Sam Amadi Sparks Debate, Says South-East May Never Produce Nigeria’s President

|By Chinwendu Nwani

A former Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Sam Amadi, has ignited fresh debate over the South-East’s chances of producing Nigeria’s president, suggesting the region may never attain the position.

Amadi, writing on X on Friday, argued that the South-East may have no realistic pathway to the presidency in 2027, 2031, or even 2035.

He advised that rather than focusing on presidential ambitions, the region should prioritise economic development and expand its influence both within Nigeria and globally.

“Maybe South-East has no chance at all, whether in 2027, 2031 or 2035, just as Jews never have in the US. We can focus on building South-East and prospering across Nigeria and the world,” he stated.

Amadi also questioned the value of Nigeria’s presidency, describing it as an avenue for personal enrichment.

“By the way, what has been the worth of Nigerian presidency? Just another opportunity for some people to amass vanishing wealth as they are doing now,” he added.

His comments followed an earlier post by X user, Demola Olarewaju, who argued that the South-East has never had a clear pathway to the presidency since Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.

Olarewaju noted that the South-West has produced presidents through both nationalist and regional political strategies, while the South-South gained access to the presidency by what he described as “chance or fate,” leaving the South-East without a similar opportunity.

“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 Obasanjo and win; you can still be an ethnocentrist like Tinubu and win. South-South got a chance by mistake or fate; South-East has never,” he wrote.

Amadi’s remarks have since stirred conversations around equity, political inclusion, and the future of power rotation in Nigeria.