Femi Aribisala has opined that if Nigeria were to survive the ticking time bomb of … 2019 presidential election, one of the prerequisites would be that there cannot be a Yoruba president in the country for at least another 20 years.
Igbo Presidency Aribisala in an article titled: ‘No Yoruba president in Nigeria for another 20 years’ said ‘before it can be the turn of a Yoruba man again, 20 years should elapse. This is the breakdown: 2015-2023: Northern president.
2023-2031: Igbo president. 2031-2038: Northern president. That is 20 years before you can get another Yoruba president from the South. He also said that; ‘even the blind must know that it is in the interest of national unity and cohesion for the presidency to go to the Igbo in 2023, after a denial of over 50 years.
In the intervening period, the other two major ethnic groups of the Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba have had their share’ ‘Any right-thinking Nigerian must see that it is not only high time for this to happen, it is essential for our national integration. It will also signal to all intents and purposes that, after 50 years, the civil war is finally truly over.’ Going further he said: ‘There is an unwritten understanding in this fourth Nigerian republic that the presidency should rotate between North and South. We started with Obasanjo, a Yoruba man from the South in 1999.
That election was a straight contest between two Yoruba candidates; Obasanjo and Olu Falae. Obasanjo won that election and was president for 8 years. ‘Thereafter, it was the turn of the North and the 2007 election was essentially a Northern affair.
Yar’adua ran primarily against Buhari and Atiku. He won but, unfortunately, he died in office after barely 2 years. Goodluck Jonathan, his vice-president, then became president. However, he was from the South, so there was hue and cry in the North that he had usurped the Northern slot deemed to be for 8 years.