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Still on debate over 2007 Presidency
By Bayo Oladeji
Correspondent, Abuja
When the South-South Peoples Assembly met in Calabar,
one of their agitations include producing the next President from their zone.
“We whole-heartedly commit ourselves to the
pursuit of a South-South President for the Federal Republic of Nigeria come
2007. We have supported every
other zone to occupy and hold the Presidency. We believe that the time has come for Nigeria to allow a
Nigerian citizen from the South-South to occupy for the first time in our
history the exalted position of the President of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria,” the forum declared
in part. As if the conveners are
aware of what could derail this laudable dream, the communiqué stated
further: “We urge all
peoples of the South-South geo-political zone to commit themselves irrevocably
to the attainment of these objectives”.
In wooing the other zones, the forum acknowledged
“fellow Nigerians who believe in equity, justice and equality as the only
realistic foundation for the creation of an egalitarian society and their
commitment of support and solidarity with our legitimate aspirations”.
Although the leadership of the geo-political zone
called for a true federalism with a derivation principle of not less than 50
per cent, a stop to the plan to cede Bakassi to Cameroun as demanded by the
World Court and immediate withdraw of suit challenging the recent abrogation of
the onshore/offshore dichotomy, yet it was their quest for the Presidency that
could be identified as the immediate cause of the historic gathering.
To convince the outsiders and to justify their
agitation, the forum brought to the fore the zone’s enormous
contributions to the survival of the country. They reminded the cynics of their stabilising role during
the 1966 mayhem, their total human and material commitment to the successful
prosecution of the war to keep Nigeria one, and perhaps the greatest of all was that “we have over the
years contributed over 93 per out of Nigeria’s export earnings, providing
the economic lifeline that has sustained the Nigerian project thus far”.
The demand for the Presidency comes not as a surprise
to any political pundit. The
reason is that one of the unfolding scenes in the political theatre of Nigeria
today is the agitation for the number one seat by all the geo-political zones, except the South West, where President
Olusegun Obasanjo hails from
Interestingly, it was the President himself, in one
of his media chats while faulting the advocates of the North and South rotation
of power, who said it was only the South-West that had no opportunity to vie
for the presidential race.
Earlier, the likes of Governor Ahmed Makarfi of
Kaduna State had been consistently telling those who cared to listen that
once Obasanjo’ completes his
second term in the South In 2007, it must move to the North as agreed by the
chieftains of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) shortly before the last
presidential primaries.
He disclosed that during the heat of the primaries,
the party chieftains were polarised over whether the South should have the shot
at the presidency again or not.
According to Makarfi, at the end of the day, there was a vote and
“it was voted 50 something to about seven or eight in favour of even the
South again. And then 2007, it
should come to the North. This was decided at the expanded caucus
meeting of the party. Everybody was there, including the President. I challenge anybody who was part of
that meeting to come out and say that was not what happened. I have no reason to tell lie”.
But it is either Mr. President has forgotten about
the story or Governor Makarfi has not disclosed the full details of the
pact. Co-incidentally, Governor
Achike Udenwa too shared the same view of Mr. President when he faulted his
Kano counterpart.
Speaking on the meeting, Udenwa recalled he participated “where they said that the Presidency would go
the North. I asked them, does it mean that for any South Easterner like myself
who wants to aspire for the presidency, I will have to wait until 2015 and he
said, yes. I told him, that is not
acceptable to my people. The issue
was not discussed beyond there and no decision was taken”.
Speaking further, the Imo State governor declared
that “if a geo-political zone in the North is canvassing an argument on
taking its turn at the
presidential position, it would be understandable, but for the Northern PDP to
take a position of the whole North producing the president in 2007 is not
equitable and not acceptable”.
Interestingly, there is no geo-political zone in the
North that has not produced one of its own at the helm of the country’s
affairs. It was the Northeast that
produced the first and the only Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa; the North
West has Alhaji Shehu Shagari, the Second Republic Executive President; Gen.
Murtala Muhammed, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Gen-Sani Abacha.
The North Central shares fall on General Yakubu
Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abdulsalami Abubakar.
However, to the likes of Dr. Umaru Dikko, the most
powerful and influential minister in the Shagari administration, those who
served as head of state during the
military regime could not be counted, because theirs was an aberration and
imposition. But an average Southerner will ask him to tell that to
the marines. Would Dikko fault or blame them when all of them are members of
the National Council of State by virtue of that “unlawful”
opportunity to lead?
It is interesting to note that Governor Makarifi and
a few others believe that of the three zones in the South, only the South-South
has the justification for its agitation, since it is the only zone that has not
produced a Nigerian leader, elected
or through coup det’at.
The South East had a taste of the presidency when the
late Gen. Aguiyi ironsi came on
board aftermath of the January 15, 1966 coup. But he was not allowed to stay long due to his failure to
prosecute Kaduna Nzeogwu and his co-travelers, coupled
with his unpopular policies. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was a mere
ceremonial head while Alhaji Balewa was calling the shots.
Whereas to an average Ndigbo, the country should not
use the six geo-political zones structure
to decide where the presidency goes in 2007. As far as the Ndigbo are concerned, the country is only
standing on a tripod - the North, the East and the West. And since the other two have ruled more
than enough, equity, justice and fairness justify the need to concede the
presidency to the third leg.
As sound
as this argument is, there are some hindrances standing on the way of its
advocates. One, the ghost of the
Biafran Republic still haunts the country, nay the South East. One of the hallmarks of the Ndigbo of
recent is the agitation for the actualization of the defunct republic. Political watchers see this as
counter-productive as other people will regard it as a threat to the survival
of the country.
Another problem is the republican nature of the
Ndigbo race that robs it of a recognized leader. The Ohaneze Ndigbo has tried in vain to provide a collective
leadership. Today, the five
governors in the zone are believed to belong to different camps. Of the five,
it is only the embattled Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State that does not
nurse the presidential dream.
As fate would have it, some Eastern politicians and
elite are considering working for Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State. The argument is being an indigene of
Rivers, South-South of Igbo extraction, he would appeal to Nigerians. He is believed to be working in tandem
with Chief Tony Anenih, the acting chairman of the Board of Trustees of the PDP
and a few members of a powerful cabal within the party.
Political watchers are optimistic that should the
South unite in their agitation to retain the presidency, they might get it
since the end has come to the monolithic North. And even if the Middle Belt agrees to go with the North,
which is not likely, the unresolved feud involving the trio of Gen. Buhari,
Gen. Babangida and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar might swing support in favour of a Southern candidate.
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