OBINNA EZUGWU
Amid ongoing disagreement among APC governors over zoning ahead of the 2023 polls, Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has told the leadership of the party to rotate power to the south, so as to retain the presidency.
Akeredolu insisted that the APC “must rotate power to the south” in order to retain it in 2023.
The governor who made the demand in a short message via his personal Facebook page on Thursday, charged the party leadership “to work hard to retain power by rotating the Presidency to the South.”
Governor Akeredolu, who doubles as the Chairman of the both the southern governors’ forum and southwest governors’ forum, was on Wednesday evening announced as the chairman of security and compliance for the party’s special convention.
He said that the APC must be ready to rotate power as to retain power, adding that to retain power, the party must rotate to the South.
“APC must work to retain power. We must rotate power to retain retain power !!! Rotate to the South. Shikena.” The message reads
The Ondo governor had in May, warned the party against zoning the 2023 presidential slot to the northern part of the country, saying that would lead to a crisis.
In a statement titled, ‘Our party, APC, must tread the path of equity’, Akeredolu insisted that it was the turn of the southern part of the country to produce the next president.
Akeredolu had said the agreement reached when the APC micro-zoned party’s offices during its National Convention must be adhered to.
The statement read in part, “The current democratic dispensation is anchored on the unwritten convention driven by a principle of Equity. Our party just elected officers on the established principle of giving every part of the country an important stake in the political calculus. The focus has now shifted to the process which will culminate in the participation of our party in the general elections scheduled for next year.
“All lovers of peace and freedom must do everything to eschew tendencies which may predispose them to taking decisions which promote distrust and lead to a crisis, the end of which nobody may be able to predict.
“The leadership of the party ensured that the principle of rotational representation guided its decision at the just-concluded Convention. The party Chairmanship position has gone to the North. All other offices have been filled on this understanding. This is the time the leaders of the party must make a categorical statement, devoid of equivocation, on the pattern of succession.
“It is the turn of the Southern part of the country to produce the next President. The party leadership should have no difficulty in making pronouncements on this very important issue, just as it has fixed various fees for the purchase of forms. This must be done without delay. The principle of Federal Character is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution, as amended. It will be disingenuous for anyone to argue against rotation at this period.”
Meanwhile, it is understood that the ruling party’s governors have failed to agree on which zone should produce president in 2023.
IPresident Muhammadu Buhari had at a meeting with the governors on Tuesday, asked them to allow him to chose his successor, following which they have held two meetings without any headway.
Another meeting expected to hold on or before Saturday.
It was gathered that at the first meeting, the governors deliberated on the idea of having a consensus candidate proposed by Buhari, with many agreeing to the idea.
The second meeting, was to try to narrow down the possible choice in terms of zone, but divisions emerged as some northern governors who spoke believed that a northern governor should be nominated as a consensus candidate.
There two governors from the north in the presidential race; Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State and Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.
But the suggestion of the northern governors was said have been opposed by Akeredolu who insisted on power shift to the south.
Three governors from the south who are in the presidential race, including Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi State; Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti State and Ben Ayade, governor of Cross River.
