2023: Northern Governors Oppose Power Shift To South, Says ‘Zoning Is Unconstitutional’

Governors of the 19 states in the North have opposed the call by their southern counterparts that the Presidency should be zoned to the South in 2023.

This formed part of the resolutions reached on Monday when the governors held an emergency meeting with traditional rulers in the region at the Government House in Kaduna State.

Chairman of the Forum and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, read out the communique containing the resolutions on behalf of his colleagues.

According to the governors, zoning the office of the President as being agitated by southern governors is against the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

Governors of the northern states meet with traditional rulers in the region in Kaduna State on September 27, 2021.

They stated 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.

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