Archbishop Adewale-Martins makes case for 2023 Igbo presidency

Catholic Archbishop of Lagos Most Rev. Alfred Adewale-Martins has urged politicians to zone the presidency for the 2023 general election to the southeast.

Adewale-Martins, a guest at an event organised by the Catholic Women Organisation of Nigeria (CWON) in Lagos on Friday, said that for the sake of equity and justice, the president should come from the Igbo-speaking part of the country.

The clergyman said that other zones of the country have had their fair share of the highest political position, except the southeast.

He said, “There is nothing wrong with the federal system of government as stipulated by the founding fathers, but the way it is being practised in the Nigerian polity is the deformity of the society.

“If we practice it well, it is meant to engender healthy competition by the federating units, just as we see it being practised in the US where we copied it from and others.

“The disenchantment of the citizens to the state from time to time speaks volumes of our dysfunctional system of federalism laced with the Nigerian factor as against the true practice.”

Adewale-Martins regretted that many have been killed as a result of the imbalance that negates true federal structure.

He charged the women to galvanize themselves and use their numerical strength to change the narrative and see a woman aspire beyond being a presidential candidate of a party to becoming the president of the country.