2015: Southern groups reject northern Presidency

Posted by admin Presidency Saturday, October 6th, 2012

Major groups and key political figures in the South-East, South-South and North-Central geopolitical zones have faulted the position of the Arewa Consultative Forum on the issue of who becomes Nigeria’s president in 2015.

The ACF says the North is seeking the 2015 presidency on merit, the zoning formula in the country is now history.

The National Publicity Secretary of the ACF, Anthony Sani, said that Nigerians voted overwhelmingly against zoning and rotational presidency by voting a southerner in 2011.

However, all the groups and politicians who commented on the issue agreed that the ACF position was flawed and unacceptable.

The apex socio-cultural organisation of the Igbo people, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, believes the South-East should produce the next President based on the existing arrangement for power distribution among the six geopolitical zones of the country and in line with the principle of equity and fairness.

The President General of the group, Dr. Ralph Uwechue, and the Owelle of Onitsha, Chief Chukwuwa Azikiwe, the first son of the first President of Nigeria, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, and a former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu have argued that the subsisting principle of zoning in the country means that power should be rotated among the six geopolitical zones and not between the North and the South.

Uwechue has contended that in 2007, all the three organs of the Federal Government were headed by northerners, who emerged on the basis of zoning along the lines of the six geopolitical zones and not between the North and South.

According to him, the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, Senate President David Mark and Justice Idris Kutigi, all from the North, were accepted as heads of the executive, legislature and the judiciary respectively because of the zoning arrangement on the basis of the six geopolitical zones in the country.

He said that it was a fact that there were sectional interests in the country which should be balanced in such a way that every section of the country would not feel deprived of its place but have a sense of belonging.

“Nigerians, irrespective of their political associations, have accepted the six zonal arrangements and not the conflict-prone demarcation of the North and South.

“The problem we have, and it is important to take note of this, is that Nigeria is still not where it should be in terms of national integration. We have not arrived there. We are in the process.

“If we pretend that we have arrived, we will be like somebody moving into a house without roof, thinking that the house is completed. Until the roof comes on the house, it cannot give you the needed protection. We still have sectional interests in this country,” Uwechue said.

Also, Azikiwe said that the Igbo should be given the opportunity to have a try at the Presidency.

He recalled that while Nnamdi Azikiwe was a ceremonial President, Gen. Aguiyi Ironsi was an executive head of state only for six months.

He noted, however, that the Igbo must approach the issue of the 2015 presidency with the expected level of diplomacy as “we must realise that this thing is got by give-and-take, negotiation and diplomacy. It is not by force.”

He said, “I think we should put our best foot forward; find those of our people that have good relations with the other zones; those who are trusted; listen to them in order to get Igbo president.

“And also, the timing should be right. We will try as much as possible to get it soonest. But let’s be careful so that we don’t antagonise some other zones.”

Similarly, Orji told Saturday PUNCH that it was insulting for anybody to say that the Igbo were not fit to be President.

He said, “Forty-two years after the Civil War, it is an insult for somebody to tell you that the Igbo cannot be president. If all these tribes can be president, who among them is more qualified than an Igbo man? We are the salt of this nation; we are the best thing that has happened to this nation.”

A former National President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing, Mazi Bismark Orji, supported Orji’s view, saying, “This time around, we are very wise and we would not sing in discordant tunes again so that we don’t miss this opportunity.”

Orji dismissed recent reports in the media (not The PUNCH) that the Igbo were not united in their quest for 2015.

“That is just a figment of some people’s imagination. Whether they like it or not, we are more united now than ever before,” he said.

But organisations in the South-South, including the South-South Peoples Assembly and the Ijaw National Congress, condemned the ACF’s new position on zoning.

The National Secretary of the SSPA, Chief Anyakeme Whiskey, described the ACF position as both spurious and criminal.

Whiskey said that the South-South would occupy the Presidency for eight years irrespective of the argument on zoning.

He explained that it was wrong for the ACF to conclude that Nigerians voted against zoning when they backed a South-South to occupy the position of the president.

He stated that the ACF should realise that the North had enjoyed power for 38 year since the country’s independence 52 years ago.

“Chief Olusegun Obasanjo came in 1999; whether he performed or not, Nigerians gave him eight years. If the ugly arms of death did not claim the life of former President Yar’Adua, nobody would have stopped him from staying in office for eight years,” Whiskey argued.

Maintaining that nobody had changed the zoning arrangement in the country, Whiskey explained that the South-East and the South-South zones had formed the Southern Peoples Assembly to bring the two zones closer.

However, the umbrella organisation of all Ijaw people in the country, the Ijaw National Congress, said that it was wrong for the 2015 Presidency to be an issue for debate in 2012.

The National Secretary of the INC, Mr. Robinson Esite, said those talking about 2015 were only out to distract the President from the serious business of governance.

Esite urged the political class to avoid distracting the President so that he could concentrate on governance in the interest of Nigerians.

He said that the raging flood across the country, which had resulted in the death of several people and the Boko Haram security challenge, should attract the attention of politicians and not 2015 elections.

He said, “Our position is that this is not the time to talk about 2015 election; it is too early

“At the appropriate time, it is only Nigerians who can decide on who would rule them, it is not the duty of individuals or a group of people to decide who would become president. Nigerians are yearning for dividends of democracy and nothing more.

The President-General, Afonja Descendants Union in Ilorin, Alhaji Olola Kasumu said he was in support of the leaders of the South-East geopolitical zone angling for the retention of the zoning principle for the 2015 elections as it would strengthen the unity of the country.

He urged the ACF to allow peace to reign and avoid issues that could overheat the polity.

“Arewa is destroying the spirit of this country. The group is an empty organisation, they have no chance again. I am a lover of unity. I do not want this country to break.

“They are the cause of the present insecurity in the country. Arewa is making it difficult for Jonathan to govern.

“I do not support anybody from Arewa. We cannot conclude our assessment of Jonathan now. If he is able to pull through and carry the country very well, he should come back to power. I want zoning to be maintained in 2015,” Kasumu said.

-Punchwp_posts