From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Elder statesman and Second Republic politician, Tanko Yakasai has lauded the Governor of Rivers State, Nelson Wike for his commitment to power rotation and zoning of Presidency to the South.
Wike, one of the G- 5 Governors, rebelled against the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), after it failed to produce a Southerner at the national convention and held on to two Northerners as both its National Chairman and its presidential candidate.
Speaking in Kano, Yakasai said that by standing for rotation of power to the south, Wike has advanced the cause of unity and national cohesion and tehrefore deserved to be congratulated by well meaning Nigerians.
He noted that without rotation, there was no way power would have shifted to the South while cautioning that power residing in one region for too long was a recipe for political crisis.
“I want to congratulate him for committing himself to national unity and this is because, without the nation, there would be no political party or government in the first place. Government and political parties are there because there is a nation to be governed”.
Yakasai recalled that political development of Nigeria since the Second Republic has flourished under the ambiance of rotation , recalling that zoning was first adopted by the NPN in the Second Republic.
“You remember that zoning and rotation were first introduced in the nation’s political vocabulary by the NPN after it was debated extensively at the party’s national caucus and we were able to convince our colleagues of the need to buy into the idea. And I think that it has done well for Nigeria and should be sustained in the interest of national unity”
