2023: Ngige roots for Southern president

• Says There Was Power Shift Agreement

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, has expressed strong support for an emergence of a president of Southern extraction, in line with the rotation and zoning agreement.

Ngige, a chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), argued that zoning and rotation of power could create stability, unity, equity and progress of the country.

He was quoted by his media office in Abuja, as saying that “rotation engenders confidence and patriotism and ensures that no one ethnic group or section of the country, dominates the other.”

The former Anambra State Governor, described those saying no such convention existed as being economical with the truth.

However, Ngige admitted that though the issue of rotation of prime offices in the land was not expressly written in the APC constitution, it is, by implications contained in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended).

He said: “First, Section 14 (3) of the Constitution is clear on the composition of government at the national, states and even local council level, in such a way that there should be no actual or perceptions of domination by any single tribe or group of persons from one ethnic nationality so as to engender confidence and patriotism.

“So, governance and equitable sharing of offices, at all levels of the federating units, stem from this provision. So, in effect, we all agree, flowing from that constitution that government at any level, the legislature, the executive and even to an extent, the judiciary, should reflect national spread in manner no particular group should dominate the other.”

“ In political parties, when you have the chairman coming from the South, the secretary goes to the North. The deputy chairman comes from the North. In some places, they have two deputy chairmen for North and South. We need to have a platform for unity in diversity.

“ In the same way, whenever the chairman of any political party comes from the South, every effort is made for the presidential flag-bearer to come from the North. In a similar manner, there is this deliberate effort to ensure that power shifts to the North whenever a president from the South has governed for eight years and vice versa. ..”