Follow Us on Google
The ongoing and needless ambivalence over the zoning of the presidency to the South in the 2023 election by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) portends a clear and present danger for Nigeria’s emerging democracy. While prominent politicians from the South and some from the North are agreed that power will shift to the South after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years in power which will elapse on May 29, 2023.
Power rotation or power sharing between the North and the South started in 1999 when the presidency was zoned to the South and the South West in particular to appease the region over the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election reportedly won by their son, Chief MKO Abiola, who died in government’s detention following his resolve to claim his mandate.The South West got the plum job because of micro-zoning of the presidency to it in 1999. The major parties then presented only presidential candidates from the South West region. That was how Olusegun Obasanjo became the president in 1999 even without the political support of his South West people, who voted for the AD candidate, Chief OluFalae. Even before 1999, power has been shared among the then three regions of North, East and West.
In the first republic, following the coalition of NPC and NCNC, Tafawa Balewa from the North was the Premier, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe became the President, though a ceremonial one, while Chief Obafemi Awolowo of AG became the leader of the opposition. The same thing was witnessed in 1979 when Shehu Shagari was the President and Dr. Alex Ekwueme became the vice president. As a diverse country, zoning has helped to cement the unity of the country. It is because of power sharing that the nation’s democracy has survived so far.
As we approach another election season, a decisive one at that, we are again at the crossroads over which part of the country the president will emerge. The seeming scenario obtains simply because some people are selfish, greedy and inconsiderate of others. That is why some politicians in the South West still want the 2023 presidency not minding that the South West has occupied the post and the vice presidency for eight years each respectively from 1999 till the present.
Some politicians from the South South are angling for the job not minding that that zone through President Goodluck Jonathan has occupied the plum job for over five years and the vice presidency for more than three years under the same Jonathan since 1999 till date. From the foregoing, it is only the South East that has neither produced the president nor the vice president of the country from 1999 till date.
Since the power rotation arrangement is between the North and the South, it is incestuous, immoral and unthinkable for any politician from the North to say that a northerner would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. That mindset or thinking is utterly insensitive of the likely backlash should a northerner succeed Buhari. Although I’m not a prophet, in the event of such dream coming through, there will be unpalatable consequences.
The leaders of APC and the PDP, the two leading political parties in the country, must for the sake of equity, fairness, justice and inclusion respect the zoning principle as agreed in 1999 and which has been in practice since then even though it lacks force of law or may not have been written down.
Zoning or power rotation is democratic. It makes for political inclusion. Democracy as practiced the world over is not uniform. Each nation’s democracy has its own peculiarities. It is not true that democracy is about majority alone. It is about the minority as well. It is about the marginalized, the neglected and the excluded. For over 50 years after the war, the South East has been excluded from the topmost job in the country probably because of the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970, a war fought to unite the Eastern region with the rest of the country. Why the glass ceiling for politicians from the South East? Are we still fighting the war? And when will the war really end?
The other day, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State was quoted in The Nation on Sunday January 30, 2022, as saying that a northerner will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari. He maintained that the agitation for power shift to the South applies to Buhari’s party, the APC. According to Bala, “We are aware of the agitations of the southern part of the country because the leader of the country today, President Muhammadu Buhari, who is from the North, will finish his tenure in 2023, so power should rotate to the South. But I want to say that I am in PDP, I am not in APC that has the burden of zoning the presidency to the South.” Indirectly Bala is saying that the PDP will not zone the presidency to the South.
However, in response to what Bala said, the President of Ohanaeze-Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor, pointedly said that Nigeria will be playing with fire if zoning is discarded. Obiozor’s intervention is germane and worth quoting in great details. According to him, “In fact you are inviting disaster for Nigeria. You are not a friend of this country and a friend of this current administration because there is no surest way for any government to be declared failed in Nigeria than to tamper with sensitive, precarious balance between North and South which is indeed the inheritance bequeathed by our founding fathers which is part of national expectation in politics.”
The Ohanaeze chieftain also said that, “There is no way you can change the rules of the game in the middle of the game. Nobody should try it. I hope those of us who are 80 or nearing 80 across the country should tell the young men not to play with fire and not to play with the destiny of Nigeria.” His conclusion is worth quoting as well. According to Obiozor, “There are certain sensitive institutions you don’t touch. They are sanctum sanctorum of a nation. In fact, it is indeed political sacrilege for anybody to boldly tell Nigerians that you are doing away with rotation of North and South for political convenience because of same reason which led to tragedy before.”
Based on the above submissions, there is every need to do the right thing and keep the country going. Our democracy is still a work in progress. Even Nigeria is still a work in progress. To save the country and our nascent democracy, let the political parties, especially the APC and PDP not toy with the age-long zoning principle that has apparently kept us together. They should not be ambivalent on the issue at all. Any attempt to jettison zoning now because it is the turn of the South, and South East in particular will elicit a backlash, which can also be avoided if politicians do away with greed, vaulting ambition and clannishness over power.
The nation’s democracy cannot endure if a particular region is excluded from its politics or seen or treated as an outsider and an interloper. The political alienation of the South East is a blight on Nigeria’s democracy and politics. That blot must be redressed. Therefore, 2023 presents a golden opportunity for Nigeria and those controlling its politics to right the political wrongs of the past and give the South East the opportunity to produce the next Nigerian president. Nigeria should not miss this opportunity of a lifetime. Politics is a game of give and take and should be seen as such by Nigerians. Politics is a play and not a fight. It must be inclusive of all sections of the country.
