Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State, an ardent supporter of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition, on Mondayclarified that the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors insisted on zoning of the presidential ticket to the South in 2023 for the peace and unity of Nigeria. he maintained that the governors are supporting a Southern presidential candidate because of the need for peace and stability in the country and the APC as well.
The Kano Governor disclosed that negotiations have been going on in the party on zoning of the president to the south.
Ganduje was cited to have said: “Dialogues are still ongoing with the remaining candidates, until they change their mind and drop their ambition. It is a continuous process and I believe even at the dying minute we can succeed in doing that. They are all credible aspirants and they are people of honour and we will continue to discuss with them until we succeed.
“Zoning is a gentleman’s agreement, and we believe our APC leaders are gentlemen and gentlewomen. That is how we came up with this recommendation, which we conveyed to Mr. President, and I am pleased that he has agreed to it.”
The Governor maintained that zoning should be respected, and that it should be the turn of the South to present a presidential candidate in 2023 elections.
Ganduje highlighted: “We worked extremely hard to save the northern politicians’ niche, particularly those in the APC, as well as to maintain peace and stability.
“This is a hard fact. But this is not the first time, such thing happened. When the NPN decided to zone the presidency to the Northern part of the country in 1979, a mini convention was held in Kaduna, and I, as a young graduate and politician, took part in the selection of six presidential candidates.
“We chose six people, including our great president, Shehu Shagari of blessed memory, Maitam Sule of blessed memory, Adamu Ciroma of blessed memory, Takar from Benue, Sola Saraki of blessed memory, and the former vice chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, and presented them to the National Convention in Lagos, where Shagari was elected. You can see that zoning is not a new concept; zoning is a gentleman’s agreement, so, there is nothing new to persuade our colleagues to support this resolution. We are pleased that Mr. President has accepted it”.