A Northern elder and former Nigeria Ambassador to Ukraine, Ibrahim Kasai, has tipped Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to take over from President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023

He also said that former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bolaji Ahmed Tinubu also has the right to contest for the position.

While insisting that the South East had done nothing to show it deserves the position, Kasai said it was unfair for anybody in the North to eye the presidency after President Buhari completes his full tenure of eight years by 2023.

He foreclosed the chances of South East in clinching the ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

“The PDP has in document that there is rotation of the presidency between the North and the South, I don’t think that document is available in the APC, or in another word, APC has not sat to give that direction but the issue of zoning is an issue of common sense,” he told Sun.

“As long as we have federal character principle in our constitution, zoning has come to stay because if A has done it successful, it is the turn of B now.

“If APC doesn’t do so, people may not embrace the party. I think APC would have to toe that line as well, for that, I think the presidency will go to the South, I think South West.

“In politics, you don’t zone a position where you are not welcome. I mean the performance of APC in the South East during the last election was very poor to produce the next President. A president is an individual but you need to have the support, you must have the base,” he said.

On whether the North will contest Presidency in 2023, he added, “No, it will not be fair for the North to seek for the Presidency after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure. This country belongs to all of us, this sharing formula has come to stay, once the constitution says there should be federal character principle, meaning people should be carried along simply, you don’t need any political scientist to give you analysis of what is going on in the country, it is common sense, the theory of common sense must come to bear.”

On who takes over from Buhari, he said, “It is not a question of handing over, it all boils down to members of the party. If members of the party strongly feel that the Vice President has got sufficient experience and he has done very well and he deserves this position, why not. He is a gentleman, he is a hard working person and he has the right to say he wants to contest but if he doesn’t want to contest nobody will say come and take this seat.”

Speaking on Tinubu, he stated, “He has the constitutional right being a politician; every politician has the right to aspire to be something, there is nothing that stops Tinubu from saying I want to be President.

“It is all about consultation and I want to say that Tinubu has been a respected elder of the party and if he says ‘I want to be President, he will have the support of the people, after all he has been working for all these years and if he says ‘I want a younger person to be the President or another person from the South West should be the President’, this is what the party will discuss but by my permutation, I feel the Presidency should go to the South West.”