Northern govs disagree with southern counterparts, say rotational presidency unconstitutional

Nigerian governors have sharply disagreed on the issue of rotational presidency along the South and North line.

This came on Monday as the 19 northern state governors rose from a meeting to declare as unconstitutional the position of their southern counterparts that the country’s next President must come from their region.

The southern governors had at a meeting in Lagos in July demanded that power must shift to their region.

But their northern counterparts rising from an emergency meeting with traditional rulers from the region in Kaduna on Monday said the statement by the Southern Governors Forum that the Presidency must go to the South was unacceptable.

Plateau State Governor and Chairman of the Forum, Simon Bako Lalong, gave the outcome of the meeting.

He said, “The statement is quite contradictory with the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) as amended that the elected President shall secure at least 25 percent of the votes cast in 2/3 states of the federation. In the case of run-up simple majority win the election.”