- says , Tinubu must have his two terms
- Igbos must benefit from rotational presidency
From John Adams Minna
Former commissioner for Information Culture and Tourism and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger state, Hon. Jonathan Vatsa has advised a northern socio political group calling for an end to rotational presidency the country has embraced since the return to democracy in 1999 to drop their “day dreaming” saying that the arrangements can not be tempered with until every region benefits from it.
Vatsa specifically told the group that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from the south west would complete his eight years in office after which South East would take their turn to have a shot at the number one seat.
According to the former publicity secretary of the All Progressive Congress (APC) who spoke to some selected journalists in Minna while reacting to a group of Northern youth calling for an end to the rotational presidency, pointed out further that “because power just left the north you are now calling for a stoppage to the rotational arrangements, the call is an invitation to anarchy.
“The arrangements can not be tempered with until President Tinubu completes his two term of eight years and the Igbos have their turn as President, then we can come to the round table and discuss what we want as a country.
“You can’t just change the goal post at the middle of the game, it will create anarchy because no region has the monopoly of power, no region is born to rule”, he said.
It should be recalled that, a group under the auspices of Arewa New Agenda (ANA) had on Thursday in Yola, Adamawa state declared its opposing stance on the rotational presidency in Nigeria alluding to President Bola Tinubu’s “it is my turn” comment before the 2023 general elections.
The President of the group, Senator Ahmad Abubakar MoAllahyidi while addressing newsmen on the move, alleged that Northern Nigeria was shortchanged by the Tinubu led administration, despite its numerical strength to determine the political direction and the leadership of the country.
But according to Vatsa who was the former coordinator public affairs to former governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state, maintained that “with this their call, President Bola Tinubu must do his term terms of eight years, and the Igbo man must test presidency before we can tempered with that political arrangements.
“Then we will now agree to whether there should be rotation or not. Lack of equity, justice and fairness remained the major challenges facing this country as a nation.
“Let us look at this critically, look at the Presidents from the military to civilians that have ruled Nigeria from the Northern extraction, has it translated to anything? Has poverty left the North? Even if you give them presidency tomorrow, the North as a region will still be poor because the leaders are stealing the money and keeping in their individuals pockets”.
He further cautioned them to speak for themselves and not the whole North adding that, “their threat that they have the number is an ever exaggeration of the true situation in the north today because I don’t know which North are they referring to.
“Is it the geographical North or the one that is already in disarray and being ravaged by bandits and insurgents. There are killings in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger, Kaduna and other places on a daily basis.
“Well, I have a feeling they are just trying to get attention. My advise to them is that, they should get ready because the rains have started coming, they should prepare to go to farm”.