A chieftain of the All Progressives (APC), Senator Dayo Adeyeye, has said that Nigerian voters will reject the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for violating the zoning principle. On the other hand, Adeyeye said the APC has maintained equity, fairness and justice by zoning its presidential ticket to the South. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is the candidate of the APC while Senator Kashim Shettima is his running mate.
Adeyeye, at a media briefing in Abuja on Saturday, said it’s quite insensitive of the PDP to expect Atiku to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023, after Buhari would have served two terms of eight years as President. According to the former federal lawmaker, politicians and the electorate in the North believe in zoning and were always ready to frustrate any arrangement meant to scuttle it.
Adeyeye recalled how Northern political and opinion leaders, in 1999, had insisted on power shift to the South, which enabled two candidates from the South to contest the presidential election. He also recalled that it was in the same spirit that Buhari and Atiku contested the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the APC and PDP respectively.
Adeyeye, who is the national chairman of the South West Agenda (SWAGA), took a swipe at the PDP and Atiku for politicising the issue of Muslim-Muslim of the APC, describing the attempt as sheer distraction. He said: The PDP is trying very hard to put the issue of Muslim-Muslim ticket on the front burner. But to me and for any patriotic Nigerians, it is a mere distraction.
“It is a desperate attempt by the PDP to clutch at any straw at all when they are just too aware that they are headed for the dungeon. The zoning arrangement, which had been violated by the candidate of the PDP, will determine the winner of next year’s election and not the same faith ticket. The Muslim-Muslim ticket is a distraction caused by the opposition against the candidate of the APC.
“Many Nigerians are not too keen on the Muslim Muslim ticket. What is of paramount importance to them is that it is about time that power should rotate to the South.” Accusing the PDP and its candidate of hypocrisy, Adeyeye recalled that Atiku had lobbied to become the vice presidential candidate to the late Chief Moshood Abiola for the June 12,1993 election, but that he lost the slot to Alhaji Babagana Kingibe.
“Why should Muslim-Muslim ticket be an issue for him now? He wanted to be running mate to Abiola who was a Muslim. So, those who are promoting this should know too well that they are just desperate to clutch at any straw to keep them afloat,” he said. To further buttress his point, Adeyeye quoted Usman Dan Fodio when he warned against political power imbalance in the system over 200 years ago.
Dan Fodio had said: “One of the swiftest ways of destroying a kingdom is to give preference to one particular tribe over another or show favour to one group of people rather than another. And to draw near those who should be kept away and keep away those who should be drawn near.” Adeyeye said it was in recognition of these timeless words of caution that informed the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari and indeed stakeholders in the APC to zone the party’s 2023 presidential ticket to Southern Nigeria.