Since the advent of civil rule in 1999, no political party has ever ceded the position of the President and that of the National chairman to the same region. The positions rotate between South and North.
From 1999 to 2015, our Southern Nigeria compatriots led this country for 14 years. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo for two term of four years each South West and former President Goodluck Jonathan for six years four years of his fresh mandate and two years for remaining late Yar’adua’s term in office, South South.
What the Southern Governors Forum (SGF), forgot is not new for the northerners to vote for southerners for the sake of peace and fairness. What Southern Governors Forum, other politicians still forgot is that neither APC nor PDP constitutions are binding upon Nigerians. What is binding on Nigerians is the country’s constitution.
The 1999 constitution has given rights and privileges to every citizen to aspire any position irrespective of state of origin, tribe, and religion. Really Nigerians have the right to aspire to any office; the constitution has guaranteed citizens to participate in the political process.
No any part of the country can produce a President of the country without votes of the other zones despite northern Nigeria have the highest votes but cannot produce President without southern votes. Isn’t sound funny for SGF to start talking about power shift, while there is still about 913 days to the elections?.
Now it is uncalled for, for anyone either individuals or Forum to start calling for power shift to certain regions, despite agitators have all risen through the political process not by mare shift of power knowing political offices are not given or acquired by force. Politics is about persuasion, not seeking shortcuts to power.
The next general elections may be two years away from now, but the debate about which part of the country should produce presidential candidates has begun to heat up the polity. There is no zoning in the APC constitution, while in PDP what only exists, is a gentlemen’s agreement and also, in the Nigerian constitution, there is nothing like that.
Even though, they reaffirmed their commitment to the unity of Nigeria on the pillars of equity, fairness, justice, progress and peaceful coexistence between and amongst its people. The Forum unanimously agrees that the presidency of Nigeria should rotate between Southern and Northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the Southern Region. If they really re-affirmed unity of Nigeria every group across the country must stop provocative comments, or try to heating the polity.
Rotation is unconstitutional and therefore any group should stop using it to make noise. It is too early for any group to agitate for 2023 elections. Rather than talk of zoning or rotation presidency, politicians and Nigerians should always consider voting quality leaders during elections, instead of focusing on zoning.
To be fair to Southern Governors Forum (SGF) before forum start agitations on the likely transfer of power to Southern part of the country comes 2023 elections, President’s nephew, Mamman Daura started it just one year into PMB’s second term in office in July 2020, he had argued that rather than zoning the ticket, competence should be given priority in the choice of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023. Even though, the ruling party and the Presidency dissociated themselves from the comment, many stakeholders saw it as a ploy by some that arrogated power to themselves above of the country to hang on to authority.
Let Forum and alike individuals and groups across the country remember that we are in a democracy and everyone is free to contest for president in 2023 and allow the electorate to make their choice. For this reason, let all these individuals, forums and their footsoldiers know clearly that neither threats nor intimidation can force the electorates to circumventing to their egos and selfish interest for their political survival.
I am personally not saying a southerner should not be President of Nigeria when the time comes, but the forum and they footsoldiers must not heating the polity by saying it is their turn by causing crisis.
For the country to move forward, Nigerians need any qualified person from any part of the country. What will the country and citizens at large benefit from rotational Presidency or President of the country if competency is jettison ed ?
Nigerians have freedom of choice. Let the forum understand that politics is about persuasion, not seeking shortcuts to power without working for it. Every Nigerian has the right to contest for the highest office in the land because Nigeria is a democratic nation.
Let all the regional groups in the country understand that peaceful coexistence of Nigeria is most vital to all.
Therefore, the resolutions in that regard has not only further exposed deliberate attempt to impose a contentious system of rotational presidency that turns all democratic norms and accepted indices of national demography, but also a system that is clearly aimed at achieving selfish political goals.
Dukawa Writes in from Kano abbahydukawa@gmail.com
