With the current debate about whether or not a zoning arrangement exists for the governorship seat of Plateau, a past civillian governor of the state Mr. Fidelis Tapgun has waded into the debacle, saying that it is the turn of the southern senatorial zone to produce the next Governor, because the zone has never produced a governor in the “new Plateau” era.

He said “When people talk about the Southern Zone having taken a turn, I don’t understand. We are talking about a new Plateau State and under the new Plateau State, the Southern Zone is yet to produce a governor.

Even if we, for the sake of argument, refer to late Solomon Lar and myself who are both from that zone and had been governors in the old Plateau State which included the present Nasarawa State, the fact is that our combined periods in office never amounted to two terms of eight years as the Central Zone has had and as the Northern Zone is about to complete.

With the current debate about whether or not a zoning arrangement exists for the governorship seat of Plateau, a past civillian governor of the state Mr. Fidelis Tapgun has waded into the debacle, saying that it is the turn of the southern senatorial zone to produce the next Governor, because the zone has never produced a governor in the “new Plateau” era.

He said “When people talk about the Southern Zone having taken a turn, I don’t understand. We are talking about a new Plateau State and under the new Plateau State, the Southern Zone is yet to produce a governor.

Even if we, for the sake of argument, refer to late Solomon Lar and myself who are both from that zone and had been governors in the old Plateau State which included the present Nasarawa State, the fact is that our combined periods in office never amounted to two terms of eight years as the Central Zone has had and as the Northern Zone is about to complete.

Lar was governor for four years and even though he was re-elected for a second term, he spent only three months before they were overthrown by the military. So he did not complete his tenure. When the military were trying to hand over and we came in, I was in office for just one year and eight months and the military seized power again. Following the split of the state into two with the carving out of Nasarawa State and the subsequent hand over to a democratically elected government, the governorship moved to the Central Zone from where Joshua Dariye contested and won“.

Further speaking, Tapgun said if he were to run for office, he was eligible to do and serve two terms because several of his colleagues in other states whose tenure was truncated, like his went to court to challenge such rulings against them and have since won their cases. He said “by virtue of what happened under the military, if I wanted to contest at that time (1999), I would have done so and gone ahead to serve eight years because the military took it that our period in office was not counted at all. This was proved when some of my colleagues wanted to contest at that time and they went to court which cleared them. That was why Segun Osoba contested, Abba Ibrahim of Yobe State contested, Jolly Nyame of Taraba State contested and they all served their terms.

So, coming back to your question, virtually nothing has gone to the Southern Zone yet as far as we are concerned. Dariye served eight years, then it moved to the Northern Zone and the incumbent, Jonah Jang is almost going into his eighth year now.
For anybody to say the Southern Zone has had their turn, I think the person in not thinking properly. It is just fair, it is just equitable and natural that the position now should move to the Southern Zone so that the people there can have their turn. That apart, the whole idea behind the rotation of positions from place to place, is for equity, fairness and justice.

So even if we imagine that the Southern Zone has had its turn and the same zone has waited for 16 years will it be fair to take it to any of the two other zones? That is why I said those putting up that argument are out for mischief; they are trying to create unnecessary problems and I don’t think we need it in this state. We should be rational and honest in what we are doing. So in the spirit of fairness, justice and equity, the governorship should go to the Southern Zone this time around.

Some of the arguments that have been advanced is that there is no concrete agreement on the zoning thing and people cite the fact that aspirants from other zones also participated in the contest when those who got it were fighting for it.
Yes, there was no formal agreement on rotation and anybody is free to contest in exercise of his or her rights. But natural justice demands that there should be rotation to ensure that there is fairness to every zone in the state. That was the spirit behind the federal character principle in the constitution.

Speaking further, Tapgun said that Goodluck Jonathan was free to contest the 2015 elections, having completed Yar’adua’s tenure and one of an 8 year tenure.

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Tapgun: Southern senatorial zone has not produced a single Governor in the new Plateau era