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Guber aspirant condemns zoning
Fidelis Soriwei, Owerri
A gubernatorial aspirant of the Peoples Democratic Part in Imo State, Chief Ike Obe, has faulted the prevalence of zoning of political positions in the country, attributing it to lack of trust among the citizenry.
Ibe said that political offices in the country were subjected to the zoning formula because the people did not have trust in themselves and on the ability of their leaders to exhibit impartiality in the distribution of developmental projects and the spread of the dividends of democracy.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Monday, Ibe stated that it had become rather pertinent for the citizenry to focus their minds and resources on the election of credible people who should be able to develop the country.
He criticised the belief in some quarters that it was only the zone or the state, which produced the president or the governor that would become the focus of the developmental efforts of the government.
Ibe who is also the Trade Representative of the Imo State Government in Washington DC, United States, said that zoning had the inimical effect of foisting mediocrity on the country because it prevents the emergence of the best candidates to hold sensitive political positions.
He also condemned the practice in the country in which politicians would embark on the distribution of bags of rice, salt, beans and other items during elections to the electorates who had not felt their impacts for the period of their stay in office with the intent to buy their votes.
According to him, political offices should be occupied as a matters of experience commitment and integrity, and therefore those aspiring to them should as a matter of necessity account for what they did with their previous responsibilities rather than assaulting the sensibilities of Nigerians with proceeds from ill gotten wealth.
He called on the Nigerian citizenry to exercise the power given to them by the constitution of the country, to decide their destinies to identify politicians in such categories and prevent their emergence as political office holders in the general interest of the society.
The PUNCH, Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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