Nigerian Politician Doyin Okupe has reacted to the official zoning of the Presidency to the South in 2023 by the All Progressive Congress stating that if the Peoples Democratic Party fails to do that, it will only mean that the North will rule for another 8 years.
In a series of tweet, Doyin urged the PDP to have a rethink and officially zone the Presidency to the South as that has always been done in the Nigerian political space.
Doyin also warned that not adopting a Southerners as the Presidential flag bearer ‘is to exploit political crass opportunism which will be insensitive to the current feeling among self-respecting thing southerners in the country.’
Read his full statement below;
PRESS STATEMENT
PDP AND ZONING FOR 2023.
The official zoning of the Presidency to the south in 2023 by the APC is a major political statement that is bound to shape the future of leadership in the country post-2023.
This deft move by the APC has made it a political imperative for the PDP leadership to have a rethink & officially zone d Presidency also to the south in 2023.
Any attempt to jettison the zoning policy which is central to PDP conventional policy will be fraudulent & unacceptable.
If the PDP picks a northern candidate for the 2023 elections and because the Nigerian electorates are still largely parochial, that candidate wins at the general elections, then the north will rule for another 8years, making 16years at a stretch.
If this type of ” clever political manoeuvring,” is employed to alternate northern candidates between political parties, the north can rule the country in perpetuity.
There is no doubt that what I am proposing is a form of political concession. But this is not strange in our political system and history.
To assuage the SW in 1999 after Abiola’s unfortunate death, a national consensus was adopted to ensure d emergence of a southwest President.
These policies include the federal character policy and the concession for the educationally disadvantaged states in the federation giving children from the less educationally developed states to gain admission into tertiary institutions across the nation.
Therefore of equity, fairness and the continued unity of the country, our party the PDP must categorically adopt the same position as the APC and zone the presidency to the south.
To do otherwise is to exploit political crass opportunism which will be insensitive to the current feeling among self-respecting thing southerners in the country.
It is an undeniable fact that cannot be ignored that a zone in the south is yet to produce an elected president.
These are not normal times in our country. Hatred and ethnic disharmony are rife and separatists movements are getting more and more entrenched in our polity.
Any politics that does not take into consideration d barometric pressures within its poll itself-serving Irving &destructive.
The unity and continued peaceful coexistence of our nation can only be predicated on the time tested principle of equity, fairness and justice.
