Former governor of Jigawa State, Sule Lamido, has said he doesn’t support the idea of zoning of political offices.
Speaking with BBC Hausa, Lamido said zoning of political offices has been counter-productive, adding that such should be put aside for now while the welfare and unity of Nigerians take centre stage.
He said this despite the stance of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, on zoning which became jeopardised since the death of ex-president Umar Yar’adua.
“Even if they (PDP members) come and talk about zoning, I will tell them no.
Because in these days of development, the world has passed the stage of zoning of political offices. What they discuss is how to progress. We should be discussing how best to build our people, how to ensure unity among our people. And I believe we can get that person from any part of the country, so we should not be talking of zoning now,” Lamido said.
He said as a national politician, he is ready to support whoever is a capable candidate regardless of religion or ethnicity.
“I don’t care whether such person is a Muslim or Christian, a Hausa or Angas or Yoruba. If he is capable, bring him on. We should forget about this zoning issue because where has it taken us positively as a country?” he asked.
The former governor who spoke on the mission to “Rescue Nigeria” lamented that the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has destroyed what the PDP built in 16 years.
“Almost everything done by the PDP has been destroyed by APC. There is high rate of poverty in the country, insecurity is at an alarming rate, lack of unity among people of the country. We sat and deliberated on how to start the mission of saving this country and that was how we decided to meet him (Obasanjo) and we met him and discussed for two hours.
“We only went there to discuss the future of this country and nothing more and we went to him because he knows how to rescue this country. He knows how he left this country in good situation and we know he so much loves Nigeria. So, we went there to beg him on the way forward. And we know that we can only rescue Nigeria through PDP but we also need to talk to everyone who matters in the party, including those who have been offended to make them return to their beloved party,” he said.
