Follow Us on Google
By Chukwudi Nweje
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former commissioner for Information in Edo State, Kassim Afegbua, yesterday, insisted that the 1999 Constitution, as amended, supports zoning.
He said a plural society like Nigeria cannot do without zoning and power-sharing and that anything to the contrary is unconstitutional.
Afegbua said it was the inalienable right of the south to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023. He asked northerners to bury their ambition as any attempt to short-change the south would spell political doom for the country.
He said: “It must be stated unequivocally that zoning means the same thing as federal character, which is expressly captured in the 1999 Constitution. The federal character talks about the 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.
“Rather than continue to dwell on the impropriety of turning logic on its head by the political ambition of our brothers from the north, it will make for good judgment for them to bury their ambition and support the southern zone to produce credible candidates for the 2023 general election. Trying to ignore this inalienable right of the south to produce the next president will spell political doom for the country. It is only a greedy, selfish, egocentric, and desperate politician from the north that will still insist on going ahead to contest despite the obvious imbalance.”
Afegbua said apart from the office of the president, the constitution also zoned the leadership of the National Assembly and office of the Secretary to Government of the Federation among the constituent parts of the country.
“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, his vice presidential candidate comes from the south, and vice-versa.
“The senate president is also zoned to another geopolitical zone, ditto for the speaker of the House of Representatives, and even the Secretary of Government of the Federation. If there is no zoning, these positions could have been concentrated in one geopolitical zone, but for that federal character provision in the constitution, which is similar to zoning, we have made it a point of duty to observe zoning,” he said.
According to him, politicians who argue against zoning do so for selfish reasons because they want to twist the constitution against the run of play in order to contest.
He also warned the PDP against making the mistake of zoning the presidency to the north.
“As a party, if you choose not to zone by way of balancing the algorithms, take all your candidates from a section of the country and let us watch how your political fortunes pan out. Those who are reading the constitution upside down or trying, as it were, to twist the logic of zoning to suit their bulbous ego, are only trying to be clever by half. The facts of the matter do not support their illogic. For our diversities and heterogeneous configurations, with several nation-states within the nation, the zoning principle has to be deliberately applied to create the required political stability.
“Anything short of the application of this doctrine will be unconstitutional, and a clear abuse of the principle of federal character, which is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution
He noted that Nigeria cannot do without zoning because of its peculiar diversity.
“Given our diversities, one cannot do without zoning and power-sharing. For selfish and egocentric reasons, some aspirants talk about the absence of zoning in the Nigeria constitution. In order 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,” Afegbua said.
He charged the southern governors to unite and speak with one voice to ensure they are not schemed out of producing the president in 2023.
“The governors of the southern zones must speak with one voice in ensuring the South gets what truly belongs to them,” he said.
He also urged the media to educate Nigerians “on the therapeutic effect of zoning and applying the doctrine of federal character,” which, he said, has been in place since the independence.
“The media owes it a duty to educate Nigerians on the therapeutic effect of zoning and applying the doctrine of federal character which has been in place since the independence. It is an attraction we cannot run away from given our peculiarities, sensibilities and equivocation,” he said.
