APC: Respect the gentlemen’s agreement – Fashola
Babatunde Raji Fashola the former governor of Lagos sate and current minister of Works and Housing, has asked leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to respect the gentleman agreement reached in 2015 on zoning. Daily Times gathers.
He made a statement that some of the chieftains of the APC were reportedly plotting to obstruct the power shift arrangement between the North and South, intending to keep the presidency in the north on the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola said the zoning agreement at the formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the 2015 elections should be respected in 2023.
On Tuesday at the Ministry Headquarters in Abuja, the minister in an interactive session with newsmen appealed to leaders of the party to respect the gentleman agreement reached in 2015 on zoning.
He said, “First let’s talk about law. Let’s talk about agreements. The law is the constitution. The constitution decides the age which you can contest certain offices and there is nothing in the constitution that says zoning. All are 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 special is the honor in which it is made not whether it is written. If it was written there would be no court cases on a breach of contract because it’s a document that is written and signed that go to court. But the private agreement you make with your brother and sister cannot be breached. It must be honored.
He also explained that the best politics was one that would enhance good governance and impact positive change on the lives of people especially the vulnerable in society.
The APC chieftain said, “I belong to a party, APC and it is committed to good governance because I think the best politics is good governance. The beauty of it for me is the opportunity it gives to impact people’s lives. We have elections only once in four years but we have responsibility to provide good governance every day and that’s the culture.”
He said, “To retain power in 2023, certainly if we keep our promises, it is that simple. That’s politics. If you do what you said you will do even if you don’t do it 100 per cent and they see that you are making progress, they will even want you to finish something you started.”
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“We don’t operate on an island. Our constitution also recognizes zoning in a way that is why it made provision for Deputy National Chairman North and South as well as six zonal National Vice Chairmen.”
Abdullahi Dauda, who was the Bauchi State Secretary of the Action Congress, later Action Congress of Nigeria, explained that there was an agreement in principle.
On Tuesday in an interview in Abuja, Dauda explained that there was understanding between party members. That power would rotate between the North and South when the party was formed.
