North has capacity to produce president –Northern elders
From Taiwo Amodu, Abuja
Monday, June 21, 2010


Atiku and Buhari
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Politicians of northern extraction have admonished their counterparts in the country, not to see the North’s insistence on the existing zoning arrangement in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as a sign of weakness.

It said the agitation was informed by the need to discard mutual ethnic distrust, which the arrangement has addressed, for the sake of amity in Nigeria.
A statement signed by Dr Iyorchia Ayu on behalf of the Northern Political Leaders which met in Abuja last Thursday at the Yar’Adua Centre, declared that the north has the capacity to produce a president for the nation, irrespective of the zoning arrangement.

“That the North is calling on politicians and other stakeholders to respect political agreements and allow the principle of zoning to run its full course should not be construed as weakness on its part. Northerners have all it takes to win free and fair elections without special arrangements,’’ the forum submitted.

The forum which met with some presidential aspirants like former president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and former vice- President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in attendance regretted that an understanding which was arrived at by all stakeholders in the country to avoid confusion and avoidable crises whenever a political transition was about to take place is about to be discarded by those who are now making recourse “to puerile legal and constitutional arguments.”
The statement further said: “We must either agree to respect mutual political agreements or continue to stumble from one avoidable political crisis to another to the detriment of the nation and its political stability.

“The people of the North never demanded zoning of any political office in Nigeria. However, they acceded to the demands of their compatriots in the South who see zoning as the only mechanism for ensuring equal and easy access to power by every Nigerian regardless of geographical location,” he said. “The call to respect the principle of zoning is on grounds of principle and not targeted at speculated aspiration of President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011.

“That zoning will, for the foreseeable future serve the best interest of Nigeria and its political stability, at least in the short- and medium-term. There would have been no need for special political arrangement to concede power to the South in 1999 if Nigerians were ready to accept their presidents to come, perpetually, from any part of the country,” he said.

At the end of its deliberations, the gathering further agreed to ensure that former head of state, General Muhammad Buhari Governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau and all politicians from the north who had publicly declared their intention to contest for the presidency were invited to its next meeting, It also resolved to meet with serving governors, members of the national assembly and traditional rulers from the north.

See also: 2011: We can win without zoning, say Northern leaders

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/06/21/2011-we-can-win-without-zoning-say-northern-leaders/


Folks,

This claim by the North sounds somewhat arrogant. But I have two important questions to ask.

1. Can the South win any presidential election against the North in a free and fair contest?
2. Can the North win against the South without rigging from any zone?

These are the same question asked  from two different angles. thanks.

the north actually has the majority of voters and can therefore decide unanimously to vote a candidate of choice to power.however what nigerians fail to understand is that there is no extra gain in a dumb man from your village being the president.the north actually has some credible people but they can never be allowed access to power by the godfathers.the southwest also has credible people that can never be president.what we need is a credible man.goodluck looks set to right the wrongs of this country by creating equal playing field for every nigerian regardless of regional and ethnic affiliation.some nigerians have benefited from biased government policies like quota system and forced siting of development projects at the wrong location.i was not too enthusiastic when he accidentally came into power but i am impressed by his righting of some existing conspiracy and his action in nigeria's power(electricity) sector crisis.

Nchara:

See also: 2011: We can win without zoning, say Northern leaders

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/06/21/2011-we-can-win-without-zoning-say-northern-leaders/


Folks,

This claim by the North sounds somewhat arrogant. But I have two important questions to ask.

1. Can the South win any presidential election against the North in a free and fair contest?
2. Can the North win against the South without rigging from any zone?

These are the same question asked  from two different angles. thanks.

In a free and fair contest if the south has unity they would win being that the south has the highest population and also their are millions of southerners in the north. without rigging(yaradua) or coups the North would never have had presidency.

Nice political move by the Northern politicians . . . .

In a free and fair election, the north will always win the presidential election.

The north has the vote and unity while the south is highly fragmented.