Second republic politician, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, has raised the alarm over the fate of the Igbo in the present political arrangement, expressing fears that the Southeast might be shut out of the presidency for the next 20 to 28 years should Muhammadu Buhari win the forthcoming general elections.

Tanko, who stated this in an exclusive interview with Sunday Sun, disclosed that PDP’s victory in this year’s elections is the surest way of giving the Igbo man the opportunity to have one of their own becoming the President of Nigeria.

“The APC and their allies in the Southwest already have their candidate in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari. And the other block is the PDP, which has Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi as their candidates. This is a divide with far reaching implications. Now, if Buhari who is now looking for a second term wins the election, he would complete his second term of four years.

“Since his running mate is from the Southwest, the natural thing is for APC to nominate his running mate from the Southwest. The candidate of the party would then come from the Southwest, who will naturally nominate his running mate among APC supporters from the North. If they succeed in winning the elections after Buhari, whoever wins the election on APC’s platform would likely run for two terms of eight years. If you put the eight years plus Buhari’s four years, it would amount to 12 years.

“And that is not all. After the man from the Southwest, it is impossible for somebody on the platform of the APC to aspire to be nominated to contest election from the entire South and, therefore, the candidature would now come back to the North after the Southwest. The North, naturally, with the trend started by Obasanjo, would also like to have two terms of eight years. If you put together that eight years, plus the eight years of the Southwest and the remainder of four years for Buhari’s second tenure, that would be a total of 20 years.

“That would be the time that it would take for anybody from the Southeast to have an opportunity to become the President of Nigeria, if elected. That is not all. The scenario is that by the time APC candidate from the North has competed his two terms, the slot will not automatically go to the Southeast or Igbo land, it will be available for both the Southeast and South-South geopolitical zones.”

The octogenarian, who wants the people of the region to support the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, warned that the region may have none to blame, but themselves if they vote otherwise.

•Excerpted from a Sunday Sun report