Still on zoning

The hottest debate in the political space right now is which zone which produces the presidency come 2023 after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure ends.

Although zoning is not enshrined in our constitution, there is an unwritten power rotation principle between the north and south. But that has not stopped other candidates from other zones from contesting the presidential election. I remember in 2019, almost every geopolitical region had presidential candidates in other parties.

From feelers so far, it seems the ruling All Progressive Congress will zone the presidency to the south. The question is which part of the south. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the other hand is waiting for the APC to show its hand before taking a final decision. But I think the PDP will throw the race open for everyone to contest to avoid mass movement of heavyweights like former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and Bukola Saraki. I know Atiku will participate in the 2023 election; either in the PDP or he will move to another party to realise his lifelong ambition of becoming president.

But that’s not my main discussion. I wonder why most people who are proponents of zoning at the federal level don’t want to replicate the same in their states.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu is one of the elite Igbo political leaders championing power shift to the south-east in 2023 but in his home state of Enugu, he is opposed to power rotation arrangement. Why? His personal ambition. He wants to seek equity for Ndigbo at the national level whereas back home, he is promoting inequity.

Benue state governor, Samuel Ortom, who also has championed for power to shift to the south at the federal level has kept mute about power shifting to Benue south in 2023. Since 1999, only Tiv people have been governor in Benue state and I don’t see that changing in 2023.

If not for divine providence, Yahaya Bello would not be governor of Kogi in 2015. It was an exclusive preserve of the Igala people. That was why I was happy he won his second term in 2019.

Why can’t a Christian be the governor of Niger — in a state with a sizeable number of Christians? Borno has a huge number of Christians and has not produced a governor since 1999.

If we are calling for power shift or rotation, we should do the same in the states.

Unfortunately, most Nigerians don’t care about what happens in states, only at the federal level. We blame the federal government for everything and forget we have state governors.

Back to the discussion on zoning, I believe our country is still fragile and we should not discard zoning. We should practice zoning also in states for equity and justice.

Pointedly, if we must insist on zoning in 2023, then both the PDP and APC should zone their presidency to the south-east or maybe the south-south. Personally, I don’t think someone from the south-west should succeed Buhari in 2023. The south-west has held power either as president or vice-president for 16 years – eight years of President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo.

And again, why must power rotate among the three major tribes? We have over 300 tribes in Nigeria but Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba think the presidency of Nigeria should be their exclusive preserve. This must change.