Kogi State governor and aspirant for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Yahaya Bello, has said zoning would not be an issue in who picks the ticket of the ruling party for the next general elections.
Governor Bello spoke through his Information Commissioner, Kingsley Fanwo, on Tuesday, at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja.
Our correspondent investigation revealed that there is an understanding among the stakeholders in the ruling party that the southern part of the country would produce the successor to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari since the new National Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu is from the North.
But Governor Bello who incidentally is from the same North Central geo-political zone as Senator Adamu said competence, rather than zoning, should determine who picks the APC presidential ticket after Muhammadu Buhari from the North-West geopolitical zone.
He claimed that power rotation has never been a blessing to the country.
He said: “Until we challenge the status quo, that idiosyncratic page must be broken before you can be talking of progressing as a nation and as a people. So it’s no more about rotation. The governor said; I’m going to quote him now.” I was born in North Central. I was born an Egbira man. I did not choose to be an Egbira, I did not choose to be a Northerner. That should not determine criteria for hiring leaders.
“We always bring these to politics. We don’t use it in other places. When you are sick and we are taking you to hospital and they say you need an operation, you will not ask the administrative Secretary if the person who is going to treat me is an Hausaman? You would want a competent medical doctor to attend to you. Whether he is an Egbira, whether he is Hausa, it doesn’t matter. What matters is: is he competent to attend to me? “Now, the driver that will take you from here to Onitsha, what you are interested in is, is he a good driver. In politics, we use that sentiment, where is he or she coming from?”
“In 2023, it is going to change. The zoning must be competence, capacity, patriotism, and a unifier bridge builder. ‘That is where we are zoning it to. Whether the person is a northerner, Southerner, Igbo, or Hausa it does not matter anymore.
“We have been having rotation since 1960, are we better off? So that’s where we are going. And that’s what we have come out to challenge because it will take a courageous man like Yahaya Bello to challenge and defeat that monster before we can be talking about development.
“So on rotation, we are ready for the battle ahead. It is going to be about capacity and competence.”
The Kogi State Governor who said he was determined to win the APC ticket said he was confident he will beat other aspirants in the race.
“I think they are the ones that should be intimidated right now. Because it is not about what you have achieved in the past. It’s going to be what you are doing now and what you can do for this nation from 2023. So the governor too has garnered some experience. He has been a chief executive of his state for the past six, seven years. And also, he has been able to see governance at that very close range. So we are very confident that he’s going to do a great job for Nigeria.
“On the issue of consensus, our party is a party of rules? I’m very happy you are covering the party. And I’m very sure you avail yourself of the constitution of the party, especially as it affects the mode of selecting candidates for elections. You have all the options: consensus, direct and indirect primaries.
“What consensus means is that if I am contesting, we all have to sign a document announcing our withdrawal from that context. That’s what our constitution says, I will follow the constitution. We cannot make rules and break them.
“So what I will say is this: if it’s going to be a contest where people will seek votes, Yahaya Bello will be there. If it is going to be on consensus, he is basically the youngest, and a serving governor who is performing wonders in unifying, securing and progressing his people, definitely the consensus will be Yahaya Bello. So let’s wait and watch. If it’s going to be a contest where we are going to look for votes we will be there. If it is consensus, it is still going to be Governor Bello.”
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