Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, has spoken on the controversial issue of zoning in the All Progressives Congress.
If the party’s zoning arrangement will work, power is supposed to rotate to the South after Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2023.
While the Igbo are always gearing up for this, Fashola is one of the Yoruba politicinas considered by some as a possible candidate, alongside Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi.
Fashola’s primary benefactor and godfather, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, is also believed to have presidential ambition.
Speaking in Abuja during a meeting by the party on Tuesday, Fashola said: “First let’s talk about law, let’s talk about agreement, the law is the Constitution. The Constitution decides the age at which you can contest certain offices and there is nothing in the Constitution that says zoning. All are political parties, political parties are clubs where you write agreements just like a social club and we can decide that it is the youngest person who will be the Chairman of the Club or we can decide that it is the oldest person or the next female or the next male, that is the matter of agreement between people.
“But the Constitution that sets up the climate of political parties’ formation does not prescribe zoning. The truth is that what makes an agreement specification is the honour in which it is made, not whether it is written. If it was written there would be no Court cases of breach of contract because it’s a document that is written and signed that goes to court.
“But the private agreement you make with your brother and sister can be breached, (it) is honour.”
It is not yet clear whether or not the North will allow zoning.
Recently, however, Fayemi appeared at a strategic meeting in the region, with his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai, suggesting that something ambitious is in store.
