By Saidu Idris
365Daily – Governor of Rivers State, Nyeson Wike, who recently declared his presidential ambition for the 2023 election, has disclosed that he stopped supporting his former ally, Governor Aminu Tambuwal’s ambition because of zoning.
According to the Rivers state governor, their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), earlier agreed to zone its 2023 presidential ticket to the South.
In 2019, Wike openly supported Tambuwal, the Sokoto State governor, who is considered his very close friend.
But speaking on a Channels Television programme, in Abuja, on Tuesday, Wike said, “Tambuwal is still my very good friend. In 2019, I supported him because we zoned the presidency to the North. In 2017, all of us agreed that this should be zoned to the North and that was why nobody from the South collected forms for that election and I have no regret about that. What I do not like is for people to deny that there is zoning or there should be no zoning. That is what I do not like.
“The provision of our constitution is clear under Section 7, Sub-section 3C. It says, there should be rotation of party offices and elective offices. The founding fathers of the party knew the complexity, they knew the diversity of this country and they made sure that for equity, fairness and justice, this should be done.”
Wike said his decision to contest was, however, not based on the fact that the PDP wants to zone the ticket to the South but because he has what it takes to govern the country.
“In our party, we have always done zoning, so you cannot stop zoning,” he said.