EKO HOT BLOG reports that a former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, Samuel Ohuabunwa, has sent a warning to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying that the party must not tinker with the zoning provision in its constitution.
Ohuabunwa, who spoke in Abuja on Tuesday, said the authors of the PDP constitution affixed the rotational clause to ensure equity engender a sense of belonging and justice for various parts of the country represented in the party.
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The pharmacist also said that zoning could not be halted at this phase of Nigeria’s democratic history.
According to him, the country’s current mood spells that some parts, especially the southeast, feel sidelined because they have no opportunity to produce the next President.
He said: “I’ve written in my book, ‘Nigeria, need for the evolution of a new nation,’ published in 2010, that given our level of political development, given our ethnic diversity, lack of effort to unite us and harmonise us, given the differences that exist in religion, that we need to organise in a country in a manner that creates inclusiveness, that creates belongingness where we protect the majority, we protect the minority.
“If we get to a point in our evolution as a nation, zoning and exclusion will become irrelevant. But the way it is today, you cannot have a wholesome nation if you do not have the opportunity to exclude and zone.
“That’s why I think framers of the 1999 constitution as incompetent, as it is, provided for the federal character.”
Ohuabunwa added that there must be a collective agreement on the implementation of zoning and when to stop it.
“It’s not when it is your own turn that you say it’s your turn. When it’s another person’s turn, you say we should stop zoning. It cannot be done unilaterally. We all have to agree.
“For example, PDP has in their constitution, rotation of power, moving it north and south. How can they come in the middle of the day and tell you stories? I believe that one day zoning will end,” he said.
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