Mbonu joins presidential race, kicks against zoning

A presidential aspirant, Hon. Samuel Mbonu, has said that zoning of political offices as it is done in Nigeria breeds mediocrity and is unconstitutional.
Mbonu, who said this while declaring his intention to run for the presidential race in the 2019 general election in Abuja, said zoning political offices among the geo- political zones is a disaster, saying his political team was not going to follow that path.
“Zoning will kill us if we are not careful. The effect of mediocrity will destroy our lives. We are all first class citizens of this country. If we enter an airplane with a bad pilot because he is from a particular zone, everybody will die. The earlier we jettison zoning, the better for the country”, Mbonu said.
Mbonu, a strategic advisor in the United States, said he was coming into the presidential race to offer Nigeria “a 21st Century President”.
He commended the founding fathers of the country as well as past presidents but said that their best were not enough for the country, saying, “There is the need to change from mediocrity of the past.”
He said when he comes to power in 2019, he is not going to engage in probing of past administrations but rather, will be providing solutions to Nigeria’s problems.
“I will be looking forward and not backward. Rather than looking back at the mistakes of past administrations, I will rather move forward by providing solution to the myriad of problems facing the country”, Mbonu said.
Mbonu, a former Commissioner for Housing Development in Maryland, United States of America, said Nigeria should de-emphasise its reliance on oil as a major source of revenue, noting that there are many revenue generation opportunities available to the country, outside oil.
He said he was going to provide robust communication infrastructure that would enhance the tapping of other revenue resources in the country.
Mbonu listed his five cardinal programmes as provision of security; provision of electricity and other related infrastructure; provision of good health care; youths/ girls education, and the political will to do that which is good at all levels of governance.
He said he would personally supervise the provision of electricity because, according to him, it is the engine-room which other developmental sectors rely on.