Former Senate President Pius Anyim Pius has said the All Progressives Congress, APC, should not be blamed for the failure of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to zone its presidential ticket to the South-East in previous election cycles.
Anyim said the decision was informed partly by his belief that the South-East could only produce a president through alliances with other regions.
He spoke on Arise TV’s Prime Time on Monday while discussing the zoning arrangement that has eluded the South-East since the return to democratic rule in 1999.
The former Senate president said his political experience had convinced him that no South-East presidential candidate could succeed by relying solely on support from the region.
“If PDP had been honorable enough to zone to the South-East, it would have stimulated the necessary sentiments that will help us defeat any other candidate.
“And in the eyes and minds of the north, the rotation applied because it’s still in the south and so there is nothing to blame anybody about,” he said.
Anyim said the South-East should instead focus on building political alliances with other regions to improve its chances of producing the president.
He said this consideration influenced his decision to join the APC after spending about a year weighing his options.
“It took me about a year to join the APC. But then you will ask me why APC? I weighed the fact that when we worked together, I mean the aspirants, our primary interest was our zone,” he said.
He added that he chose the APC after concluding that the party could better serve the South-East’s long-term political interest.
“The experience I personally gathered is that no person from the South-East would make it in isolation. We must have an alliance with other regions in order to make it,” Anyim said.
He argued that the region’s political strategy should therefore involve supporting other regions when necessary to secure reciprocal support in the future.
“There is no amount of effort from each and every one of us that will make it possible for us to become president, if we do not have an alliance with other regions,” he said.
On the current zoning arrangement, Anyim acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu had secured the presidency for the South-West and said he was entitled to seek a second term.
“Certainly the president had taken it for the southwest, and he’s entitled to a second term. So, after his second term, I believe in rotation. Of course, it will go to the north. Then after the north, it will come down,” he said.
Anyim said the South-East would need to continue building relationships with other parts of the country rather than pursuing the presidency in isolation.
“But you need to support others so that they can support you,” he added.
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