Governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said it may be impossible for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to adopt any zoning arrangement for the 2023 presidential election.

He said although he was not in the best position to decide for the ruling party, the zoning arrangement for the 2023 presidential election was still in the realm of “realism and idealism.”

Ganduje also said the Ruga policy should not be a national issue, arguing that imposing it on Nigerians would be tantamount to building a nightclub near a church or mosque.

He stated this in Abuja in a chat with newsmen to mark his 100 days in office.

“About the zoning issue, which was triggered by the governor of Kaduna State, it is an issue between realism and idealism. Idealism is a situation whereby things should be according to ideal, and, if things are according to ideal, then everybody has equal opportunity, equal chance to contest and then whatever the people decide would triumph. That is idealism.

“Now, the issue of realism, Nigeria is multi-tribal and that is why we have geopolitical zones, that is why we have, even during the colonial time, North and South, but now we have states and geopolitical zones. So, in reality, people are yearning for participation from different geopolitical zones: North and South. That is still in our mind.

“The reality of the situation is that people are clamouring (over) marginalisation in the leadership of the country but the idealism is that people should participate and be elected based on their capacity and capability.

“So, it is not the governor of Kano State that would decide whether it would be idealism or realism. It is the party that would determine which theory (ism) should be applied in Nigeria. Politics is a game of numbers. So, the political party should decide which one to follow,” he said.

Speaking on the proposed Ruga settlement scheme and herdsmen’s menace, the governor said: “Pertaining to herdsmen/farmers’ crisis, which we succeeded in curtailing. We are going to contract farm settlements so that the herdsmen will no longer travel from one place and another.”

•Excerpted from a Daily Sun report.

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