Abuja — Former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim has stated that no person from the Southeast geopolitical zone can become President of Nigeria through solo effort, insisting that cross-regional alliances are essential for success.
Speaking in an interview on Arise News on Monday, Anyim explained that his personal political experience convinced him of this reality. He said the insight also informed his decision to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“The experience we gathered from that process, from that context, the experience I personally gathered, is that no person from the Southeast would make it in isolation. We must have an alliance with other regions in order to make it. So, there is no amount of effort from each and every one of us that will make it possible for us to become president if we do not have an alliance with other regions,” Anyim said.
He added that the same principle applies to every other region of the country. “It is the same thing with every other region. So, I now decided that, look, APC is best serving that interest, and when I considered that APC would serve that interest better, I joined APC.”
Anyim, who served as Senate President from 2000 to 2003 and later as Secretary to the Government of the Federation under former President Goodluck Jonathan, argued that the Southeast must prioritise long-term political arithmetic over short-term considerations. He maintained that President Bola Tinubu, from the Southwest, is entitled to a second term.
“The President is entitled to a second term; after his term, the rotation goes to the North, and then it will come to the Southeast. You need to support others so they will support you,” he stated. He further clarified his preferred sequence: after Tinubu’s second term, power should move to the North for eight years before returning to the Southeast.
In related comments, Anyim said the PDP, rather than the APC, bore greater responsibility for the Southeast’s failure to produce a president since the return to democracy in 1999. “If PDP had been honourable enough to zone to the South-East, it would have stimulated the necessary sentiments that will help us defeat any other candidate,” he noted.
The former lawmaker’s remarks come amid ongoing discussions about rotational presidency and the Southeast’s long-standing aspiration to produce a Nigerian president. Anyim emphasised that democracy and nation-building should rest on principles of justice, inclusivity, citizens’ rights, institutional development and the rule of law.
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