Okechukwu pushes for sustained zoning conventions

A Presidential aspirant, Gbenga Hashim, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has insisted that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be removed from power in the 2027 general elections, warning that no legal or administrative tactics can derail Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.
 
Hashim, a veteran of Nigeria’s pro-democracy movement, accused the ruling party of using legal and institutional manoeuvres to weaken opposition participation. “These are familiar tactics, reminiscent of past attempts to undermine political pluralism, which were ultimately defeated by the people’s will,” he said.
 
Citing Nigeria’s history under Abacha’s dictatorship, Hashim stressed that attempts to enforce one-man rule have always failed. “We will not allow anyone to reduce our democracy to a tragic parody, as was the case in Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko,” he added.
 
He reaffirmed the country’s commitment to multiparty democracy, noting that the nation’s founding fathers deliberately enshrined political pluralism in the constitution.
 
Hashim also raised concerns over selective administrative decisions in political party registration, claiming that some qualified associations are stalled while others aligned with the ruling party have been fast-tracked. Describing these trends as warning signs of democratic backsliding, he urged Nigerians and the international community to remain vigilant.
 
He called for lawful accountability measures against individuals allegedly undermining democracy, including, where credible evidence exists, travel restrictions and asset freezes.

MEANWHILE, a former Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Osita Okechukwu, at the weekend, urged politicians, especially those from the North, to respect the zoning arrangement that rotates presidential power between the North and the South for a sustained unity of the country.
 
Okechukwu made the call shortly after updating his membership at the ongoing membership e-registration exercise of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at his Eke Ward in Udi Local Council of Enugu State.
 
He insisted that the South was yet to complete its turn in the zoning arrangement, stressing that the region was constitutionally and morally entitled to retain the presidency until 2031.

According to him, attempts by Northern politicians to contest the Presidency in 2027 could truncate a convention designed to promote national unity, fairness and equity.
 
Okechukwu, particularly, called on former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to desist from undermining the same zoning principle upon which he benefited in 1999 when he emerged as Vice President.  He warned that any attempt to jettison the rotation convention could lead to deep political fractures in the country.
 
Tracing the origin of zoning in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, Okechukwu said it was deliberately adopted to heal past injustices and foster national cohesion.
 
“If you consider the fact that the Fourth Republic started with the rotation convention, it was conceived by Nigerian patriots for unity, oneness, a sense of belonging and equity. It was because of zoning that Atiku Abubakar became Vice President in 1999,” he said.
 
He recalled that the convention was instrumental in persuading several Northern aspirants to step down in favour of a Southern Presidency at the dawn of the Fourth Republic. “We are not the first people to practice rotation. It started in Switzerland in 1848. What the African Democratic Congress (ADC) is trying to do now is to poison that convention, and political fracture will follow,” Okechukwu warned.  He urged Nigerians across all regions to allow the APC to complete the South’s tenure in the interest of national unity.