The Advocacy for Rotational Leadership (TAROL) has called on political parties in Nigeria to adopt an arrangement where governorship is zoned and rotated among the three senatorial zones of a state.
The group made the call during its inaugural meeting held on Thursday in Abuja.
TAROL’s national coordinator, Prince Ene Okon, noted that rotating of governorship among the three senatorial districts or ethnic constituents of a state will promote a sense of belonging, foster peace, stability and unity among the people.
Okon advised political parties and states to take a cue from Cross River State which has consistently ensured that the governorship is rotated among the south, central and north senatorial districts.
According to him, “Cross River State has an institutionalised arrangement where the governorship rotates from the south to central and to the northern senatorial districts.
“Recall that even when the PDP which entrenched the rotation principle in the state circumvented it during the 2023 gubernatorial race, majority of the people across political divides who cherish the values of rotation, pitched their tent with the ruling APC to ensure that the southern senatorial district is not denied its next turn to produce the governor,” he said.
He expressed worry over the situation in states like Benue where since the dawn of the fourth republic in 1999, the majority Tiv ethnic group seems to have taken the governorship seat as its exclusive preserve, leaving other ethnic components of the state as second and third class citizens.
“Sadly too, this was the scenario in Kogi State where the majority Igala ethnic group is alleged to see the governorship as its birth right until the stroke of fate in 2015 saw the high political office move to the Ebira ethnic component of the state in the central senatorial district.
“We hope that in future the governorship will seamlessly move to Kogi West before going back to Kogi East. The bottomline is that all ethnic components of a state should be given the opportunity to rule to foster a sense of belonging and to promote unity,” the national coordinator added.
He commended states that have zoning and rotational arrangement in place and urged them to sustain it as the state belongs to all.
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