The 19 Governors that make up the Northern States in Nigeria have unanimously kicked against zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket to the south.
This resolution was made during an emergency meeting with traditional rulers in the region at the Kaduna State Government House on Monday, September, 27, 2021.
The governors who deliberated also on issues concering Value Added Tax (VAT) and insecurity in the region, maintained that zoning presidency to the South would be going against the Provisions of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
According to a communiqué read by the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, on behalf of his colleagues, the Forum resolved that;
- any president elected must meet the constitutional requirements which include scoring the majority votes, and polling at least 25 per cent of the votes cast in two-thirds of the 36 states of the Federation.
Governor Lalong noted that although some northern governors had endorsed power shift to the South, the regional governors collectively condemned such calls.
Recall that the Southern Governors on Thursday, September 16, 2021 during a meeting in Enugu State, resolved that power should shift to the South come 2023.
He also briefed reporters on the position of the governors regarding the lingering dispute between the Federal Government and states over the collection of Value Added Tax (VAT).
Also speaking on VAT, Lalong opined that allowing every state to enact its VAT law would result in multiple taxations, increases in prices of goods and services, as well as a collapse in inter-state trade.
