2023 Presidency: Prominent Southeast Politician Reveals Position on Zoning
- A former minister of aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka has shared his thought regarding zoning ahead of the 2023 general elections
- Chidoka insists power rotation arrangement should be sustained considering its advantage in the emergence of past leaders in the country
- The one-time Corps Marshall hinted further that the north has benefitted from power shift and as such, should not back down now
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Osita Chidoka, a former minister of aviation, says the northern part of the country has benefitted from power rotation, and as such the arrangement should be maintained.
The Cable reports that on Sunday, October 17, Chidoka said Nigeria is faced with the question of whether to honour the presidency zoning arrangement between the north and the south.
The minister chronicled how the PDP agreed on zoning arrangements between the north and the south, which he said led to the emergence of former presidents like Olusegun Obasanjo, Umar Musa Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan.
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Over the past few weeks, the debate on zoning the 2023 presidency has heightened, especially between the two major political parties — the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
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He said:
“In 2019, because the PDP agreed that it was the north’s turn to do eight years, we all zoned the presidency to the north.
“If you notice at Port Harcourt, all the 12 contestants for PDP ticket were northern and vice-president Atiku emerged as the candidate because there was an understanding that this is time for the north.”
Chidoka said the northern elites’ argument that zoning is undemocratic is not tenable, seeing as they have benefited from zoning.
He said there is no reason why zoning arrangements between the north and the south should be dismantled.
The former minister added that it would be an “odd situation” if the country cannot find an Igbo person who is worthy to become president in 2023.
He stated thus:
“In 2023, the country is now again to be confronted. Will northerners, after having benefitted and agreed to this zoning structure, now turn back to say zoning is undemocratic, zoning is not to be accepted in Nigeria, people should canvass to win an election?
“It will be such an odd situation if the rest of the country does not find an Igbo man who is in sync with the Nigeria ideal and can be trusted to keep Nigeria going forward together.”
Pastor Tunde Bakare speaks on 2023 presidency after meeting Buhari
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that the serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC) (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that the important thing Nigeria needs right now is a competent president not agitation for power rotation.
According to reports, he made this disclosure on Friday, October 15, while speaking with State House correspondents after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Bakare, who revealed he shared what's in his heart with the President, noted it was political “immaturity” that drove the nation to the clamour for power shift when various zones that produced Nigerian leaders in the past had not fared better after many years of independence.
2023 Presidency: Northern Elders send strong message to Southern leaders
Earlier, the Northern Elders Forum has warned Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) against issuing any threat over the presidency.
The forum said this while reacting to PANDEF’s statement that the north should wait till 2031 before producing another president.
Legit.ng gathered that Dr Hakeem Baba Ahmed, NEF’s director of publicity and advocacy, warned that perhaps PANDEF and other groups have not been listening to the north when it stated that it shall not be threatened or intimidated by any group or region.
Source: Legit.ng
