Group knocks Atiku over statement on zoning

By Matthew Eloyi

The Southern and Middle Belt Alliance (SaMBA) has slammed Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s claim that the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution does not recognize the notion of zoning political offices as unsatisfactory and hypocritical.

At a meeting with members of the ‘Let’s Fix Nigeria’ group, the former Vice President reportedly criticized the People’s Democratic Party’s request for the party’s presidential ticket to be zoned to a specific region of the country.

In a fast reaction in Abuja, SaMBA stated that such a comment defies Atiku’s prior positions as a statesman who has always championed equity, fairness, and justice in Nigeria.

In the statement signed by its Spokesman, Prince Rwang Pam Jnr., the group recalled that the former Vice President was in the forefront for zoning in 2011 when he wanted to wrestle power with former President Goodluck Jonathan.

SaMBA also stated that Atiku had in his campaign for zoning led Northern PDP leaders including Tambuwal, Saraki, and Kwankwaso to stage a public walk out of the PDP National Convention in 2015 during a speech by Goodluck Jonathan when President Jonathan stated he would run for president.

“The same Alhaji Atiku had on December 15, 2010, warned the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) not to jettison, the already existing zoning of the PDP at the National Stakeholders Conference of the party in 2010 which had the present National Chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu in attendance.

“SaMBA, therefore, demand to know from Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, what exactly has changed between 2010 and 2013 and today that the former Vice President is fighting against zoning the Presidency in 2023,” the statement partly read.

The group further stated that while the word “zoning” may not be contained in the Nigerian Constitution, its spirit and the principle of Federal Character was provided in the constitution, so also are fairness, justice, and equity, clearly written in the 1999 Constitution.