2023 Presidency: PDP must present strong candidate who can rebuild Nigeria, says Olisa Metuh

2023 Presidency: PDP must present strong candidate who can rebuild Nigeria, says Olisa Metuh

Chief Olisa Metuh, a former national spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has made a call that the party must present a strong and sellable presidential candidate if the party must return to power in 2023.

The PDP chieftain who made the call when he appeared on Arise TV on Saturday morning noted that not only are Nigerians yearning for the return of PDP, but PDP represents the mind of Nigerians.

“We have the issue of zoning, where the candidate must come from, but for me, the presidency of Nigeria must be on the level of experience, somebody with the right temperament, someone who is acceptable to all sections of this country, all regions in Nigerian. someone who will bring us back to at least where we were as of 2015. not necessarily where the person comes from,” the former scribe said.

“If you must talk about where the person comes from, equity demands that it should go to the southeast. And south-east has 3 of the best aspirant in the PDP. Wherever i go, Nigerians are saying Peter Obi and I believe he can take us to great heights.

“Governance is not about your own capability, the people need a symbol and make their sacrifices, Peter Obi has that symbol but delegates’ election is different.

Mr Metuh who is also a lawyer said the country is grossly divided now over the issue of zoning because of the failure of President Buhari.

“Where we are right now, is not an issue is not where you come from, but the best candidate to win the election for the PDP. Peter Obi is one of the symbols that can win elections for us but we have others who can equally win the election for us as well. In the absence of a national consensus, we have to bring the best who can get us to vote across the country, we have Atiku, and we have Tambuwal who has done well as a governor and chairman of the PDP governors forum.

“We need a unifier, someone who has contacts across the nation, the right temperament and knows that he needs to be a team player and have just two candidates who fit into this role but I won’t reveal their names yet. The Delegates know if we must win the election, then they are just two persons. One is Peter Obi and the second one is from the North. I will come back in a week or two to reveal that person.”

Speaking on the political solution for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of IPOB, Mr Metuh said only a political solution for the release of Nnamdi Kanu can save the South East from becoming another North-East.

“If the government had made a categorical statement before now, we won’t be where we are now especially when we had the issue of herdsmen and others. Now to the issue of Nnamdi Kanu, if we believe the way we handled the issue of Boko Haram was a mistake, then we should change tactics and not repeat the same mistake with Nnamdi Kanu.

“Nnamdi Kanu is not just Nnamdi Kanu, he is a movement in the south-east but some miscreant has taken the opportunity of that to inflict hardship on Nigerians in the south-east and introduce mafia-like life as it happened in Italy.

“We need to dialogue with Nnamdi Kanu not as a person but because of the millions of people he controls and the President should have a rethink and have a political solution. A legal solution can take 5 to 10 years to finish a case and do we keep having to sit at home? No. So at least for now, let the president sit down with Nnamdi Kanu and have a political solution, any other thing is a dismissal of the problems we are facing right now.”