Nigeria’s Next President Must Come From The South — Ndume

The senator representing Borno South and chairman, Senate Committee on Army, Ali Ndume says the next presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress(APC) must come from the South.

Speaking in during an interview with Tribune, he added that such was the zoning arrangement put in place by the ruling party.

He further stated that a different scenario can play out in the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

He concluded by saying fielding a Northern candidate in the next presidential election would be synonymous to fielding president Muhammadu Buhari for APC.

He said, “For APC, it is natural that the president should come from the South and I am a frontline advocate of that because I believe in equity and justice and where there is no equity and justice, there won’t be peace. When APC was formed, we zoned the president to the North.

“That is why four candidates from the North contested and one candidate only from the South-East. No candidate contested from the South-South and the South-West. Only one candidate which was [Rochas] Okorocha and everybody knew then he just wanted to exercise his rights.

“He didn’t even relinquish his gubernatorial ticket; he put his in-law there and when the result came out as expected, he went back and picked his gubernatorial ticket. This time round in APC, it is only natural for every person of conscience to support a candidate from the South, whether it is South-South, South-East or South-West.

“To me, in APC, supporting a candidate from the North is tantamount to a third term for Buhari, because the constitution is very clear. It says there must be equity in position, even in appointment. My position is known on that.

“I will not support a northern candidate and I don’t think APC will support a northern candidate. Southern candidate is the way to go. But for the PDP, it is a different ball game. I am not in PDP.

“The PDP scenario is different from that of APC. For the APC, as I said, to support the northern candidate is tantamount to a third term for Buhari.