A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former spokesman of the Atiku Campaign Organisation, Kassim Afegbua, has asked politicians from the North to shelve their ambition of contesting for the presidency in 2023.
In a statement yesterday, Afegbua said the call has become necessary as “denying” the South the opportunity to take a shot at presidency would spell political doom for the country.
He said those citing the absence of zoning in the 1999 Nigeria Constitution is to “serve their selfish end and contest the 2023 presidential election against the run of play. They have resorted to making references to the 1999 Constitution to support their weak argument against zoning of political offices.”
He said, “Zoning means the same thing as Federal Character, which is expressly captured in the 1999 Constitution. The Federal Character talks about political balancing of positions and appointments, which is the same thing as zoning.
“Zoning means divide into or assign to zones,” positions and appointments whether by way of election or appointment. For those who are declaring that there is no zoning in the constitution, why has it been the practice that each time a candidate emerges from the North, the vice presidential candidate comes from the South, and vice-versa?
“Trying to ignore this inalienable right of the South to produce the next president of Nigeria will spell political doom for the country. It is only a greedy, selfish, egocentric, and desperate politician from the North that would still insist on going ahead to contest despite the obvious imbalance.”