Ohanaeze, Afenifere, PANDEF Reject Mamman Daura's Call For Scraping Of Zoning

The Rainbow Social cultural groups and prominient persons in the country have been reacting to the call by President Muhammadu Buhari's nephew, Malam Mamman Daura, for the 2023 presidency to be based on competence rather than rotation between North and South.

In an interview with the BBC Hausa Service, Daura who is regarded one of the President’s closest confidant, urged Nigerians to embrace competence, and not zoning, in determining the next president in 2023.But major cultural groups in the South and Middle Belt – Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; apex Igbo socio-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the Niger Delta socio-cultural group, the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF); and frontline nationalist and leader of the South-south, Chief Edwin Clark, have reacted swiftly saying the nation stands no chance of moving forward except it ensures equitable distribution of power and restructuring of the country.

The ruling All Progressives Congress also distanced itself with the view, saying it represents his personal opinion, which did not represent the position of the party.

ThisDAY reports that Ohanaeze Ndigbo warned that equity should not be sacrificed on the altar of parochialism since it was the rotation sentiment that produced the incumbent.

The group insists it is the turn of the South, particularly Ndigbo, to produce the president in 2023.

“All we know is that it is the turn of the South where we have abundant competent individuals who can steer the ship of this country, particularly among Ndigbo,” the President General of Ohanaeze, Chief Nnia Nwodo,said via a statement by his media aide, Chief Emeka Attamah,Nwodo added that it was unfair of Daura to seek an end to “rotation” after Buhari and the northern region had enjoyed two terms in quick succession.

“The truth is that Mamman Daura is not being a fair judge. Then, he didn't believe rotation should end. Now that he has tasted power through Buhari, rotation can end and the most qualified and competent can be voted in, discountenancing that the South-east has never tasted what he is drooling in.”

According the THISDAY report, Nwodo reminded Daura that the law of equity demands that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

“By the way, who determines the most qualified and competent candidate? Is it as competent as the last one they gave the nation?

“It is indisputably the turn of the South, specifically the South-east,” he added.

He said one of the reasons northern politicians ganged up and removed former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, from office in 2015 was over the claim of violation of the rotation principle.