As Nigeria gradually prepares for 2023 general election, why and what formula to use to decides the next president has become a serious battle between the southern and northern governors. The Northern governor forum described the position of their southern counterparts that power should shift to the South in 2023 as against the spirit and letter of the nation’s constitution.
The forum reiterated that though some northern state governors had earlier expressed views for a powershift to three geopolitical zones in the South, the forum unanimously condemned the statement by the Southern Governors’ Forum that the presidency must go to the South, saying, the statement was contradictory with the provision of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“The statement is quite contradictory with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended that the elected President shall score the majority votes; score at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in two-third states of the Federation. In the case of runup, simple majority win the election,” it said.
The Chairman of the Southern Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, has said that northern governors should not be grudged for kicking against power shifting to the south in 2023.
Akeredolu in a terse response through his Information and Orientation commissioner in Ondo state, Donald Ojogo in Akure said that they have only exercised their right under freedom of expression.
He said, “on the northern governors’ resolution, they have expressed and indeed exercised their rights under Freedom of Expression.”