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By Chiedu Uche Okoye
Democracy or representative government is the most acceptable type of government , though we’ve other types of government like aristocracy , mobocracy, gerontocracy, plutocracy, militocracy, and others. But democracy, which originated in Athens, Greece, has been embraced in many countries of the world. In today’s world, countries with types of governments other than democracy are making streneous efforts to democratize. Are military regimes not viewed as an anathema and aberration by people? But lately , on the African continent, we have been witnessing a recrudescence of military coups. Soldiers had dislodged civilian leaders from their exalted political posts when we thought that military government was not the fad anymore.
However, no matter how military rulers try to rationalize their seizure of power and deodorize their governments, countries that are ruled by the military are still perceived and treated as parish states. A military government is an anathema because its power does not emenate from the people and constitution. We have this axiomatic political saying: sovereignty belongs to the people.
It is the people who will exercise their franchise to choose political leaders of their choice during periodic election. And periodic election is a feature of democracy. In Nigeria, we have been practising democracy for twenty three years, uninterruptedly, with one civilian government handing political power to another political party seamlessly and peacefully. But the political stability we have in Nigeria owes chiefly to the principle of rotational presidency, which was mooted, conceptualized, and executed by the PDP in 1999. Then, in the interest of peace and progress, political equity, and fairness, the PDP stalwarts ceded the presidential seat to the southwest to appease the indignant Yoruba people over the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election. Other political parties, as though on cue, fielded presidential candidates , who hail from the southwest of Nigeria. Over the years, it has helped greatly in making Nigeria a politically stable country. The principle of rotational presidency , though not enshrined in our constitution, has been operative in Nigeria since 1999. It is a political thread, which has been used to knit our many different ethnic groups together.
But some people would like the rotational presidency principle to be abrogated and jettisoned because they feel that it had outlived its usefulness. It is apparent to us that politicians , who kick against the rotation of the presidential seat among the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria do not mean well for us. They are disingenuous people, who place their personal interests and ethnic considerations above our collective good and the development of Nigeria.
Are those people not aware that the relative peace we enjoy in the country is attributable to the existence of rotational presidency in Nigeria? Were a Yoruba man not installed in office in 1999 as the president of Nigeria , the indignant Yoruba people would have waged a relentless war against the rest of Nigeria. The Abacha-NADECO face-off would have been a foretaste of what would have happened in Nigeria were Chief Obasanjo not helped to become our civilian president in 1999. Since 1999, the pendulum of presidential power has been swinging between the north and the south with some of the geopolitical zones producing the president of Nigeria at different periods in this current fourth republic. Of all the major ethnic groups in Nigeria, only the Igbo people of the southeast of Nigeria have not produced a president for Nigeria in the fourth republic. Nigeria, we all know, stands on the three legs of the tripod, namely, Igbo, Yoruba, and Hausa/Fulani.
So now, it is clearly evident to us that it is the turn of the southeast geopolitical zone to produce the next president of Nigeria in 2023. But gauging the mood of many political stalwarts in Nigeria’s two major political parties, and based on their doings and utterances, we do not need a soothsayer to tell us that they are predisposed and inclined to discarding the informal principle of rotational presidency. They believe, though wrongly, that rotational presidency is a child of necessity, which has outlived its usefulness.
But Nigeria’s peace as well as political stability is fragile. Our political leaders ought to take centripetal measures to deepen our national unity and make Nigeria a politically stable political polity. Should the major political parties in Nigeria cede the presidential seat to the southeast , it will disabuse the minds of Igbo people of the sentiments and belief that they are unwanted in Nigeria. And it will allay their fears that they are being politically dominated in Nigeria. And the solution to the ceaseless agitation for statehood by IPOB members, and their violent enforcement of the sit-at-home order on every Monday lies in ceding the presidential seat to the southeast in 2023. It is the political masterstroke that will rid the southeast area of violence and restiveness.
However, I am not unconscious of the fact that a majority of Nigerians , who are not Igbo people, are advocating that merit should override ethnicity and other considerations regarding the forthcoming 2023 presidential election. I will pose these questions to them: Did they consider the complexity and heterogeneity of Nigeria, and the background against which rotational presidency came into being before taking a stand on the matter? Is Igboland not teeming with politicians, who possess leadership qualities, probity, fealty, fear of God, political ideologies, and forbearance?
Igboland is the homeland of such colourful politicians as Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was a nationalist, freedom fighter, and president of Nigeria in the first republic; Sam Mbakwe, the hardworking and visionary governor of the old Imo state in the second republic; Chuba Okadigbo, the erudite scholar and colourful politician; Akanu Ibiam; and others. The Southeast is not in short supply of political leaders , who possess the capability to transform Nigeria, positively.
In conclusion, the heteregenuous nature of Nigeria and her historical antecedents and background recommend rotational presidency for her. It is the panacea to her problem of disunity. And we should know that disunity is a disincentive to national development.
Okoye writes from Uruowulu-Obosi
Anambra State
