Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
A former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa, yesterday kicked against the growing discussions and tensions surrounding the zoning of the presidency to any part of the country, describing it as ill-timed.
Bafarawa said in a statement that the agitations were getting increasingly strident, noting that it is a misplaced priority given the problems besetting the country.
He stated that it was high time politicians toned down such political issues and concentrated on good governance so that the country would eventually have peace.
He advised all politicians across the political, tribal and regional divides to come together for the common good of the country.
He added that the country is currently faced with challenges of Boko Haram, banditry, kidnapping, the threat of secession, slow economic growth resulting from increased level of poverty, clamour for restructuring, among others.
According to him, these are important issues that call for attention, not only by the government, but also by the political and traditional classes.
He added that he was not aware of how anybody in the country arrived at zoning the position of the president to any zone, whether to the South or to the North, or whether by the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
According to him, the sensitive issue, along with other similar issues, are either being canvassed or deliberately touted, thereby causing political tension and widening the gap of the common unity of the country.
He said: “The agitation for the rotation or zoning of the position of the presidency has been our greatest political quagmire for a very long time in our political growth or evolution in the country.
“It has always caused tension, bringing mistrust and threat of restructuring or secession or similar challenges, signalling breakup of the country or mistrust among our major tribes and religions. We should be wary of making any comments bordering on the issue of zoning or rotation of the position of president to any part of the country.”
He added at this crucial period of time when the country is enmeshed in various challenges, it was appropriate for socio-political commentators to delve less into politics and instead offer more constructive advice on how best the government could get the country out of the current mess.
He expressed the belief that since no political party, especially the two major political platforms, the APC and PDP, or any other socio-political, cultural or regional association or group has on its own resolved to zone the presidency, there should be strategies that would douse tension.
He urged Nigerian politicians to imbibe the culture of reducing political bickering, agitations, sounding drums of war and exhibiting primordial tendencies which clearly are intended to either cause mischief or tear the country into pieces through unnecessary advocacy.
The ex-governor said he was of the conviction that if politicians and other social commentators on politics, on what region or zone should be the next to produce the president, the tension would continue to heighten, thereby escalating the already tensed general socio/political atmosphere in the country.
“We should rather gauge our contributions to the political development to a measured level and also, concentrate on how best the country can get rid of all these menaces of insecurity which appears to be taking us several years backwards.
“We should not glee at the happenings and see it as a means of playing politics or perhaps a failure of a certain system or incapability of the government to deal with the situation,” he said.
