January 11, (THEWILL) – The Director General of Caterpillar Movement, Joe Bisong has faulted the call for zoning the 2023 governorship seat in Cross River State.
The organisation said the attempt is a devious attempt to disenfranchise eligible aspirants for the contest.
The Director General of the Caterpillar Movement High Chief Joe Obi Bisong disclosed this in Calabar.
The Caterpillar Movement is the campaign organisation of a leading contender for the PDP ticket for the 2023 governorship race, Professor Sandy Onor.
High Chief Bisong maintained that the state has never practised zoning and no one can zone out the constitutional right of another person.
In his words, “The Caterpillar Movement has been consistent in its incontrovertible assertion that zoning, as it concerns the Governorship, has never been practised in our dear state and is clearly not part of our political history thus far.
“To that extent, let us for the umpteenth time state that zoning as currently canvassed, is clearly a devious attempt to disenfranchise eligible aspirants from genuine and healthy competition for the highest office in the land.
“Even more, it is trite that the constitutional and inalienable right to contest or be voted for in any election, so long as such an aspirant is qualified within the templates of the Nigerian Constitution, is guaranteed.
“Accordingly, nobody can zone out the rights of another person and in this particular regard of the cross River situation, it remains so, whether viewed from the prism of the law or from the perspective of our political history as a people.
“This explains why the zoning argument could not have been sustained and has indeed, for all practical purposes, died. Our conclusion therefore, is that even the ghost of the issue of zoning of Governorship in Cross River state has since been laid to rest”, he said.
He urged supporters of the Caterpillar Movement to forthwith, desist from any arguments relating to zoning of the governorship position, since such matters have crumbled into obsolescence.
He charged them to channel their intellectual resources in helping to proffer solutions on how to redeem the state, moving forward.
He re-emphasised the position of their principal, Professor Sandy Onor which is that ‘Competence must be emphasised over zoning, especially at this critical period in our political history”.
He said any attempt to browbeat their Principal,Professor Sandy Onor from contesting the Governorship election, simply based on the concept of geo-ethnicity was untenable ab initio.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
