..Say’s Igbos invested nothing in APC like Tinubu, Southwest
By Gabriel, Udeh Kaduna
First republic politician and former Special Adviser to late President Shehu Shagari on National Assembly Matters, Elders Tanko Yakasai has dismissed the popular opinions making round that the ruling All Progress Congress (APC) will zone Presidency to the South East in 2023.
Making the revelation in an interview with our correspondent, Elder Tanko Yakasai also said that Governor Umehi led South East defectors have not invested anything in the APC as much as Tinubu and Southwest people who have spent all their times in the party for almost two terms.
Elder Yakasai, who’s also the chairman of comatose Northern Elders Council (NEC) was reacting to the alleged defection of Governor Umehi to APC in anticipation that presidency will be zone to South East in 2023, and sincerity of the promise.
Responding, the eders stateman said “On your question about the sincerity in zoning presidency to East, from what I red from Governor Wike of River State, is that Umehi did that in anticipation that APC will zone Presidency to Southeast, but I don’t see it happening that way because Umehi did not invest anything in APC as much as Tinubu did, and as much as Southwest people, who were there in APC for almost two terms now.
“For Umehi to think they can take away and deny the Southwest to produce the candidate in the coming election, despite South West contribution by way of votes and produce juganuts like Tinubu and the vice president Osinbajo, is laughable”, Yakasai He also Stated that “There are alot of people in the Southeast that are highly educated but when it comes to calculation, even the mathematicians among them, is found faulty politically.
According to him, It’s a faulty arithmetic, anticipating APC to go to South East in 2023, adding that “You can’t harvest where did not sow. You didn’t sow anything, but at the time of harvest you begin to look for what to harvest. You didn’t put in anything there. This is the kind of political idiolat called political opportunism.
He said why he’ll not advised to either way or not, “but I’ll make a statement that opportunist never succeed in politics. In politics or anything situation, if your called opportunist, it’s a very bad term. It’s not a good complement at all.On agitation for Jonathan to come and do second term and handover to the north, Yakasai said the it’s not about handing over to the North, but to complete second term, is an entitlement of Jonathan from south in line with people’s Democratic party (PDP) zoning arrangements.
Tanko Yakasai also said, “Throughout history, power is not donated. Power is fought for. Poeple look for power either through persuasion or through conquests. You can’t seat down and think that people will donate power to your, particularly in a place like Nigeria, a federation of 36 states or accepted to be six geopolitical zones. “And to think the five zones will surrender their rights to you for whatever reasons, is impossible. “I always advised our friends, our compatriot from Southeast to seek power by reaching out to other part of country because power comes through balloting through elections. “People don’t vote on till they’re convinced and therefore you have to tell them why they should support you.
Is never donated. And this is what happened. “Is something you fight for. What happened in 2015 was that a political party zoned the presidency to the north. That was its own policy.
Even until today there are some political party that run their affairs on zoning. “Even though the zoning is only a gentleman agreement, it’s not Constitutional, it’s not legal. “Even when the presidency was zoned to the north in 1999, by PDP, when Obasanjo contested, some northerners contested. I remember, Abubakar Rimi contested.”So zoning is not legal”, he said.According to Yakasai, “Where a gentleman disagree with the agreement, there’s nothing you can do about it. You go the election and let the majority decide for it.
On whether north will cede power to them, if APC zone Presidency to the South, and Southeast contest in 2023, Yakasai said “I’m not a member of any political party and therefore not speaking on behalf of any party but, the point is that, most of the governors in the Southeast are PDP and one has defected to APC. “But they are in PDP, and PDP is running elections based on zoning even though the circumstances of the death of Yar’adua truncated the zoning arrangements.
All the same, if Jonathan had succeeded in wining the second term, zoning could have been institutionalized in PDP, because Obasanjo did two terms and, if Yar’adua had done two terms, both southwest and northwest would not put up any candidate. “This is what people in the political parties, APC and PDP should try to institutionalised, make it their policy that their party should be running on the based on rotation or zoning. “This is what NPN did. It was running on the bases of rotation between north and south. When PDP came they wanted to do it between north and south but unfortunately Obasanjo disagree and so.
“Politics is a gambling but don’t forget that the southsouth still has the right of zoning as adopted by PDP to complete two terms as Obasanjo did in the name of southwest.The quickest way to get power is for Easterners, the igbos, to support Jonathan from South-South to complete his second term and handover to Southeast, since southwest, northwest have completed their own based on the six geopolitical zones, and later to North East and central”, Yakasai stated
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