Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said the North is not in a power deficit when it comes to Nigeria’s democratic leadership.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the former presidential candidate argued that the South has held power longer under civilian rule.
He made the statement during an interview on Arise TV while discussing the issue of zoning and fairness in political leadership.
Atiku explained that since the return to democracy, the South has governed for about 18 years while the North has held power for about 10 years.
He said this should be considered when people talk about which region has benefited more from the country’s power-sharing system. He also added that the Peoples Democratic Party remains the only major party with zoning built into its rules.
“The South has governed for 18 years and the North for 10. So who is in deficit if you want to be fair? But even if you apply it more broadly, the only party that has zoning entrenched in its constitution is the PDP,” he said.
He further recalled the constitutional conference held during the military era under General Sani Abacha, where he led a group that opposed the idea of making rotational presidency part of the constitution.
That proposal was pushed by the late former Vice President Alex Ekwueme but did not pass because Atiku’s group had majority support among delegates.
Atiku said that years later, during Ekwueme’s funeral, he admitted that his earlier position was not the best for the country. He said he now believes that if the rotational system had been adopted then, it could have allowed the presidency to move more fairly across all regions of Nigeria.