A former Deputy Senate Majority Leader, Jonathan Zwingina,
has reminded the South East that it dominated over 90 percent of the economy
during the administration of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and no one
complained.
Zwingina said this in an interview with Channels Television
while insisting that the South East will not get the presidency on a platter of
gold.
According to him, the region should not sit back and expect
the political parties such as the All Progressives Congress, APC, to zone the
country’s number one seat to them, but their elites must engage in discussion
with the political elites from other zones.
The lawmakers pointed out that the South East was not the
only region left to produce the president, insisting that while the region had
even produced the country’s leaders once in its history, the North Central has
not had the chance at all.
“I think the issue of zoning is understandable. But we must
first of all look at the fact that the issue of zoning first arose during the
military era and then the contest of the crisis of June 12.
“Now the way the zoning has been crafted, it is looking like
it’s going to be almost by fiat. Zoning is a matter that should be discussed
among political parties and arrive that within the consensus of political
parties and not be forced or compelled on individuals or political personnel in
government to enforce it.
“Even the party that championed zoning, which is the PDP has
eventually in itself, virtually set it aside.
“Not only the South East, the North Central has not had…
even the South East has had the President the North Central did not have.
Fairness and justice require that they too should have.
“Fairness and justice require that North East should have
…although they had the prime minister, they too should have. I can tell you
that fairness and justice is not just the South East.
“They’re talking about their rights but North Central has
not had anything at all… what I’m saying is all the rights of people who want
representation in government are valid. But we have to look at certain
representations.
“Under the administration of President Jonathan, the
dominant zone in that government was the South East. They practically dominated
ninety percent of the economy completely and people did not complain.
“It was their rights to do that because some of them were
competent and were appointed into government positions …what the South-East
should do is that their elites should engage in discussion with the elites from
the other regions with the respect to the need for them to have a go at the
presidency.
“But even at that, there’s no President in Nigeria, even
Obasanjo, who contested on the basis being left alone because he comes from a
zone of preference. When Obasanjo contested, there were other people who were
not from the South West who stood election with him.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com