Former Chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, Chief John Oyegun, has dismissed calls for zoning the Presidency to the South in 2023.
Oyegun dismissed the agitations for shift of the presidency to the South in an interview with The Sun newspapers published on Saturday.
He also he spoke on the crisis afflicting the APC and the recent dissolution of the party’s National Working Commitee in the interview.
It was believed that the crisis in the party resulted from power struggles from leaders from the Southern part of the country who are trying to gain advantage to run for the position ahead of 2023 when APC ticket is expected to be zoned to their part of the country.
However, in the interview, Oyegun agreed that it should be the turn of the South to produce a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 going by the existing political arrangement in the country.
He also favoured the Southeast part of the country to produce the next Nigerian President.
But he noted that APC has not received strong support from the region.
However, Oyegun said with the current challenges confronting the country, competency and not ethnic or geographical origin should be emphasised in the search for the next Nigerian President.
He said: “Given the way we were proceeding, it is the turn of the south to produce a candidate. Given the way the country has been, it would naturally have been the turn of the southeast to produce a candidate.
“But the southeast haven’t been strong supporters of the APC. So, as far as I am concerned, we are in such dire straits today economically, plus COVID-19 and a world that is upside down, that we should head-hunt for the best possible candidate within the APC wherever we can find him.
“The country needs the best possible head wherever he comes from. We should think more of the country and its survival than any other interest.”