2023: We dare APC, PDP to zone presidential tickets to South; we’ll shock them —Arewa Youths
As political parties are planning ahead of 2023 general elections by runinng internal primaries, the President of the Arewa Youths Consultative Forum (AYCF) Alhaji Yerima Shettima, has dared the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the strongest opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to zone their 2023 presidential tickets to the south, vowing that they would be shocked with the outcome from the North at the pool.
Ripples Nigeria reports that the leadership of the forum made call At a press conference in Kaduna on Monday.
Acording to Shettima if the two frontline parties decide to zone their tickets to the South instead of leaving the contest open, they would lose the votes of northerners, especially the Northern youths, as the are likely to support any party that open contest for all.
He said;
“Interestingly, the APC and the PDP are not the only two parties in Nigeria. So, if the APC or the PDP make an attempt to zone their presidential ticket to the south in the name of zoning, we will shock them.
He insisted that zoning as is being seen in Nigeria, is a mere ‘gentleman’ agreement and is not binding on anybody and as such, the parties should not make it an issue going into the 2023 general elections.
He said;
“Zoning is a gentleman agreement and it is not bidding on anybody and certainly, Nigerians will give their support to a party that does not zone anything, but allows competence to prevail at the end of the day because we must forge ahead. We must move on.
“So, the issue of zoning does not arise and I dare them to zone it to the south and look at the margin.
“At least, the PDP is not stupid. In fact, PDP is buying time to watch what APC will do. Let the APC do what they are doing, then PDP will give them a surprise at the end of the day by bringing out a northern candidate, then we will see what happen.
“But my own side of the thinking is not about north or south, but competence and youthfulness.
“Age must play a major role in deciding who leads us in this country. The defining factor must be a true Nigerian who has faith in the country and that is the person we are looking for,”.
