2023 Presidency: Akeredolu Who Couldn’t Deliver Ondo In 2019 Shouldn’t Talk About Zoning, Gololo Says

Garus Gololo, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on Tuesday, said the Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu failed to deliver the party at the presidential election in 2019 and as such, lacked the moral justification to clamour for power shift to the South in 2023.

This was, even as, Gololo threw his weight behind the resolution of the Northern Governors’ Forum, which insists that power should remain in the north.

While speaking to the newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, Gololo, a former Coordinator of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, said Akeredolu, as a legal icon should have known better, saying, there was no provision for zoning in the 1999 constitution of Nigeria.

“I learnt that Akeredolu is not just a lawyer but he is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. Where in the constitution of Nigeria or of any party did he see that zoning is enshrined? He knows so much of our law and I don’t expect him to mislead his colleagues in the south”, Gololo said.

He, however, stressed that, he believed there are eminently qualified men and women in the South, as much as they are in the North, who could take up the leadership of the country.

“But that could only be achieved through dialogue, diplomacy and negotiations. No one rides to the position of leadership with threats, intimidations and persuasions.

“I expected Akeredolu, as a leader from the South West, to guide his people aright on how to lobby for a position such as Presidency of this country and not to be using force. There are some utterances that should not be heard of such a leader.

“I’m not against a southern candidacy, in fact, I have said it before that I would support a credible candidate from the south, but they should go about it with diplomacy and lobbying”, he added.

Akeredolu, who is the Chairman of Southern Governors’ Forum, had last week granted interview to Channels Television, where he threatened that, any political party that fields a northern candidate for presidency in 2023 would risk losing the support of southerners.

But rising from its meeting in Kaduna on Monday, the northern counterparts rejected the position of the southern governors, insisting that power should remain in the north in 2023.

The northern governors, in a communique, said the call by the Southern Governors’ Forum was against the constitution of the country.