Zoning 2023 presidency to South not ‘a must’, numbers matter —Zulum

The Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, has said it is not a must that the 2023 presidency will be zoned to the Southern region of the country.

Although the governor reiterated his support for power shift to the southern region of the country, he cautioned his colleagues that politics is a game of numbers.

Speaking on Wednesday during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Zulum noted that the Southern governors were not wrong to call for a power shift to their region, saying it would promote unity.

Ripples Nigeria reported that governors of the southern region had on Monday declared support for rotational presidency, saying the next president should come from the South.

Rising from the meeting, the chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum and the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, read the communiqué agreed to by member states.

“The forum reiterates its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness and unanimously agreed that the Presidency of Nigeria be rotated between southern and northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the south,” he had said.

Meanwhile, speaking during the interview, Zulum said, “I have said it times without number that I, Professor Babagana Zulum, I am of the view that the presidency should go to the south in the year 2023 because the unity of our country is very important.

“Secondly, inclusivity is very important. Thirdly, I am in the APC. Six or seven years ago, APC had zoned the presidency to northern Nigeria based on the agreement that in the year 2023, the presidency should go to the south.

“But again, this is politics. We are supposed to meet and discuss this issue among ourselves, among the political class.

“This statement that people are saying that the president must go to the south, I want them to remove the word must.”