Three socio-cultural organisations, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Oodu’a
Peoples Congress and the Ijaw Monitoring Group on Tuesday endorsed the zoning
arrangement among the country’s six geo-political zones for the 2015 polls, News Agency of Nigeria reports.
The
spokesmen for the groups said zoning should not be dumped in order to ensure
Nigeria’s political stability and unity.
Their
comments came against the backdrop of a call for the dumping of zoning by the
National Coordinator of the Arewa United Consultative Forum, Alhaji Ado
Dansudu.
Dansudu
wants candidates for elections to be chosen on merit and not by zoning, saying
Nigeria would not move forward if it continued with the zoning arrangement.
The
spokesman for Ohaneze, Mr Tonni Oganah, told NAN in Lagos that zoning
should not be stopped until all the geo-political zones had tasted power.
Oganah
said, “Zoning can only be stopped after all the geo-political zones making up
the nation have tasted power.
“Let the
rotation of power go round the zones first so that they will have a sense of
belonging in the Nigerian project.
“After it
has gone round, Nigerians can then sit down to fashion out how best to choose
their leaders; that is the stand of Ohaneze.’’
In the
same vein, the OPC founder, Dr. Frederick Faseun, said stopping zoning would
amount to social injustice.
He said,
“Let power go round first. Nigeria is sitting on a tripod and what is supported
by a tripod cannot stand on two legs. The Yoruba cried out against
marginalisation and were given a chance to rule. The Hausa have had the chance
so many times.
“It is
only fair that the third leg of the tripod, the Igbo, should be allowed to
enjoy power.
“At the
end of it all, we will sit down and decide the method of selecting our leaders
and candidates.’’
A Niger
Delta chief and Coordinator of the IMG, Mr Joseph Evah, also told NAN that the principle of
zoning was already embedded in the 1999 Constitution.
According
to him, zoning is what the federal character enshrined in the constitution
is all about.
(NAN)
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