Cross Rivers State Governor Ben Ayade has called on the leadership of All Progressives Congress to respect the zoning arrangement and allow the South to produce the next president of the country.
According to him, respecting the zoning agreement between the North and the South made at APC’s inception would help the party to retain its integrity.
Ayade said zoning was adopted to ensure an egalitarian and equitable power-sharing.
The governor spoke when the frontline APC presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, visited him at the Government House, Calabar, the State capital.
Tinubu, former Lagos State governor, was in the state to mobilise delegates for the proposed primary at Eagle Square, Abuja.
The presidential hopeful also met with party delegates at Transcorp Hotel, Calabar, where he spoke on his plans for the country.
He also visited the Obong of Calabar, Edidem Ekpo Okon Abasi Otu V, who described him as a “great former Lagos governor, a great power broker and a great leader of APC.”
Tinubu was accompanied by Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje; Senator Tanko Al-Makura; Senator Kashim Shettima; former Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba; presidential aide, Mallam Yau Darazo, and Chairman of Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND), Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim-Imam.
Echoing the resolution of the Southern Governors’ Forum on rotation and power shift to the South, Ayade, who is also a presidential aspirant, said zoning would ensure ethnic balancing.
Meanwhile, the APC National Vice Chairman (Northwest), Salihu Lukeman, has called on the President Muhammadu Buhari to rescind his decision to pick a presidential standard bearer for the ruling party.
He said the party should stick to the culture of a democratic primary for throwing up a popular candidate.
Reiterating his commitment to power rotation, Ayade said: “Zoning is a provision of our constitution to ensure balancing. It should not be about ethnic or regional domination but balancing. It’s the turn of Southern Nigeria in 2023.”
Ayade said the country was in dire need of change and a new way of doing things, stressing that with Nigeria’s potential “as around number seven in the world, in terms of oil and gas deposit, it is regrettable that the country is still importing petrol to meet its local demand.”
Describing Tinubu as a trans-generational leader and political strategist, the governor said the frontline contender has the capacity, experience and exposure to lead the country.