Imo State governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, has lent credence to the position of President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura on rotational presidency, saying the nation will be better off if merit is allowed to drive the political processes.
Daura had in an interview with the BBC Hausa Service implored Nigerians to go for competence instead of zoning in determining the next president in 2023.
Aligning with Daura’s stance, Governor Uzonimma advised Nigerian youths to champion only those courses that will promote national unity and peace.
He spoke yesterday in Owerri when he received in audience a coalition of ethnic nationality youth leaders who paid a courtesy visit.
Responding to the address by the leader of the coalition, Muhammad Danlami, on rotational presidency and the challenge of nation building, Uzodimma enjoined the group to shun politics of tribal sentiment and ethnic coloration which tend to pitch every Nigerian against each other.
He noted that what Nigeria needs most is a strong and united country where diversity in culture and ethnicity is a source of strength not division.
The governor said, “I will rather see a situation where merit is allowed to drive the process of determining who occupies a public office in the county rather than where you come from. I think merit should drive the political process because the nation will be better off for it.
“We must use our diversity to strengthen national unity not to divide the nation. We should find unity in our diversity by believing in each other”.
He reminded the youth leaders drawn from Igbo (Ohaneze), Arewa the (Hausas/ Fulani), Oduduwa (Yoruba) Idoma (Benue), Ijaw (Bayelsa), and other parts of the country of the challenges the country faced in the recent past which threatened the unity and sovereignty of her existence.
He thanked President Muhammad Buhari for exhibiting courage and competence in handling all the challenges, even as he charged the youths to always support the federal government under Buhari who he described as the most youth-friendly president so far in the country.