Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation has urged the delegates in the forthcoming primaries to shun zoning and vote the most qualified and best aspirants to fly the flags of their parties in the state.
He said Nigeria has not fared better with zoning as it breeds mediocrity, incompetency and bad governance, adding that most times the best aspirants who can turn the fortunes of the country are turned down as a result of zoning.
Isong, who gave the advice on Tuesday, while interacting with newsmen in his office, along Aka road, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, instead urged them to uphold power whereby the best candidate can emerge from any zone.
He lamented that since the Electoral Act allows for indirect primaries where the delegates determine the fate of Nigerians, they (delegates) should be discreet in their choices in fielding a candidate so that the country would not be plunged into worse situation than it’s currently experiencing.
According to him, “Unfortunately in Nigeria, we have Electoral Act that supports indirect primaries and our fate is on the delegates. I urge all the delegates to vote the best and forget about zoning. What we need now is to consider the best person for the job. After the best candidate must have emerged, we talk of power sharing for equity and fair play.
“Zoning breeds mediocrity, incompetency, bad governance. We need an open space where everybody can test his popularity at the poll. Election ought to be where people go and choose from among the multitudes of aspirants. We can have power sharing, to stabilise the polity.”
He further regretted that after over twenty years of democracy, Nigeria has not made room for constitutional amendment for the people to have individual candidature and not to go through a political party.
