The Governor of Cross River Ben Ayade and Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva, have joined the rank of aspirants in the All Progressives Congress (APC) that picked the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms for the presidential ticket contest.

Ayade, who is the latest to secure the form, expressed confidence that he would be Nigeria’s next president given his pedigree and the support enjoyed by Nigerians.

He said this on Monday when a concerned group of persons known as sons and daughters of Cross River, presented him with the nomination form to contest for Presidency in 2023.

Ayade said the inheritance of democracy as a practice in Nigeria and other African countries without customising the ethnic sensitivity and diversity of the people had become a critical issue.

“As other democracies deal with population and numbers, which is the supremacy of numbers over the minority, democracy as an instrument for egalitarian distribution, equity, fair sharing and equal access to power is a subject for discussion.

“So, if power by the nomenclature of democracy supposes that people will have fair and equal access, one will imagine that by the extension of that definition, power should go to the Southern part of Nigeria having done eight years this way.

“I think that the sensitivity of this is such that the President is cautious. That explains however the proponents of the many candidates from the southern part of the country.

“Hopefully it has to be a southern candidate. That is one of the major ways of guaranteeing the unity of this country.

“If we rely on the muscle of numbers then it becomes the situation where power belongs to the man with the greatest fist,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Sylva who addressed the press after his forms were presented to him by his supporters said,

“I feel very honoured and humbled for the show of love and this show of commitment not to me, but to Nigeria. I have tried my best since I was appointed by Mr. president to this office to do my service to Nigeria. But to realise that my efforts have been noticed by you Nigerians and that you Nigerians by yourself will go and take the trouble of obtaining the nomination and the expression of interest forms for me is very humbling. And I must also say that it is very shocking at the same time.

“But I’m very happy and pleased by this gesture. So what I will do now, I will not give you a straight answer right now. But I’m really thankful for what you have done because I need to consult I need to consult my constituency and consult leaders of this country and then I’ll come back to you to let you know if I have taken the position also to run for this office. I thank you very much. So you’ll give me a very short time. I will start right away with the consultation. I will go to my leader, for example the Ijaw Leader Sir SK Clark, I will talk to him. I will also consult other leaders of the country and I will get back to you.”

Suleiman Abdullahi, spokesman of Northern Solidarity group for Timipre Sylva who presented the form to the former Bayelsa State governor said,

“We picked this presidential nomination forms to surprise the Minister state for Petroleum, Chief Timipre Sylva, to contest for the presidency of this country, which we found him capable to do. We are his fans from the Northen part of Nigeria.

“Nigerians can see from his antecedent from the state level to the federal level that he has garnered necessary experience and well acceptable across the country. So we know that his chances of withe ticket of the APC is brighter.”