2023 Presidency: Capacity, leadership should be condition Precedent – Ex-Chief of Staff

Uche EmmanuelOctober 3, 2021

2 minutes read

As Nigerians look forward to the emergence of another democratic dispensation in 2023, by which time President Muhammadu Buhari would have served for the maximum two terms of eight years, it has been advocated that the criteria for the choice of the next president should shift from primordial considerations, to track record of performance.

This demand for a paradigm shift was made by a former Rivers State Chief of Staf to the governor, Hon. Emeh Glory Emeh, while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the reception of defectors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The political scientist and lawyer was of the view that the ability to perform should be the primary consideration in the choice of a leader, and not religion or tribe.

Barr Emeh Glory Emeh (First from right to left) in a group photograph with other PDP chieftains when former APC members defected to PDP on Thursday in Port Harcourt

Chief of staff

He demanded a paradigm shift in the choice of leadership of Nigeria while lamenting that no citizen is being spared, irrespective of religion, tribe and political affiliations, from the plagues of violence, insecurity, poverty and death that have been ravaging the country in an unprecedented manner in the last five years.

The former commissioner for transport and aviation insisted that ability to perform should be the precondition for the choice of the next president of Nigeria if the country must be freed from the vicious circle of endless borrowing; lack of coordination in governance to encourage the federating units to be productive instead of waiting for handouts from the centre at the end of every month.

“No country can be competitive in the 21st century that depends on imports for survival. Time has come to hand over the leadership of Nigeria to those who are in tune with global political and economic trends, and who have the education, experience and sagacity to reposition the country to play the leading role it is destined for in Africa and globally”, Barr. Emeh emphasized.

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According to the politician, when Nigeria is re-positioned to play her rightful role as the economic and political giant of Africa, it will rob off on the welfare of the citizens and in the reputation of the country.

The former adviser to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State on political matters and strategy however warned against parochial considerations, stressing that no Nigerian is superior to another, and for that reason, no ethnic group should attempt to lord things over others in the choice of President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023.

Barr Glory Emeh commended Governor Nyesom Wike and his brother governors in the People’s Democratic Party for appreciating that there exist enormous and brilliant talents in the southern part of Nigeria who can fly the party’s presidential flag in 2023, hinting that it was an idea whose time has come and called for the support of all citizens to rescue Nigeria from hopelessness.

“I advise politicians to appreciate one another for the benefit of the generality of the people of Nigeria”, he summed.