An aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Edo State Governorship Election, Anamero Dekeri, has faulted the issue of zoning in politics.
Daily Trust reports that the issue of zoning had dominated the campaign discuss in the state with politicians from the Edo Central and Edo South Senatorial Zones insisting it was the turn of their zones to produce the next governor of the state and thus appealed to all leading political parties to ensure their candidates emerge from their zones.
But Dekeri, a member representing the Etsako Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, who faulted the call for zoning while briefing newsmen in Abuja, on Thursday, said zoning breeds incompetence, adding that the right competencies and skills should be considered.
He said the APC should be concerned about winning the governorship election and not zoning.
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“It is time Nigeria begins to see beyond the leadership of turn by turn because, in my view, zoning breeds incompetence. Once an individual has a sense of entitlement, it could bring out the worst from that human. So, we should be looking at a state where we choose leaders on the strength of their competence to lead. Let us dump the turn-by-turn politics,” he said.
He said “In terms of number, the central has the least number among the three senatorial districts because it’s about 12% of the voting population of the state. They have produced two consecutive governors. Edo North, where I come from, has the second largest population in the state, with about 36% of the state population. We have only been privileged to produce a governor in the person of Adams Oshiomole.
“Like I said earlier, all states in the nation should see beyond this turn-by-turn mentality. We have to look at people with the right competencies, and the right skill set to lead our states and I think we need to grow beyond this.
“The issue of zoning, APC as a party in Edo State is not the ruling party. You can only give what you have, we are looking at how we will wrestle power from this Obaseki-led leadership. We should have the power first before talking about zoning.”
