June 15, 2021

Minister of Labour and Employment Dr. Chris Ngige has called for the presidential seat to be zoned to the southeast region have gathered momentum and sharply divided opinion in Africa’s most populous nation.

But Ngige who concurred with those who see the 2023 election as a time for the Igbos to get the seat, spoke when he featured as a guest on Channels Television’s News Night aired on Monday.

According to him, an Igbo presidency will reduce feelings of marginalization.

He believes that tensions in the southeast and the feeling of marginalization by people in the region will be addressed if the nation’s number one position is occupied by an Igbo man.

“The people in the area have perceived that they are marginalized, that they are unappreciated, whether it was done by propaganda and brainwashing or not, that is now immaterial.

“So I agree with that proposal, unfortunately, the Nigerian constitution does not have that. This is where I quarrel with those who authored the 1999 Constitution.

“I still believe that the Abacha Constitution of 1995 that espouses rotational presidency into the six zones in Nigeria, a single five-year tenure in order to heal all the wounds; the wounds of civil war, and the wound of June 12.

“Now, that constitution would have been the best constitution for Nigerians to use for the next 30 years by which the six zones would have tested the presidency,” the minister stated.