North won’t be cowed with VAT to cede presidency, Jaji tells South

Arewa youths fault PDP’s zoning arrangement
Former House of Representatives member, Mr. Aminu Jaji, has said that the South is using the Value Added Tax (VAT) to force the North to cede the presidency in 2023.

Jaji, who chaired the House Committee on Internal Security in the 8th national Assembly, told reporters in Abuja, yesterday, the North would not succumb to such gimmicks.

He enjoined those pushing for powershift to the South to explore the option of lobbying the electorate in the North.

The Zamfara State chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) believes that the North stands to gain bountifully in the long run, if states are allowed to manage the VAT they generated.

While expressing reservation over the zoning of elective positions in the country, he, however, admitted that rotational presidency would enhance unity in the country.

“Even the issue of VAT or fiscal federalism that people are talking about is because of 2023. They feel the only way they can get the presidency or mandate is through intimidation. It will not work.

“You can only win somebody’s heart by being polite and friendly. But so long as you continue to pursue somebody with a sort of intimidation with what you have, trying to use your own force, nobody will take it,” he argued.

According to him, whosoever wants to be the President should come out and tell Nigerians what he has for them.

He added: “When a group of people sits down and talks about zoning, it is about sentiment. In politics, you don’t zone everything. But the issue of zoning is coming up because we are not yet mature and advanced.”

RELATEDLY, the Arewa Defence League (ADL) has opposed plans by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors to impose zoning formula on the party.

Convener of ADL, Murtala Abubakar, in a statement yesterday, argued that the formula would not only promote mediocrity, but smacked of arrogant display of insensitivity.

According to the group, the governors’ action seeks to confirm widely held views that PDP is inherently opposed to Northern presidency since its formation in 1998.

“The controversial report of the committee that recommended zoning of the PDP national chairmanship to the North was done in bad taste, to blackmail the North out of the presidential contest.

“Equally, the committee lacks moral high ground to decide on such sensitive national issue, as the composition of the committee was lopsided in favour of the south, as nine out of the 13 members are from the South and only four from the north despite the huge support PDP continues to enjoy from the zone,” it stated.