The Socio-political organisation in the South West, Afenifere has urged the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to zone their presidential tickets to the South and allow the region to decide the sub-region to produce the candidates.
This is coming days after the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufia, said leaders of the APC were having discussions of zoning the presidency to the South.
Speaking during the weekly ministerial press briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, El-Rufai said, “The discussion we are having is that the presidency is zoned to the South. It is not zoned to any particular place in the South. The South will have the first go at it. But we are waiting to see who the aspirants are.”
He added that the zoning arrangement presented to President Muhammadu Buhari, which he approved, was ‘only sending a signal about the party’s direction’.
“It is not zoning any presidency to anyone yet. But we have sent a signal,” he added.
Afenifere’s Secretary-General, Sola Ebiseni, therefore, reacted by saying, “The decision of the forum is that the rotation of the presidency is on the basis of North and South. When it went to the North, there were no specifications as to what part of the North.
“The decision of the leaders is that the presidency is zoned between the North and the South. When it gets to the region, whatever they want to do is their business. We are not partisan to that extent.”
Similarly the spokesperson for the Igbo socio-political organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Alex Ogbonnia, said, “Ohanaeze has congratulated the APC for considering zoning the presidency to the South. That is the major first step. The region in the South it should go to is the second step, which has to be followed up. Southern and Middle Belt Leadership Forum and the 19 southern governors share that position.
“Now that this has been done, we in the South will hold a meeting and decide on what region it should go to. However, all the indices are there to indicate that the ticket should come to the South-East. I advise the PDP to follow this move and do the needful.
“As we had earlier said, we would not support any political party that doesn’t zone its presidency to the southern region. That is the equity, justice and fairness we are talking about.”
