Adeyeye: Northerners Will Reject Atiku Because of Zoning Arrangement Violation

By Adeleye Kunle

Senator Dayo Adeyeye, a former Minister of State for Works, said yesterday that the northern electorate would vote against Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar for violating the PDP’s zoning arrangement.

Adeyeye, a former senator from Ekiti South, added that politicians and their supporters in the North believe in zoning and are always ready to derail any plan to undermine it.

Adeyeye made the remarks at a news conference in Abuja yesterday, saying that the north would oppose any political party’s plans to field a northern candidate in the 1999 election in the interest of justice and fair play.

He explained that the development resulted in the emergence of two Yoruba men, Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae, as presidential candidates of the PDP and the All Progressives Party in the 1999 general elections, which the former won.

He also stated that they rejected former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt to return to the State House in 2015 due to their belief in rotation because the South had ruled for 14 years at the time.

“Among the nation’s political leaders, there is an unwritten constitution that power should rotate between the North and South,” he said.

“This is because we live in a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society with over 250 ethnic groups.” Since the country’s amalgamation, the administrative division has been between the North and South.

“There is thus a great sense in agreeing that power in the country should rotate between the two divides.”

“This is what prompted military leaders in 1998 to compel the two major political parties at the time to select candidates from the South, particularly the South West.”

“This is due to the perceived injustice meted out to the winner of the 1993 presidential election, late Chief Moshood Abiola, as well as the fact that northern military rulers ruled after the polls were annulled.”

“The directive resulted in the emergence of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP and Chief Olu Falae of the APP, and the PDP candidate won the election.”

Adeyeye also stated that Obasanjo made certain that the PDP fielded a northern candidate to succeed him in 2007, despite the party’s parade of very strong candidates from the South.

He claimed that is why the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was elected President. According to him, had it not been for Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s untimely death, he would have been in power for eight years before the president would rotate to the south.

“However, by an accident of history, the reins of power were taken over by Jonathan, Yar’Adua’s deputy,” he said. However, when Jonathan sought re-election in 2015, he was turned down and lost the election.

Adeyeye insisted that the issue of zoning, not the Muslim Muslim ticket, would determine the winner of the presidential election next year.

“The zoning arrangement that was violated by the PDP candidate will determine the winner of next year’s election, not the same faith ticket,” he said. The Muslim Muslim ticket is a distraction created by the opposition to the APC candidate.

“Many Nigerians are wary of the Muslim Muslim ticket.” What is most important to them is that power should be rotated to the south.”

He criticized Atiku Abubakar’s argument that zoning should be a political party matter.

“Atiku’s argument does not hold water,” Adeyeye said, “because when a president emerges from a political party, he becomes the president of the country, not the president of his political party.”

“Politicians make up less than 10% of the country’s population.” The issue of rotation would be decided by the entire populace, not by politicians.”

“The PDP chose a northerner as national chairman in the expectation that power would shift to the south after President Buhari, but Atiku betrayed Nigerians by running.”