Rotational presidency legal, constitutional – Sen Bamidele

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Opeyemi Bamidele, has said the issue of rotational presidency is captured in the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

Senator Banidele, an APC chieftain, described rotational presidency between the North and the South as legal and constitutional recognised by Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

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The National Chairman of APC and former Nasarawa State Governor, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, had said last week that the party was yet to zone its presidential ticket ahead of the 2023 general elections; a statement that elicited negative reactions from politicians from the South.

While speaking in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, yesterday during one of his empowerment programmes for his constituents across the five councils in the zone, Sen Bamidele who represents Ekiti Central, described the agitation by the South to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 as legal and constitutional.

Addressing newsmen at the Oluyemi Kayode Stadium in Ado Ekiti, Bamidele said, “Rotational presidency is legitimate and constitutional. Let me state that Section 14 and various sections of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, state that no section of the country should dominate others in terms of positions.

“Let me also state that the primary concept of governance is welfare and good governance. The section emphasises that Nigeria shall not be governed in such a way that any particular section will have domineering advantage over others.

“That is the whole essence of equitable distribution of wealth and power. Part of the equitable distribution of power is allowing the presidency to rotate between the North and the South.

“Though the constitution does not say specifically about rotation, logically and through various judicial interpretations, allowing it to rotate is legal and constitutional.”