A presidential aspirant under the platform of the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) Anyim Pius Anyim on Monday warned that if the party does
not zone its presidency to the south, it would lose the 2023 election.
He equally said the party must respect zoning, saying the
only winning formula he knows is “fairness, justice and equity”.
Anyim disclosed this while addressing Plateau State
delegates of the party, at the PDP Secretariat in Jos, the State Capital.
He said, “If we want to win the 2023 Presidential election,
we should respect zoning. Because the only winning formula that I have known is
fairness, justice and equity; and anytime you don’t do justice, truth is not
with you; and you won’t have your way.
He recalled that in 2015, refusal to adhere to zoning was
behind PDP’s defeat at the Presidential polls.
“In 2015, when the PDP reviewed why we lost the election,
one thing that came out clear in that report was that we did not respect
zoning.
“And you and I know that as at that time, it was felt so
strongly that it was the turn of the north, and even a constitutional provision
could not help it.
According to him, “No matter what the constitution provided
and gave the then-sitting president right, nobody could tolerate it.
“Again, we are at that point, if we don’t zone, we will lose
this election”, he warned.
The former Senate President, however, said, “As I seek your
support, I’m actually seeking to protect our collective future; I’m seeking to
guarantee the peace and progress of this country, and we shall do it together.
Anyim who was the former Secretary to the Government of the
Federation during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, also said when the
military expunged zoning from the draft of the 1999 constitution, the PDP
enshrined it into its constitution, “In section 733 (3c) that power should
rotate between north and south.
“If it doesn’t rotate like that, it might not come to the
South-East, and be sure it won’t come to North-Central”, he explained.
“This rotation is imperative, and I have said it clearly,
there is no zone in this country where you won’t get capable hands to govern
this nation”, he maintained.
Anyim further said, “Buhari ran for election three times
with the support of the north, he did not win; until the south supported him.
“Nobody, no group, no section can do it alone”, he stressed.
“For a multi-ethnic country like ours, if people are talking
of zoning, they are not saying anything new, that is usually the call that
holds a democratic country together; because at any point in time when
everybody is not at the table, you are asking for trouble.
He said, in a country like Lebanon, zone positions even
ministerial positions, and it is enshrined in their constitution, “and that is
why they can stay together”.
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