Zoning: IBB accuses PDP leaders of double-speak

Posted by admin Ibrahim Babangida (1985-93), Party Politics, Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Presidency Sunday, May 15th, 2011

Former military president and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) presidential aspirant, General Ibrahim Babangida has expressed concern over the agitation for zoning of elective offices in the country, few weeks after the April polls.

The former aspirant was one of those who insisted that the zoning of party and elective offices as entrenched in the PDP constitution should not be discarded with. A forum to which he belonged, the Northern Political Leaders Forum,([NPLF) and led by former finance minister, Mallam Adamu Ciroma had canvassed that the party’s position on zoning should not be observed in the breach, but the Forum’s voice was drowned by the multitude of voices which claimed that zoning was dead in the party’s constitution.
But at a recent presidential retreat in Obudu Ranch, Cross Rivers State, President

Jonathan and members of the PDP National Working Committee had agreed on zoning of the Senate Presidency and Speaker of the House of Representatives to the North-central and South-west zones respectively, while the position of Secretary to the Government of the Federation ([SGF) was zoned to the South-east. It had since been affirmed by the PDP expanded caucus which met last Tuesday night in Abuja.

But reacting to what he called the inconsistencies and double speak over the zoning issue by leaders of the party, Babangida expressed disappointment over the refutation of the zoning formular, as entrenched in the party constitution, only to turn round few weeks after the general elections to revive what they claimed was dead. The former PDP presidential aspirant warned that for stability and cohesiveness of the polity, political leaders should learn to say the truth, at all times.

His statement signed by his media spokesperson, Kazeem Afegbua reads: “General Ibrahim Babangida, GCFR has been watching with very keen interest the dimensions of political commentaries in the country in the last two weeks particularly after the conclusion of the general elections. Such observation has enabled him to see human inconsistencies and the dual role that people tend to play in the name of politics. He is pained at heart to conclude that with the caliber and quality of those we have around at the political circle, the nation may just have to wait for another generation to get things right.

One of the issues that convey his shock and surprise is that of zoning of political positions in the country. Following the heated debate that has enveloped the nation in the last one month on which zone to produce what position and vice-versa, General Babangida is wondering over some Nigerians’ ingenuous capacity to make a 360-degree u-turn on the issue of zoning. When the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum raised concerns over the zoning formula of the Peoples’ Democratic Party and the deliberate disobedience of that Constitutional provision, some Nigerians called the body all manners of names.

While some argued that zoning should be discarded and merit should be the subsisting criteria, the voice of those who stressed the importance of zoning was lost in the maddening crowd. After the elections, the music has suddenly changed and the chorus is now zoning, zoning, zoning and zoning. How time heals. General Babangida was of the opinion that those who aspire to lead the country at different levels of government must come out with certain qualities that would portray them as patriotic and nationalistic. There will be no hope for the country if those who double-speak are made to preside over certain levels of government in the name of dubious politicking and zoning which they never believed in.

The character indices of our leaders must be known at different times and levels. Their elements must be visible and patriotic. Their conduct must be above pecuniary interest. And above all, their desperation must be checked within the ambit of law. If those who shouted hoax over the issue of zoning in the PDP yesterday, [saying as it were, that the Party’s Constitution could be jettisoned], are now made to be beneficiaries of zoning in the Party today, then we all are doomed as a nation. What manner of supposed leaders are we nurturing? What character of leaders are we building? How do we want the world to perceive us as a people? Those who advertise hypocrisy and self-righteous indignation cannot by any stretch of imagination be allowed to occupy positions in the name of zoning.

Babangida’s position on zoning has not wavered. As a product of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, with different tribes and tongues, he believes in the efficacy of zoning as a stabilizing instrument of political engagement. Those who shy away from such incontrovertible political requirement to put paid to all cries of marginalization cannot simply wake up overnight to be beneficiaries of what they never believed in. In a democracy, we should learn to play by the rules no matter how painful it might be and no matter whose ox is gored.

The former military president, equally denied insinuations that he was interested in the position of chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, (BoT)‘’And lastly, General IBB does not have any interest in the Chairmanship of the PDP Board of Trustees, whether now or in the foreseeable future’’.

-Sunwp_posts