Former Governor of Benue State, Gabriel Suswan has explained why the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would allegedly be zoning its 2023 presidential ticket to the North.
He gave the explanation in an interview published by Sunday Sun.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power noted that the party zoned the presidency to the north in 2019 and the PDP candidate did not emerge president.
Based on this, he said, the former arrangement remains until the north is able to produce the president on the party’s ticket.
Asked if the PDP would zone the presidency to the north in 2023, Suswan said, “Of course, the PDP will maintain zoning. We have not realised it, so the zoning still remains in the North in the PDP. In PDP, we zoned the Presidency to the North and have we realised it? No. So, the zoning still remains in the North for 2023. Presidency is not micro-zoned. Once you say North, every person in the North is entitled to contest and the best person wins.”
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Suswan also dismissed insinuations that the Ahmed Lawan-led Ninth Senate is a rubber-stamp to the Executive arm.
He said, “Well, I wouldn’t say that the current Senate is rubber stamp. The leadership of the National Assembly decided that unlike what happened previously, we are all elected whether on the executive side or legislative side, with a common objective which is to serve Nigerians. And the only way that can be feasible is for us to cooperate among ourselves even though the doctrine of separation of power exists.
“That doctrine of separation of power in principle presumes that there will be inter-independence. It’s not that you can take actions that are totally opposed to the other.
“We have to collaborate for us to move forward. And so I think what the Senate has done, given the experience of Nigerians in the previous Senate when nothing was working – budget was not passed and even if it was passed, it was passed mid-year. So, it was impossible for any activity of government to continue. So, we said let us depart from that. That doesn’t make us rubber stamp. We just feel that we should cooperate.”