APC playing with fire over refusal to zone 2023 President to South – Gov Akeredolu

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

Ondo State Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, has asked the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) to make a clear commitment declaring that it has zoned the 2023 President to the Southern part of the country, adding that it will be disingenuous for anyone to argue against rotation at this period.

While he reiterated his demand that the next President after Muhammadu Buhari must come from the south, Akeredolu, who is also the chairman of Southern Governors Forum (SGF), said it was for this reason that the party zoned its national chairmanship position to the north.

He condemned the refusal of the leadership of the APC to announce to aspirants that the presidential slot would be for the south in 2023, stressing that “it will be disingenuous for anyone to argue against rotation at this period.”

Akeredolu argued that while adhering to the spirit and letters of the laws guiding the conduct of elections and succession to political offices, political expediency dictates that “we must do nothing which is capable of tilting the delicate balance against the established arrangement which guarantees peace and promotes trust.”

The governor recalled that the leadership of the party adopted the principle of rotational representation during the just-concluded convention.

In a statement on Tuesday, Akeredolu maintained that “this is the time the leaders of the party must make a categorical statement, devoid of equivocation, on the pattern of succession.”

Akeredolu expected the APC to limit the propensities for disagreement to a region for possible micro-management, stating the need to avoid self-inflicted crises before the general elections.

Without mincing words, the Ondo helmsman posited that “It is the turn of the Southern part of the country to produce the next President.”

He stressed that the APC leadership should not have any difficulty in making that pronouncement, just the same way it fixed various fees for the purchase of forms.

He added the statement on the zoning of the presidential ticket to the south must be done without delay, maintaining that the principle of Federal Character is enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.