Elder statesman and Ijaw National Leader, Edwin Clark, has advised northern politicians aspiring for presidency in the 2023 general elections to reconsider their ambition.

Clark said those aspiring for presidency from the north like the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar,  Governor Aminu Tambuwal, and others, for the interest of unity, peace and progress of the country, should reconsider their interest to avoid “chaos”.

The former federal Minister argued that even as the concept of zoning is not written in the Constitution, rotation of power will to a great extent preserve the country’s unity.

According to him, the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) provides for rotation of elective offices, saying that it is now the turn of the South to produce the President in 2023.

Clark added, “Firstly, I wish to use this medium to advise my most respected Peoples Democratic Party chieftains in the persons of former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State, and other PDP aspirants from the north, that in the interest of maintaining the unity of this country to which they have contributed so much, to reconsider their desire of wanting to contest for the presidential election in 2023, because both by the PDP constitution and by convention, it is now the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023, after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years.”

He equally warned that to do otherwise is to invite chaos, stressing that it could lead to the disintegration of the country.
The elder statesman noted that zoning has been practiced in the nation’s polity even before Independence, adding that when Tafawa Balewa, in 1954, was the prime minister, Nnamdi Azikiwe was the governor-general.

He stated that zoning of political offices, particularly the presidency of the country, is the best antidote to the breakup of Nigeria, assuring that it is the panacea for peace and unity of the country.

Speaking further, Clark stated that one of the reasons why the north opposed Anthony Enahoro’s motion for Independence in 1953, was because they felt that they were not equal to the south in education, observing that they were not in a position to produce proportional candidates who will run an independent government with the south because at that time, they had only about four graduates.

Clark also revealed that the northern delegates even walked out of the Parliament, returned to the north, and vowed never to return to Lagos again.
He further explained that the development was what led to the constitutional conferences held both at the Lancaster House in London and at Ibadan, Nigeria, purposely to keep Nigeria one.

He added that the idea was that no one group, or section of the country, should dominate the government of Nigeria at the expense of other parts of the union.
He explained that it is instructive that the nation’s two main parties, the APC and the PDP, have been religiously following the zoning and rotation system between the north and the south.

Clark stated that by 2023, the north would have ruled for another eight years, saying that it is rational and right to insist that the presidency should rotate to the south and it does not matter whether the presidency has been produced from the APC or the PDP since 2015.

According to him, the South should decide which of its sub-regions would produce the right presidential candidate.