Former presidential candidate and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, has criticised Nigeria’s practice of rotational presidency, arguing that competence — not geography — should determine who leads the country.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, Sowore said Nigerians are more concerned about having an effective leader than where such a person comes from.
“If I have a good president in Nigeria who can run this country very well, I don’t care where he comes from,” he said.
According to him, zoning the presidency based on region is counterproductive and undermines the principles of merit and fairness.
“That is what the majority of the Nigerian people are aspiring for. That is the idea of this federation — that all federating units should have an opportunity,” he stated.
He argued that the current arrangement often pits regions against one another, without guaranteeing that the best candidates emerge.
“When you zone it to the north, the majority of the northerners want to take a shot at it. When you zone it back to the south, the south is not just Yoruba or Igbo alone. It is senseless,” he said.
Sowore insisted that every presidential hopeful should be allowed to contest irrespective of their region, with emphasis placed on qualification, vision, and capacity.
Zoning the presidency to the worst character in the country is not going to make you get anywhere,” he warned.
