Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has disclosed that there is a gentleman agreement on zoning in the All Progressives Congress.
The former Governor of Lagos in an interactive session with newsmen at his ministry in Abuja on Tuesday November 24, appealed to leaders of the party to respect the gentleman agreement reached in 2015 on zoning.
Fashola said;
“First let’s talk about law. Let’s talk about agreements. The law is the constitution. The constitution decides the age which you can contest certain offices and there is nothing in the constitution that says zoning. All are political parties are clubs where you write agreements just like a social club and we can decide that it is the youngest person who will be the chairman of the club or we can decide that it is the oldest person or the next female or the next male, that is the matter of agreement between people.
“ But the constitution that sets up the climate of political parties formation does not prescribe zoning. The truth is that what makes an agreement special is the honour in which it is made not whether it is written. If it was written there would be no court cases on a breach of contract because it’s a document that is written and signed that go to court. But the private agreement you make with your brother and sister cannot be breached. It must be honoured.”
On whether he has 2023 presidential or vice-presidential ambition, the Minister said;
“I belong to a party, the APC, and I am committed to good governance because I think the best politics is good governance.
“The beauty of it for me is the opportunity it gives to impact peoples’ lives. We have elections only once in four years, but we have a responsibility to provide good governance every day and that’s the culture.”
Fashola also expressed hope of APC retaining the presidency in 2023 if it delivered on its campaign promises to Nigerians.
He added;
“To retain power in 2023, certainly if we keep our promises, is that simple. That’s politics. If you do what you said you will do even if you don’t do it 100% and they see that you are making progress, they will even want you to finish what you started.
“Our opposition has to think well than us to defeat us; right now they are not doing that. When it’s election time they should come and meet us.”
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