Akeredolu: Southerners won’t back northern candidate for 2023 presidency

Rotimi Akeredolu, the Governor of Ondo state, said the southerners won’t support any northern candidate for the 2023 Presidency.

The governor stated this on Friday while speaking with Channels TV.

He said the Southern Governors’ Forum has agreed that the next president of Nigeria must come from the South and any party who ignore the agreement will face the consequences.

Akeredolu said, “There are about three political parties that are in the Southern Governors’ Forum, we have the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. All of us are unanimous in our position that the next president of this country must come from the South.

“For us, we are unanimous. It (the forum) is not a political platform. I believe that any party that picks somebody from the North would have to face the whole southern region because they will not support it.

Akedolu also replied to those who said competence should override zoning for the 2023 election.

He said, “There are many people that are competent. We have competent people in the North as we have competent people in the South, so the president can come from any part of the country.”