Elder statesman, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, has said that the zoning of the presidency between the North and South, rather than among the six geo-political zones in the country, is against the principle of federal character.

Chief Iwuanyanwu, who stated this in Abuja, while speaking at the inaugural meeting of the Finance and Development Committee of the pan Igbo body, Ohaneze Ndigbo, said power rotation between North and South is unfair to the South East geo-political zone.

The elder statesman noted that the South East is further disadvantaged in the power game by the fact that the zone has the least number of local government areas in the country, putting the area in an unfair position when it comes to political party nominations through the delegate system.

He added that if the main objective of rotating the presidency, which is to give every section of the country, a sense of belonging must be attained, then the presidency should rotate among the six geo-political zones.

According to him, “we have been talking about political power. Political power, in any country is very important. Let us make no mistake about it; somebody occupying the position of president has enormous power. And with the kind of constitution we are operating today, it is a very powerful position.

“They have zoned it (presidency) now, they said is is North/ South. But I am telling you this, it is not fair. If you want to zone, we have six geo-political zones; zone it along the geo-political zones. You say you are zoning it North and South. If you zone it to North, there is no way somebody from North Central will get it, unless there is mutual cooperation from the North West, North West is very big.

“Now, if you zone it to South, even if a zone in the South has been president several times, by this zoning arrangement, it does not stop them from contesting; which is not exactly what zoning is all about. Zoning is to make the position to go round. But zoning North and South, which means if it comes to South, it can go anywhere is against us.

”If you look at the local government, the local government in the whole of South East; Kano and Jigawa have more local government than us. You know power derives from the party. Power derives from the delegates. And if you look at this election very recently, we have fewer local governments,” he said.

Iwuanyanwu added that “when it comes to merit, they will say Igbo domination. Now, it has come to political power, we were not there when local governments were created, it was created by the military, now they say when it (presidency) comes to South, South should go and agree, you know it is not fair.” (Daily Sun)