Former Petroleum Minister, Tam David-West, has described as academic fraud a call by some Nigerians that the next president must win the majority of votes in four of the six zones.
He said those making the call are mischievous because geographical zones have no place in the Constitution.
“For two weeks now, some people have been trying to smuggle in geographical zones as condition for electing a president. They said for the president-elect to be legitimate, he must win four of the six geographical zones.
“It is all nonsense and rubbish because there is no provision for geographical zones in the Constitution,” he insisted.
David-West reiterated that to be president of Nigeria, two conditions have to be fulfilled.
“One, you should win majority of the votes. Second, the votes must be distributed in such a way that in two-thirds states of the federation, you should get at least 25 per cent of votes cast. These are the two conditions in the Constitution.
“There is no geographical zone. Geographical zones only started few years ago. It has no place in the Constitution. So, nobody can expect that for you to win you must win in four geographical zones. It is rubbish.”