The north must produce Nigeria's president in 2015 - IBB

Former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida has said that the zoning principle of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) should be maintained and that power must return to the North in 2015.

Babangida, who spoke on the Hausa Service of the Voice of America, monitored in Kaduna on Wednesday, insisted that a person of Northern origin had every right to be the president of the country in 2015 going by the extant constitution of the PDP.

Babangida’s comment comes soon after he announced his intention to resign
from politics. According to the former military ruler, even the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria placed emphasis on balance and federal character and therefore, such provisions should not be changed.

Reacting to a question on the chances of the North in 2015 regarding thenation’s presidency, Babaginda said, “So this not something new, or for some to say it is because we are Northerners, if we want peace. Even the PDP had this in its constitution so it is not something that should be changed”.

Analysts have observed however, that Babangida’s assertion tends to equate
the PDP’s political party arrangement with the Nigerian constitution.