From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Igbo youths under the umbrella of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) have vowed to institute legal action against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) should they refuse to zone their presidential tickets to the South.
The youths said it was the turn of the south to produce the president in 2023 and it would amount to a breach of the constitution of Nigeria for power to be retained in the north after the tenure of President Muhamamdu Buhari. President General of the group, Goodluck Ibem, in a statement, yesterday, said: “We want our brothers from the North to know that the South is not begging for the position of the president of Nigeria. It is our constitutional right to produce Nigerian president in 2023. The same way the Nigerian government explores oil deposits in the South as a property of the Federal Government, so also it is the right of Nigerians from the South to produce the president of Nigeria come 2023.
“The Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, call on the All Progressive Congress (APC) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other political parties in the country to zone their presidential tickets to the South because failure to do so will amount to declaration of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Federal Republic of the North which is a treasonable offence.
It is unconstitutional, a treasonable offence and a defiant suspension of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for anyone to throw away the rotation of the office of the president between the North and South as is encapsulated via the federal character principle in the Nigerian constitution. When a particular section of the country is excluded from governance and other political positions in that country, it means automatically that they have been told in plain language that they are no longer part of the country which is invariably a declaration of another country in a country.
“The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not a mere book, but a legal document that controls and guides the country. Those who are against the principle of zoning are against the federal character principle which is an integral part of the Nigerian constitution.” Ibem also opined that the plot to retain power in the North after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure was purely a conspiracy to push the country into a serious political turmoil and instability.
“Presently the country is facing a serious insecurity challenge and any move to deny the south of the right to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023 will amount to increasing the level of instability and insecurity which we might not survive as a country.”