Minister of Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola has posited that each of the political parties in the country should be given the exclusive powers to decide the zone where their 2023 presidential candidate should come from.
As the next general elections are fast approaching, many individuals, groups, including the Southern governors had called for the presidency to be zone to the south by all political parties.
Since the declaration, the issue of zoning had been dominating public discourse, with endless debates.
Speaking on the matter for the first time, at least in the news, the two-time Governor of Lagos State explained that zoning is not enshrined in the constitution of the country, hence no party is mandated to zone the presidency to a particular region.
The Minister however noted that the agreement on zoning should be left to the political parties, adding that he will not participate in the raging controversies.
Fashola while speaking during an interview session with THISDAY said: “People ask me about rotation, and I tell them that I’m a lawyer. The constitution does not talk about rotation. That’s the law. Yes, it talks about political parties. And it is parties that birth a constitution. The constitution is the agreement. And I also told them that look, if your agreement says that this is what you should do, then, go and follow your agreement.
“But I say that even agreements written may not be as important as the honour and so even if we just agree by word of mouth and it is not written. With all these raging north, raging south, let’s see how things go. You know, because I think the political environment itself is too charged now. One has to just leave it to the political parties.
“This is a decision that the party has to take. I am not the administrator of the party. My opinion, one way or the other on this matter can only help to raise tension. When the party decides, then, we’ll see.”
