It should go to South East – Ayo Adebanjo
Equity has no half measure, it’s South East turn – Ohanaeze
Ohanaeze should ask PDP, not APC – Ogala
PDP did a dance of death – Adegboruwa
BY BENEDICT NWACHUKWU, TIMOTHY AGBOR, MAYOWA SAMUEL AND BRIGHT JACOB
The decision of the Northern governors to cede the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress to the Southern part of Nigeria has provoked an avalanche of commendation and wild acceptance across the zone. It has also renewed, in equal measure, the age-long political rivalry between the South West and the South East and thrown the two zones into a political slugfest.
Leaders, opinion moulders, lawyers and politicians on Sunday reacted with palpable enthusiasm to the decision in superlatives.
There had been fears among the political class that given the decision of the opposition People’s Democratic Party to throw its ticket open and which led to the emergence of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its flag bearer, the ruling APC would possibly follow suit and hand its flag to another Northerner, too.
The zoning debate within the two major parties has been ‘the political matter of the moment’ in the last one month.
The situation was not helped by the inscrutable body language of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, who doubles as the leader of the APC.
Many had expected him to firmly show direction by following up on his intervention when the party had its convention which produced a new national chairman. Then, he led the party to agree that positions and offices should rotate between the North and the South. That was what informed the non-participation of Southerners in seeking the chairmanship of the APC.
However, APC governors and political leaders from the northern states of Nigeria on Saturday night resolved to throw their weight behind a Southern presidential candidate for the party.
In a statement, they argued that “After careful deliberation, we wish to state our firm conviction that after eight years in office of President Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the APC for the 2023 elections should be one of our teeming members from the southern states of Nigeria.”
They affirmed that “It is a question of honour for the APC, an obligation that is not in any way affected by the decisions taken by another political party. We affirm that upholding this principle is in the interest of building a stronger, more united, and more progressive country.”
Speaking with The Point on Sunday, National Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the pan Igbo socio-cultural organization, Alex Ogbonnia, described the news as “exhilarating and heart warning”.
He said that “Ohanaeze receives with joy and excitement the decision by the Northern governors and President Buhari that the presidency should go to the South. It’s exhilarating and heart-warming. It’s something that will help unite Nigeria more. I’m seeing statesmanship in Buhari by this decision. We are very happy about it.”
However, he wasted no time in stating that it is the turn of the South East.
“The second aspect is that equity doesn’t have half. There is no half measure of equity or justice. Justice is integral, anything short of it is no longer justice. Justice is wholesome, same with equity. And justice from which the North say they are not contesting, and are yielding to the South, it is in the same measure that we are begging the whole Southerners to yield presidency to the South East for peace to reign.
“If it goes to the South, anything South, we will see what we’ll do but we are talking of the South East. It’s expected that it should come to the South East. But if they settle for the South West, it will be similar to what I said the other time, then Ohanaeze will look at all the candidates after the primaries of all the parties, before we make our remarks, in the Igbo voting pattern. We have a candidate already from the South East but we cannot be categorical now until after the primaries before we make our final decision.”
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former National Legal Adviser of the APC, Babatunde Ogala, in his reaction also commended the decision.
“But if they settle for the South West, it will be similar to what I said the other time, then Ohanaeze will look at all the candidates after the primaries of all the parties, before we make our remarks, in the Igbo voting pattern. We have a candidate already from the South East but we cannot be categorical now until after the primaries before we make our final decision”
He said “It’s a good development and we must thank the president for so doing, for at least, conceding to and encouraging the shift of power to the South. It’s now for our leaders in the South to put their house in order and work out a consensus candidate that will be presented to the generality of the party but one must commend the president and the governors from the northern states for being gentlemen and statesmen for agreeing to power shift, even where it was not in the APC constitution.”
He however rejected the idea of further splitting the South into West and East, saying he knows only one South.
“What I know about the APC South is somebody from the South. That is what has been agreed upon. All the governors were collective on that, somebody from the South. Ohanaeze who is making this clamour has never been our supporter in APC. I personally believe that the South East, which has consistently voted for the PDP since 1999, should direct their mind more in the direction of the PDP,” he asserted.
Afenifere leader, Ayo Adebanjo, also commended the decision. He didn’t waste any time in declaring that it should go to the South East.
He reiterated the stand of the group that for equity and justice, nobody from the South West should come.
“It’s a good development; it should go to the South East for peace, equity and inclusiveness. It shows that maybe the president is pushing for a sense of equity, but if he’s sincere, it should go to the South East. Anybody from the South West shouldn’t come in, that’s our stand. We are talking of equity, so if we are talking of rotation, it should come to the South. Must it go to the South West? Obasanjo has done it for eight years or to the South South where Jonathan did five years? Is the South East not part of the South?
“We shouldn’t be living in denial. Where the truth is, there stability is. Where Nigeria can come together on principle, there is no debate about it. Asking them to choose from the South is a step in the right direction, I congratulate him but it must go to the South East to complete the goodness and equity in him.
“When we are talking of inclusiveness and equity, the president should be sincere about a united Nigeria. There is no mincing word about it; you are not doing them a favour. So, I congratulate him for having a change of mind but he should go all out by choosing a candidate from the South East. There is no ambiguity about it going to the South, but it should go to the South East. The South West has had its own turn. We are shouting for rotation and equity. Should rotation be limited to the South West?” 92 years old Adebanjo argued.
The same sentiment was expressed by another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Ebun Adegboruwa.
While commending the decision, he advised that the ticket be micro-zoned to the South East because it’s the zone that has suffered political marginalization in the South.
Adegboruwa commended the ruling party, especially the north, for respecting the constitutional provision of power shift adding that the PDP collectively insulted Nigerians for electing a Muslim Northerner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari who is also a Muslim Northerner.
For him, the PDP was doing “a dance of death,” but the APC has rescued the Nigerian citizens for shifting power to the South.
He said, “I believe that the decision of the northern governors is respecting the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 14, sub 3, of our constitution says that there must be rotation, there must be zoning of powers, of positions, such that either political or economic power should not be concentrated in one region, in one zone or a few people. So, what the APC governors have done is commendable, justiciable and it is morally correct and the best decision to have been taken in the circumstance.
“The reason why the decision of the North is commendable is also that it is to remove that collective insult that the PDP has thrown upon the people of Nigeria by openly picking a northern candidate to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari. The PDP was doing a dance of death and it’s good the APC has rescued Nigerians from that divisive politics of PDP which, out of desperation for power, cannot even respect their constitution, out of desperation for power, would do anything without respect to the sensitivity of the Nigerian situation. The PDP should have respected the Nigerian system by not picking a Northerner. But APC has been able to rescue Nigerians from their insensitivity.
“It would have been very disastrous for APC to produce another candidate from the same region where President Muhammadu Buhari comes from. So, if we should follow that zoning principle to its logical conclusion, it would be necessary for them to ensure that we also extend it religiously because two things that play a major role in Nigerian politics are your zone and also your faith and since President Muhammadu Buhari is from Northern part and also a Muslim, since the ticket is coming to the South, it should go to a Christian.
“I think the zone that has suffered most in this country now is the South East but perhaps, the problem the South East has in the APC is part of their visibility; that has been the problem of the South East in the APC, otherwise, that should be the zone because of the marginalization. I believe that the former governor of Rivers State, who is from the South South, has quite some experience in governance. And when you come to the South East, I think Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu seems to be someone who has the capacity in terms of his profile.
“Removing that and if you talk about visibility, you have to talk about the South West. And once you come to the South West, there has to be a southwestern who is not of the same faith as President Muhammadu Buhari. And I will throw that to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo if the candidate comes from the South West,” the SAN noted.
The Chairman of Civil Societies Coalition in Osun State, Waheed Lawal, said Nigerians were expecting the APC to pick a “rallying point” candidate who would be able to match up with the likes of Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar.
Lawal said, “The three Southern regions in Nigeria have credible aspirants, it’s now left for the leaders of APC to choose the most credible, the most acceptable and renowned party leader that can clinch the ticket and win the presidential race for the party. That particular assignment is going to determine what the chances of APC would be in 2023.
“I don’t want to guess who the party may eventually pick. I am not a member of APC but I believe if APC wants to retain power, they know where to go. The Labour Party has picked Peter Obi and we all know Peter Obi as a good technocrat who can drive Nigeria’s economy. So, by now, APC should be thinking of who can match Peter Obi of the Labour Party and Atiku Abubakar of PDP. So, APC should be able to pick a rallying point as their candidate.”
A politician, Taiwo Akeju, the Commissioner for Political Affairs and Inter-governmental Relations in Osun State, said the South West should be allowed to clinch the ticket because it is the backbone of the APC in the south.
“The ticket has to come to the South West but I won’t mention the name of the aspirant that may likely emerge. We are in control of APC in the South West. South West is the backbone of the APC, so, the ticket should be ceded to us. All the aspirants in the South West are qualified,” the party stalwart noted.
“The PDP was doing a dance of death and it’s good the APC has rescued Nigerians from that divisive politics of PDP which, out of desperation for power, cannot even respect their constitution, out of desperation for power, would do anything without respect to the sensitivity of the Nigerian situation. The PDP should have respected the Nigerian system by not picking a Northerner. But APC has been able to rescue Nigerians from their insensitivity”
A lawyer, Chijoke Ugwoke said if the party would want to consider the political marginalization of the South East, it may consider picking its candidate from there but anything aside from that, the party should ensure that someone who has the requisite qualifications to lead the country should emerge.
Ugwoke said, “It depends on what the party wants. The fact that APC has zoned it to the South doesn’t mean it should go to the South East, South West, or South South. The party knows where their candidate would come from.”
An Owerri-based lawyer and human rights activist, Emeka Nosike, in a telephone conversation with The Point said he is not interested in whatever the party does and cannot waste his time speculating who should emerge or who should not emerge.
He said, “I never had an interest in APC as a party. Whoever they choose from the south may not change my position. For me, it’s either Peter Obi or nobody. No two ways.”
For another lawyer, Rahmatulai Goldfish Ilavbare, a member of APC Concerned Stakeholders, what is important is that finally President Muhammadu Buhari has shown his respect and regards for all the components of the country and that he listens to the yearning of the people.
“I don’t think which part of the South and who emerges as the Party’s standard-bearer does not matter now. What matters is that President Buhari has been able to show Nigerians and the entire world that he is a man of integrity who should be taken by his words.
“He has shown that he respects and regards all the components of the country and that he has listening ears to the yearnings of the people. He said before our national convention that positions held by the North should be zoned to the South while those held by the South should be zoned to the North. That led to the emergence of a national chairman of the northern pextraction. With this now our party will present a Presidential candidate of the southern extraction.
“The south should rather than fight over which zone should produce the candidate, celebrate this wonderful act which was pioneered by Mr. President. It’s a good direction for our party’s success. All it will take is for us to come together to support and work for whoever emerges as the standard-bearer.”
Clergyman and social critic, Prosper Ezekiel said, “Ordinarily the part of the South that should have it is the South East but my challenge is how formidable is the South East and then the aspirants from the zone. The only person I see as of now among the aspirants is Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State. So if they are zoning it to the South East it has to be Umahi but if it is zoned to the entire South, I see the South West wrestling it away from the South East because of the two major gladiators like Tinubu and Osinbajo.”
Martin Onovo, the 2015 presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party who is currently the Head, Policy Positions, Movement for Fundamental Change, told The Point that the APC has no option but to zone the presidential ticket to the South and from here it is the turn of the South East.
“The party has no choice really. It has done the right thing but now it has to be fully done by allowing the South East to produce the candidacy of the party. You heard Chief Obasanjo, Chief Adebanjo, Chief E K Clark, the Middle Belt Forum, what else is left?” he queried.
Ondo State Governor and Chairman of Southern Governors Forum, Rotimi Akeredolu, also welcomed the development, saying the Southern Governors “received with utmost joy the news of the resolution of the 11 Governors from the Northern Region.”
In a statement he personally signed, he said “We therefore wish to strongly recommend to President Muhammad Buhari that the search for his successor as the APC Presidential Candidate be limited to our compatriots from the Southern states. We appeal to all aspirants from the Northern state to withdraw in the national interest and allow only the aspirants from the south to proceed to the primaries. We are delighted by the decision of our esteemed colleague His Excellency Governor Abubakar Badru to contribute to this patriotic quest by withdrawing his presidential aspiration.”
