A
former Governor of Zamfara State, Senator Sani Yerima, has denied that the All
Progressives Congress (APC) had any premerger agreement to rotate the
presidency between the north and the south.
This
was disclosed on Wednesday during a media interaction with reporters covering
the activities of the APC.
Terima”s
claim is contrary to the views expressed by the Minister of Works and Housing,
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who recently said that the party had a gentleman
agreement on zoning.
Yerima
said: “I don’t think there is anything like agreement. You can ask Mr.
President, he led the group, Asiwaju was there, I was part of it, there was no
meeting I didn’t attend or any meeting that I attended that there is such
agreement. Agreement can’t be verbal. It has to be written. In any case, any
agreement that is contrary to laws of this country is not an agreement.
“The
constitution is very clear. We are in a democracy and democracy is governed by
processes and procedures and by laws. So, the constitution of Nigeria doesn’t
recognise anything called zoning and likewise check the APC’s constitution. If
there is that agreement why didn’t we put it in our constitution?”
Yerima
noted that as a democrat and as a citizen of Nigeria, he can aspire for any
political office based on the laws of Nigeria, adding that the Nigerian
constitution has given rights and privilege to every citizen who believes he
has something to offer to aspire for any office, irrespective of his state of
origin, his tribe, ethnicity and religion.
He
disclosed that an app has been developed to grow the support base for his
presidential ambition, adding that his objective was to mobilise at least 30 –
40 million supporters before he would officially declare his presidential
aspiration.
“I
already have very close to two million people all over the country. I have more
than 4,000 supporters in Imo, I have more than 7,000 supporters who have
declared their interest to support me in Enugu State, I have over 400,0000
supporters in Katsina State. That’s why I emphasised the ability to mobilise
Nigerians across parties to vote for you. It’s not your party members alone
that will support you. You will see some people who are senior leaders of a
political party coming to support a candidate that they believe have something
to offer,” he said.
Yerima
also denied the insinuation that he would use the presidency to Islamise
Nigeria and argued that Section 38 of the constitution stipulates that every
Nigerian has freedom of religion, either to practice his religion alone or in
community with others, in private or in public, even including to change his
religion if he so wishes.
He
emphasized that constitution has provision for the Common laws for Christians,
the Sharia laws for Muslims and the customary law for non believers of the two
faiths.
“I
didn’t do anything outside the Nigerian constitution otherwise the federal
government then under President Olusegun Obasanjo would have taken me to
Supreme Court. If any governor passed any law that is contrary to the
constitution, the federal government can go to Supreme Court and Supreme Court
will now pronounce that law as unconstitutional and that Governor will have
some sanctions,” Yerima insisted.
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