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 Daily Independent Online.
* Monday, August 09, 2004.
North ’ll neutralise S’East in
2007, says Yakassai
By Augustine Madu-West
Special Correspondent, Kano
Northern
optimism gathers pace by the day in its desire to wrestle back political
power in 2007 despite the “eloquent logic” in the argument by the South
East to produce the next President.
The South South
is also in running, but the North does not see it as a threat, being a
group of splinter nationalities, unlike the more cohesive South East with
Nigeria’s third largest ethnic bloc.
Indeed, some in
the Northern fold, accustomed to holding the reigns of power for much of
the country’s 40 years of independence, think it was a mistake to have
conceded the coveted post to the South in 1999 and are determined to
settle the score by simply wishing away the Igbo quest - until later,
perhaps 2015.
One of those
keen on restoring at least a bit of the old order is Second Republic
Presidential Adviser Tanko Yakassai. And he is optimistic that the North
will neutralise the threat posed to its desire by the South East.
“South East
agitation is a bargain to ensure they get the number two position which
will prepare them for the Presidency in 2015”, he said in an interview in
Kano at the weekend.
Yakassai is a
former member of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). He announced his exit
from party politics shortly before the 2003 elections, after decades of
experience on the political landscape.
With such a
pedigree, he is sure he know his onions by saying that the Igbo are not
yet mature to lead the country. Not now, rather “by 2015 the Igbo would
have been politically mature to aspire for the Presidency”, he proffered.
Yakassai
dismissed as unnecessary the controversy over power shift which has
pitched the North against the South East.
His words: “It
is not worth the noise it has been generating. Power shift or zoning or
whatever name it’s been called, is the brainchild of the People
Democratic Party (PDP) and remains a PDP affair.
“It will be an
issue when it involves all the other parties. So let us wait and see how
the remaining 29 parties respond to the issue of power shift before we begin
to see it as an issue of national concern.
“Power shift or
zoning is not a serious controversy because only one of the 29 political
parties (PDP) is talking about the zoning or rotation or power shift. But
if the PDP is to continue with its zoning arrangement, then it is obvious
that the North will pick the
ticket as the issue had long been settled.
“When the PDP
zoned its president to the South in 1999, it was decided that the South
will carry it for eight years or
two consecutive terms, after which it would return to the North
and then back to the South”.
The arrangement
informed the decision of the PDP not to recognise the aspiration of
former Kano State Governor Abubakar Rimi and former PDP National Chairman
Barnabas Gemade for the Presidency in 2003.
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