A former chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and a loyalist to Peter Obi, labour party presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Sam Amadi, has ignited fresh debate over the South-East’s prospects of producing Nigeria’s president, suggesting the region may never attain the position.
In a post shared on X on Friday, Amadi argued that the South-East faces slim chances of clinching the presidency in 2027, 2031, or even 2035.
He urged leaders and stakeholders in the region to prioritize economic development and expand their influence both within Nigeria and internationally, rather than focusing solely on political power.
According to him, “Maybe the Southeast has no chance at all, whether in 2027, 2031, or 2035, just as Jews never have in the US.” We can focus on building the South-East and prospering across Nigeria and the world.”
Amadi also questioned the value of the Nigerian presidency, describing it as an avenue often exploited for personal enrichment.
“By the way, what has been the worth of the Nigerian presidency? Just another opportunity for some people to amass vanishing wealth as they are doing now,” he added.
His remarks were in response to an earlier post by X user Demola Olarewaju, who contended that the South-East has lacked a clear pathway to the presidency since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999.
Olarewaju noted that the South-West has produced presidents through both nationalist and regional political strategies, while the South-South’s opportunity came by what he described as “chance or fate,” leaving the South-East without a similar opening.
He wrote, “Not my place to say, and I won’t. I’ll just add that a Yoruba has two pathways to the presidency in Nigeria since 1999: you can be a nationalist like Olusegun Obasanjo and win; you can still be an ethnocentrist like Bola Tinubu and win. The South-South got a chance by mistake or fate; the South-East has never.”
