Zoning Not Constitutional , Says Atiku
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said that zoning of political offices as being canvassed by politicians is not provided for in the nation’s constitution.
According to a statement made available to journalists on Wednesday by his media aide, Paul Ibe, the former vice president spoke at a recent meeting with the Fix Nigeria Group on sundry issues concerning the 2023 election, especially as it relates to zoning and age.
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Ibe said he decided to make the transcript of Atiku’s speech available following what he described as the inaccurate representation of what he said at the meeting
According to the transcript, Atiku said he had heard people talking about giving young politicians opportunity to contest presidency “but fundamentally, the constitution says that all of us can contest.”
He insisted that the nation’s constitution did not make provision for zoning.
He said, “The constitution has not barred anyone of us. There is no zoning in the constitution. There is none.
“I was a member of the Constituent Assembly that drafted this very constitution. Then, as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, we felt that there should be a sense of belonging.
I remember that I had a very heated argument with the Late Dr. Alex Ekwueme at the Constitutional Conference. I said, ‘Alex, you want to bring in zoning because you want to break away this country.’
We had a very heated debate with him and later on, I apologised to him and told him, ‘you reason better than myself. I was emotional in my reasoning. I think the zonal thing that you are proposing is a good thing.’”
Atiku also said he had never seen the country as divided as it is now.
“I have never seen this country have so many challenges at the same time. Sometimes when I lay down on my bed, I begin to wonder whether I should go for this thing or not, because, the challenges are just too many. All my life, I have never seen the country in such a bad situation,” he said.
Copyright PUNCH.
