Socio-political organisations in the central and southern parts of the country on Wednesday took a swipe at Mamman Daura, a nephew of President Muhammadu Buhari, over his comment on the zoning of the presidency in 2023.
The organisations, including the Middle Belt Forum, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Afenifere and the South-South Elders’ Forum, in separate interviews with The PUNCH, said Daura’s uncle, Buhari, benefitted from zoning in 2015.
They also said if Buhari were to be assessed based on Daura’s call for competence, the President was incompetent given the way he had been handling affairs of the country.
But the pan-northern socio-political organisation, the Arewa Consultative Forum, said zoning was alien to the constitution of the country.
Daura had, in an interview with the Hausa Service of the BBC, which was monitored in Abuja on Tuesday, said the country rotated the presidency thrice.
He stated, “This turn-by-turn, it was done once, it was done twice, and it was done thrice… It is better for this country to be one…it should be for the most competent and not for someone who comes from somewhere.”
But the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Nnia Nwodo, who spoke through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Emeka Attamah, said Daura’s statement was self-serving.
According to him, former President Goodluck Jonathan was pushed out of office in 2015 because the North believed it was their turn.
Attamah stated, “Having benefited enormously, he now wants zoning jettisoned because it is the turn of the south.
The Punch
