Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has called for the abandonment of zoning arrangements for political offices as currently obtainable in the country, describing it as a barrier to Political equality.
The governor made his position known in a prologue titled, ‘Defeating a Determined Incumbent – The Nigerian Experience’, which he contributed to a book –Power of Possibilities and Politics of Change in Nigeria – written by the Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman.
Some key political offices at the federal and state levels, particularly governorship and Presidency, are rotated among the various ethnic groups or zones.
But El-Rufai said Nigeria could not afford to continue on the same path of zoning positions based on regions of origin.
According to him, “Even with our success in the 2015 elections, there is room for improvement. Barriers to political equality, such as our seemingly entrenched though informal rule for zoning candidacies according to regions of origin, need to be de-emphasised and ultimately abandoned in favour of an emphasis on qualification, competence and character.
