A human rights activists and constitutional lawyer, Fidelis Onyebueke
PATRICK ABANG, Calabar –
A human rights activists and constitutional lawyer, Fidelis Onyebueke has challenged the two dorminant political Parties in Nigeria to convinced the people of the South East why they should not produce the president in 2023
According to Onyebueke the People’s Democratic party PDP and the All Progressive Congress (APC) must convince Southeast and other regions of its readiness to produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023.
Onyebueke said this in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Calabar
He urged the people of South East to come together and advance a “convincing argument” to the rest of Nigeria on why the region should take the slot.
On why the people are looking for separation and presidency at the same time, he said agitation comes when they are seeming injustice in the land
The constitutional lawyer advised that beyond having compelling points, South-East embrace the politics of “engagement and consultation, and not confrontation”.
“We need to convince the other people why it should be us. And you know we have a convincing argument for that. But it needs to be convincing. We are not going to hold a gun in their head and say you must come here.
“Politics is about engagement and consultation, and not confrontation. You consult and discuss with other people and say, ‘this is how we need to do it for us to have peaceful coexistence’.
“The decision will be done within the party. It’s not a question of my view or anybody’s view; it’s that of the party. Even if we say it should come to the south and the party zones it to the north, there’s nothing that can be done.
“These are major parties with a lot of members and stakeholders who will sit down and discuss at round tables. Politics, for me, is something you sit down at a roundtable, discuss and agree with each other.”
He, however, revealed that at this period of time, based on the convention, after the north has ruled, it should come back to the south.
“Buhari tenure is winding up and I feel like the next President should come from the South, and in the South,-South South has taken, South West West has taken, and only the South East has not taken”.
“Through this, the idea of justice and equity would come to play”, he said.