Elder statesman and member, Board of Trustees of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ambassador Yahaya Kwande has given reasons that could make the North retain power in 2023.
He explained that the idea of rotational presidency and zoning of elective officer were merely political tactics for winning elections.
Kwande, who spoke in an interview with Sun newspaper, said either the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) or the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may choose to dump the idea of rotational presidency and zone its presidential ticket to a random region in 2023, if it thinks the idea will help it emerge victorious.
His words: “I do not want to get involved into something that is so complicated. It was supposed to be the responsibility of a political party. It was a game and a tactic that you can use to win the election but it is not in our constitution.
“If the PDP for instance zones their presidential slot to the East, they must have a reason for that. They would not even like the ruling party to zone it to the East because that would defeat the purpose for which they wanted it zoned to the East.
“Now, how many political parties do we have? Somebody can even say let us zone it to his village so that he can win. In that case, you cannot stop him if his political party would go with his idea.
“But it is not something that somebody should worry about. The people you see saying let it remain in the North are doing that because they feel you can use it to get more votes. If immediately something changes and they think that only a candidate from Delta would win for their party, believe me they would say, let us zone it to the South South. This is the idea; it is not something legal; it is politics.”
