Zoning 2023 presidential ticket to S/West best to immortalize MKO – Lawal

Tom Garba, Yola

Adamawa state Organising Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Lawal has declared that the best way the party can immortalize the memory of the late Chief MKO Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 elections is to zone the 2013 presidential ticket to the South West.

While lauding President Muhammadu Buhari’s courage in making June 12 the country’s Democracy Day, however stated that the APC should take a step further by handing over the 2023 presidential ticket to the South West in honour of the late Abiola.

Lawal made this remark in Yola, Adamawa state stressed the need to make the June 12 celebration worthwhile by immortalising MKO through conceding the 2023 APC presidential ticket to the South West.

He stated that “I have said it before and I believe that the 2023 presidential ticket of the APC must go to the South West,” adding that since he made the comment, party members have been plotting to suspend him from his position and the party.

“I am not moved and I will still hold my ground that power must go to the South West. This is federalism for God sake and that is how it should be. It is indecent, undemocratic and against the spirit of fair play that anyone in the North should want to seek for the 2023 ticket.

“Nigerians must reflect on the fact that the South West has been the strongest advocate and proponent of democracy and they have always been the pillar of democracy in the country, so Nigerians should return the kindness to the region for standing for this system of government.

“As a matter of fact, I have made it my personal task and duty from this June 12 forward to begin to engage and mobilise my fellow northerners to support the idea that power must return to the South West.”

Speaking on the acceptability of the June 12 date, he said “I don’t think Nigerians rejected it in anyway, on the contrary, it has been welcomed with huge applause across party and regional lines.

“Before now, there have been calls that June 12 be declared Democracy Day or in one way or the other be marked as a significant date in the history of the country and in honour of lives lost in the cause of democracy that led to the return of democracy in 1999.

“And those calls were from all over the country, from the north, from the south and particularly from the south west. You would also agree with me that these calls were both the private views and public reservations of most Nigerians and even the international community.

“So, the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day is a point of order in the history of our democracy in Nigeria and it would have remained a recurring narrative in our democratic discourse if it was not resolved as President Buhari did and thank God it is now behind us.

“Besides some few reservations, there was no resistance or opposition to it because it was a universal issue. I hope that with this, we will be able to get to a point where what matters more is to be able to put in power people who are competent and capable to lead, people with merit and credibility.

“We want to get to a point where it doesn’t matter where you come from or who your parents are, if you are competent, you can be anything and get to the highest position in the country.”