Apparently taking a cue from Akande, a former Governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa told Sunday Telegraph that throwing the political space open for every eligible aspirant to the position was the best option in a democracy. Musa argued that if the APC was practicing democracy in its true sense, there should be no question of pre-determining candidates for an election, adding that positions should be thrown open to the members of the party.
He also disclosed that the argument espoused by Akande was in tandem with the thinking of the political elite from other parts of Nigeria. “They are right. They are right that the ticket should be thrown open because that is the beauty of democracy. But the North and everybody is saying the same thing. The East is virtually saying the same thing. In fact, the East is saying that they are not supporting any particular person; they are leaving it open.
So every region of Nigeria is saying the same thing. “If we are practising democracy, there is no question of pre-determining candidates for an election. You leave it open to the party members. It will help us in looking for the best
. “You know, before now, every party seemed to have supported zoning even though it was invented by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and every body supported it because it gives every section a sense of belonging.
The only mistake was that when we zone a particular position to a region, you should try to pick the best from the area; you don’t leave it to the people in that region alone to decide. This is what has been happening in Nigeria and that is why we never have the President we need all the time. This is wrong. You can zone it to left or right, but you should leave it to Nigerians to pick the best, not the people of the zone picking anybody just because he is coming from the zone,” he said.
Similarly, another frontline politician from the North, Dr. Junaid Mohamned, has expressed support for the ruling party to throw the ticket open and allow a level playing ground in its search for a presidential flagbearer. Mohammed argued that Akande’s declaration that a vacancy exists in Aso Rock was normal in a democratic setting.
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