The national chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, has called on Nigerians to move beyond regional considerations when choosing leaders and to vote for people with competence, integrity and vision.

Mr Baba-Ahmed made the call in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja.

The PRP national chairman spoke against the backdrop of the emergence of a former Cross River governor, Donald Duke, as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections.

While stating that the party deliberately rejected politics of zoning and regional entitlement, he argued that the country’s persistent challenges required capable leaders rather than candidates selected on the basis of where they come from.

“As a northerner, I am completely comfortable supporting Donald Duke because he is the best candidate available to us, not because he comes from the South,” he said.

According to him, Nigerians must learn from past experiences and stop making leadership choices based on ethnic, religious or regional sentiment.

“We have reached a point where the country should ask who can solve our problems, not where the person comes from. The problems confronting Nigerians today are not northern or southern issues. Poverty, insecurity and unemployment affect every part of the country,” he said.

Mr Baba-Ahmed disclosed that all three aspirants who contested the PRP presidential ticket were from the southern part of the country, stressing that no northern aspirant participated in the race.

He said that members of the party eventually chose Mr Duke through what he called a transparent electoral process because they believed he possessed the leadership qualities needed to govern the country.

The PRP chairman criticised what he described as the growing tendency among politicians to exploit ethnic and regional divisions for political advantage.

He said that such practice had weakened national cohesion and distracted attention from governance. According to him, Nigeria’s future depends on its ability to embrace merit-based leadership and build a political culture that rewards competence and performance.

He maintained that PRP would continue to promote issue-based politics and encourage Nigerians to evaluate candidates based on their records, character and capacity to deliver good governance.

Mr Baba-Ahmed expressed confidence that Mr Duke’s candidacy would appeal to voters across regional, ethnic and religious divides.

He added that the country needed leaders capable of uniting citizens around a common vision for peace, security, and prosperity, among other priorities.

(NAN)