TheCable

Shehu Sani, a former senator representing Kaduna central, says it is only fair that other regions in the country are given a shot at the presidency in 2023.

Speaking in an interview with THE NATION, Sani said Nigeria is bound for a crisis if certain regions in the country refuse to rotate power.

He said the concept of power rotation is to give every section of the country a sense of belonging and allowing a region to dominate the political sphere would result in a crisis.

“The concept of rotation of power is simply to give every section of the country the opportunity and ability to feel that yes, we are equal stakeholders in the enterprise called Nigeria,” he said.

“If one part of the country now continues to dominate the political sphere, they can take the mantle of leadership, but they will not be able to have the peace to preside over the affairs of the country forever.

“But my position on this is that President Muhammadu Buhari came to power with the support of the south. It would be logical enough that we understand the diversities of Nigeria, and the need to always balance our own personal interests and agenda with the need to sustain the unity, peace, and orderliness of the country.

“A lot of meetings are going on in the north today, and I can tell you that they are gaining traction. And part of the reasons for some of them who told me was that they believe that this government has served more people in the south than it has served people in the north,” he said.

“So that is the argument which many of them have given and you see sometimes words have life, if a prominent northerner who is well respected now averred that we are not going to respect the principle of rotation of power and the north will continue to have it forever, if you do not have a strong counter-argument on that, it will settle in the minds of the people.

“What stops the leaders from the north moving to Chief E K Clark house in Abuja or down there in the south-south to discuss with him. These are issues that I believe we should resolve. But we should understand that if one part of the country is not prepared to rotate power to another part of the country, we are simply setting a road map to chaos and crisis in Nigeria.”

Sani advised that politicians, traditional and religious leaders from both regions have a meeting as governance should not be left alone for politicians to decide.

The former lawmaker, however, said there is a possibility for the south not to assume power in 2023 if leaders and political parties in the region are not united.