A former Senator Shehu Sani says the inclusion of power rotation in the constitution will put to rest the debate about the zoning of the presidency among the six geopolitical zones in the country.
He said his during a television interview on Friday.
The debate about zoning has dominated the media space in recent weeks, as the 2023 general elections draw nearer by the day.
While the Southern governors had insisted that the region must produce the next president, northern governors said zoning is unconstitutional.
However, Sani said the principle of zoning should be enshrined in the constitution to ensure that no part of the country dominates another.
“I think to solve this problem, this needs to be clearly stated in our constitution and it should be written in the language that there would be no interpretation whether it is Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, and Ijaw,” he said.
“If the presidency is in the north for eight years, it should be in the south for eight years so that there will be no need for a lawyer or legal luminary to explain this thing to us.
If we are going to sustain this country, we need equity, justice, fairness, and fair play and ensure that one part of the country does not dominate power for a long time.
But it cannot be done on the altar of threat and intimidation. These are issues that can be resolved between the political elites in the north and the south on a table for the unity and peace of Nigeria.”
Sani, however, said Nigeria can have both zoning and competence as the yardstick in deciding who will be president in 2023.
