A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo, has described the clamour for zoning of political offices in the country as a failure of leadership.

Mr Oyedepo, in an interview on Monday in Ilorin, lamented zoning was an unfortunate development.

“Zoning is an unfortunate development. It is also a result of the failure of leadership, particularly in Kwara state. I know it is general in Nigeria, but we are talking about Kwara state now,” stated Mr Oyedepo. “It is very unfortunate. If those people governing us since 1999, for example, have governed well, people would have forgotten some variables in Kwara politics.”

According to Mr Oyedepo, a lawyer, one of the consequences of bad leadership is mixing religion with politics.

“Whether you are Christian or Muslim, the situation or condition of hunger is the same. Poverty doesn’t isolate a Christian from a Muslim,” he argued. “If I could get whatever I need in my own area from the man from Ilorin, what is my business about his religion or ethnic orientation? The same thing with the Kwara North. But I can understand the north. They have suffered perennial neglect for a very long time.”

Mr Oyedepo, the chairman of Governing Council of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, insisted good governance “should govern leadership and not zoning.”

According to him, the Kwara North argued that since 1999, the South had done eight years.

“This is factual. They argued that the Central, by the end of Governor AbdulRazaq’s tenure, would have done 16 years. When would it be their turn? That is their argument,” said the APC chieftain.

However, Mr Oyedepo, who said the people of Kwara North were entitled to their opinion, declared that such opinion was not supported by law, urging political leaders in the area to work hard.

“They should struggle for it. Despite their reasonable claim, they should work hard,” Oyedepo advised.

(NAN)