As the polity gets heated up, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Niger state, Comrade Jonathan Vatsa on Wednesday told the party to respect the zoning arrangements or be prepared to lose the 2023 Presidential elections.
Vatsa warned that any attempt to temper with the zoning arrangement to deny the South East to have their turn in 2023 will amount to depopularizing the APC.
He described as wicked and morally wrong for any zone in the country to struggle the 2023 Presidency with the South East if truly our leaders have conscience.
The former Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism while reacting to the growing number of aspirants that have purchased the APC Presidential nomination form for the 2023 election, said it is now clear that the leadership of the ruling party have made up their minds to discard the zoning arrangement that has kept the country united since 1999.
Speaking to select journalists in Minna, the former APC Publicity Secretary in Niger state said “this will spell doom for the party in 2023 because I foresee all the alphabets that make up APC falling apart and go back to their original owners.
“The party will split and the center will not hold. There is no way people can watch and see this high level of injustice and complete lack of morality being displayed by greedy leaders”.
He also expressed worries about the desperation by some politicians from other zones like the north, the south west and south south, who are jostling for the Presidency after they have all had a shot at the number one position in the country.
“This shows that our leaders have lost their places in the affairs of honour and there is no morality any more.
“After eight years of Olusegun Obasanjo as President and another eight years of Yemi Osinbajo as Vice President, what does the South West want in 2023?
“Also after six years of Goodluck Jonathan, can’t the South South wait for the South East? In the case of the north, it has no moral justification to look for the Presidency in 2023 after Buhari’s eight years bearing in mind that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua held sway”.
Furthermore, Vatsa declared that “this open display of wickedness and lack of morality by our leaders is the reason why the country has refused to move forward despite the abundant resources, both human and material. How can a country move forward when you have men without morality and fear of God ruling over the people?”
Vatsa said those who are hiding under the fact that the zoning arrangement is not constitutional, have no fear of God and therefore have nothing to offer in leadership “because every good leader must have the fear of God whether as a Christian or as a Muslim, and must respect mutual agreement”.
He suggested that “now that every zone of the country wants to produce the President, let us come out openly and cancel any zoning arrangement at all levels in the country because we are clearly seeing lack of morality in our politics.
“For justice, equity, fairness and fear of God, the whole world knows that it is the turn of the South East to produce the next President of this country, anything short of this, the country will surely pay the price of injustice”.
He however argued that the current security situation in the South East is a deliberate attempt to discredit the people of the zone, saying “it is very unfortunate that the South East leaders have refused to understand this handwriting and have allowed their youths to be used to cause mayhem in the region”.
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