Presidency: Clark, Adebanjo, Other Southern, Middle Belt Leaders Insist on Power Shift
| Deji Elumoye and Udora Orizu in Abuja The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) has frowned at the purported recommendation of the 37-member Zoning Committee of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to throw the party’s 2023 presidential ticket open to all parts of the country, insisting that power must shift to the South.The forum in a statement issued yesterday and signed by Chief Dr E. K. Clark – Leader; Chief Ayo Adebanjo – Leader, Afenifere; Prof. George Obiozor , President-General, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and Dr Pogu Bitrus , National President, Middle Belt Forum, said the conclusion of the Governor Ortom-led Zoning Committee is not only abhorrent, unfair and unacceptable, but also a purveyor of discord.SMBLF cautioned the PDP not to violate its principle of zoning and rotation of power between the North and the South, noting that the framers of its constitution, in cognizance of the nation’s diversity, and in line with the federal character principle, rightly provided under Section 7, Sub-section 3C, that there should be a rotation of party offices and elective offices.The leaders warned that if they cannot abide by the established principles of rotation and zoning between the north and south, then they should not continue with “one country”, and go back to what we were before the amalgamation of 1914.While aligning itself with the position of the 17 Southern Governors that the South should produce the next president of Nigeria, SMBLF urged the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the PDP to outrightly reject the recommendation.The leaders said: “SMBLF insists that all major political parties including the PDP and APC must be fair to the South by zoning their Presidential tickets to the South in the national interest. The notion that an open presidential primary election, which is not zoned would afford the 36 states to vote so that only the best and most competent person will emerge as the flag bearer of the party, is buncombe. It is not correct, because even where zoning is done, it is not only the people who come from the area where it is zoned that will vote. In the 2018 presidential primaries of the PDP, and at other times, for any serious party, every delegate of the party voted. So, whether it is zoned or not zoned, the same party delegates from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory will be available to vote. This is exactly what happened in 2018 Port Harcourt, were Atiku Abubakar defeated about 12 presidential aspirants from the North, with the votes of delegates of the 36 states and the FCT, Abuja, which he won with about 1,500 votes.“We repeat, he was not only voted for by Northern delegates. Who is fooling who? Or who is deceiving who? Zoning simply promotes fairness and equity and gives a feeling of belonging to all sections of the country. Does anyone need to be apprised of the “man-made” compositional disparities in Nigeria? More so, Southern Nigeria is not in want of competent, intelligent and sagacious men and women, who are more than capable to lead and navigate Nigeria out of the present quagmire; restori ng its dignity and glory, and elevating the country to even greater acmes, in all sectors, for the good of all Nigerians.The leaders expressed concerns over what they described as a deliberate trickery and duplicity of those limiting the chronology of zoning and rotation of political offices between the north and south to 1999. They therefore, advised that the future of this vast country lies largely on the conscious determination of the leadership of the various political parties, especially the APC and PDP, to take patriotic decisions that would promote national cohesion and peace.“The zoning of key political offices in the country started before independence. When Sir Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was elected the Prime Minister of Nigeria and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe became the Governor-General of Nigeria. The two top positions could not go to the North or the South. The Prime Minister which was equivalent to the Head of State or President came from the North while the mostly ceremonial Governor-General went to the South. Today, the North has more population than the South, and today the North has more states and local government areas than the South, Yet, some people sit in their bedroom to arrogantly decide that the Northern Military Heads of States that rule this country should not be counted and tilted it to the advantage of the North should not be counted, Why? Do we really need one country? Except 1979 to 1983, during the administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, should be discarded? Weren’t the people ruling the country, at those times, the Heads of State and Government of Nigeria?“It further bears underscoring that apart from Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi and Olusegun Obasanjo, all the other military Heads of the Government of Nigeria were from the North. The question then is, were there no competent officers from the South or they were intentionally sidelined in the leadership of the country under the military? The North should explain why it was so. We are talking about the presidency of Nigeria; the narratives of whether the president was of PDP or APC, are superfluous. Any attempt to perpetuate the northern presidency through unnecessary intrigues and conspiracies after the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, because of a hypothetical majority, would no doubt heighten the dissension in the country,” the forum added. |
