 2023.
“This group have held series of town hall meetings, media engagement, roundtable discourses in the last one year,” the group stated.
CCSGG said it decided to embark on a tour for consultation and verification on the candidacy of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for some reasons, including the fact that “he’s qualified for the office, he’s the immediate past president and has a term, he’s from Southern Nigeria which is one of the major focus of the project #thenextpresident and to help clear the air on the speculations of his intent.”
“Amongst these secondary reasons, power shift has become a prominent factor for stabilizing the political system in Nigeria and more so that we are a plural society where there are divergent views on issues of national concern.
“This, however, remains a political engagement to review the profile of contending stakeholders against 2023, most specifically from Southern Nigeria.
“We wish to reiterate that this is not an endorsement of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as the continual sustainability of this project shall be fundamentally ingrained in its acceptability by the civil populace thus it is a project identification tour which shall produce a project identification brief,” it further stressed.
The group also informed that the members would visit every state of the
Northern region, calling on all well-meaning Nigerians, especially the youths, students, women and political leaders to support power rotation and shift to the South as it remains the fulcrum for balancing power in the country.
