Don’t Jettison Competence Because of Zoning, Group Warns

• Says Atiku has no encumbrance

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

A political pressure group rose stoutly in defence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar interest in becoming the president of Nigeria in 2023, saying competence should not be sacrificed for zoning.

The Northern Progressive League in a statement signed by its Convener, Salisu Abdullahi Maidabino, in an apparent reaction to calls spearheaded by a group – Coalition of Civil Society for Good Governance – that Atiku should quit the race for aspirants from another zone, said Nigeria with its attendant precarious security, economic and political problems needs the best in 2023.

Moreover, the group believes no person should be barred through the backdoor as the Nigerian Constitution and other laws have expressedly allowed every Nigerian such freedom to elect and be elected to any politcal office in the country.

“No Civil Society Coalition that is well-schooled in democratic ethos will support the constriction of democratic space and advocate a conscious denial by political institutions the rights of a Nigerian citizen to aspire to any elective office in the country, pleading zoning of political offices as justification. In this case in reference, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Waziri of Adamawa, is appropriately backed by the Nigerian Constitution, the Electoral laws and other Conventions to run for any office of his choice in this country”, the statement said.

“Need we remind this Coalition that the processes of political recruitment have been well set out by the Nigerian Constitution, the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the political parties. In all of these, be it Party primaries or the main elections, the voters hold the aces. They decide who they want at every stage of the elections and not the obviously hired voices of a nebulous Coalition. No matter the decibels of noise from any Coalition, the law remains the law and the right to choose who leads them is the weapon of the voters. The road to 2023 certainly cannot be constructed outside these guidelines.

“If leadership is anchored on knowledge, skills and experience, and if narrowed to political leadership which is assessed by the democratic credentials of an aspirant, then the Waziri Adamawa fits perfectly into this bill. Before becoming the Vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for eight years he had patiently undergone political tutelage over years, culminating in his election as the Governor of Adamawa State before he was handpicked among the lots as the vice president of Nigeria. Therefore this absurd call by the Coalition to bar through a backdoor with a misnomer called Zoning is incongruous with Nigerisns collective resolve to salvage the nation battered by mediocrity.

” Our demand is simple: whosoever the Coalition is surrogating and promoting or intends to crown a king or kings should hop into the political arena with others including Waziri Adamawa and go through the whole hog of the envisaged free and fair contest. We would accept a winner that emerges through this process but calling for erection of undemocratic barriers for some people to be filtered out based on their geographic zone is an indecent agitation from a Coalition. Rightly, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in this Project 2023 is not subscribing to this platform and has therefore opted for a level-playing field for all. That’s what it should be”, it said.

The People’s Democratic Party, PDP, that Atiku Abubabar hopes to use as his plarform for his ambition has not zoned the presidential ticket to any section of the country. Neither has the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC, said any word on it too.