…Declares presidential ambition
Former governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima on Wednesday countered the claim by Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Raji Fashiola and the Lagos State APC Chairman, Tunde Balogun that there was an agreement among APC leaders that power should shift to the South after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari
Yerima, said during an interaction with the media in Abuja that there was no meeting of APC, where zoning was discussed and agreed on.
The issue of zoning had taken a center stage of discuss in APC, as recently, the Caretaker Chairman of Lagos State said President Muhammdu Buhari and National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had agreed that Presidency would be zoned to South West after him (Buhari’s) tenure.
Many other APC chieftains had also said that it was agreed that the Presidency should be zoned to South after Buhari.
But Senator Yerima, who also declared his intention to aspiring for the APC Presidential ticket in 2023 said, “You see, I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such agreement. Agreement can’t be verbal, it has to be written. In any case, any agreement that is contrary to laws of this country is not an agreement. The Constitution is very clear, the Constitution of the political parties, the Electoral Act. We are in a democracy and democracy is governed by processes and procedures and by laws. So the Constitution of Nigeria doesn’t recognize anything called zoning and likewise check APC Constitution. If there is that agreement why didn’t we put it in the Constitution? So nobody will just come and say that there is an agreement, take your Constitution and amend it, put that agreement if there is then nobody will come from another side and work against the Constitution.
“As a democrat, as a citizen of Nigeria, I can aspire based on the laws of Nigeria. The Nigerian Constitution has given rights and privilege to every citizen which believes he has something to offer to aspire for any office, irrespective of his state of origin, his tribe, ethnicity, religion; you have right, the Constitution has given us guarantee to participate in the political process.
“Asked about the political interaction that northner finished as President and norther succeeded him, Yerima said, Can I give you example of America, George Bush (Snr) was President, George Bush (Jnr) became President. They from the same family not from the same state, not from the same zone. This is democracy, if Nigerians decides to vote for Yarima, so it be.”
