A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in Bauchi State, Mallam Bibi Dogo, has called on political parties in the country to zone their presidential tickets to the North-East geopolitical zone.
He said doing so would be in the interest of fairness, justice, unity and brotherhood.
Dogo, in a statement made available in Bauchi, submitted the North-East is the most backward in terms of socio-economic development, despite the huge mineral resources and its population of electorates.
“Apart from two gentlemen, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the first Prime Minister of Nigeria and then Atiku Abubakar, who was a one-time Vice President of Nigeria, North East has not had any leader at the top.
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“We in the North East are out to pursue the course of justice and fairness in the polity as a condition for peace and progress of the country,” Dogo stated, submitting that capturing the six geopolitical zones in the rotation would ensure inclusion and national unity.
“Due to the many years of neglect, the North East occupies the lowest rung of the country’s socio-economic ladder as poverty, insecurity, unemployment, hunger, power outage and poor infrastructure are most predominant in this part of the country.
“With the highest number of IDPs camps and out-of-school children on the continent, reputable global institutions have also declared the North East as the most unsafe place to live in sub-Saharan Africa,”
He stated further that, “yet, this is the same part of the country that is most strategic to the country’s corporate existence and territorial integrity, sharing borders with strategic neighbours.
“This same North East boasts of veritable water resources, fantastic tourism potential, the most arable land and conducive climate for agriculture, expansive landmass for all manner of economic activities as well as abundant mineral resources and crude oil deposits.”
He declared that, “what the North East needs is leadership and quality attention from the Federal Government.”
“In all fairness, we should allow the North-East to produce the next President and even in the North East, we should ensure that the President comes from Bauchi State as a compensation to Prime Minister (Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa).
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“I want all political parties to give their presidential tickets to Bauchi State in North Eastern Nigeria. But if that is not possible by the calculation of the political parties, they should ensure that justice and fairness dominate what they want to do in terms of zoning the presidency.
“I belong to the PDP and I believe the PDP will allow justice and fair play to play out. It is not debatable, North East should have it in the best interest of unity of the country and Bauchi State will be the golden choice of the candidate in the interest of justice and compensation to the state,”