The Insight by Lateef Adewole
Whenever it appears like there is little decorum in Nigeria, something or someone almost always stirs something and it is usually a controversy that will put the country on momentary overdrive. Such could be what the interview of Malam Mamman Daura, the nephew of President Buhari, did.
Last week he granted an interview to BBC Hausa, where he addressed many issues of national concerns. However, the one that caught the fancy of Nigerians, especially from the southern part of Nigeria, is where he queried why we should continue to practice zoning when it comes to the presidency of Nigeria, rather than basing the choice of who occupies that position on merit. All hell was let loose!
The antenna of the southerners suddenly sprang out. Such a statement coming from a close relative of the president was not to be taken lightly. Many saw it as “flying a kite” as aspirations for 2023 presidency by different zones heat up. They insinuated that he must have spoken his uncle’s (Buhari) mind.
For the first time in a long time, the presidency did not allow that insinuation to fester. Promptly, the presidency responded by clearing the air on the issue. They distanced the president and his administration from Daura’s comment and claimed that whatever he said was his personal opinion, which had nothing to do with President Buhari’s position on who succeeds him in 2023 or from which zone such person should come.
But, can anyone really blame those who felt like that? It is curious that such opinion is now being expressed by a very important northern elder, when the north has enjoyed two consecutive terms of occupying the Aso Rock, favoured by zoning and it is expected that the position should naturally and fairly move to the south. President Buhari has enjoyed the turn of the north since 2015 and will be there till 2023. It is only fair that a person from other region takes over from him.
Although, there is no written agreement or constitutional provision for rotating presidency or zoning in Nigeria, the idea came into effect in 1979 when it was introduced by the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), which went ahead to produce President Shehu Shagari from the north. The understanding was that, to ensure political stability, the leadership of the country should be rotated between the north and the south on two-term basis.
Unfortunately, that could not be put to test as the military, led by the then Major General Muhammadu Buhari, truncated that democratic journey in December 31st, 1983, barely months into the second term of Alhaji Shehu Shagari who had just won a reelection. The concept was reintroduced in 1999 by the PDP, the party that produced the first president in the fourth republic. Since then, PDP has tried to maintain that until the unfortunate death of former President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, which disrupted the arrangement.
This disruption produced former President Goodluck Jonathan, who completed the first term of his principal from May 2010 to 2011 and went ahead to secure a fresh term of his own in 2011. It was the sentiment of unfairness against the north based on the zoning understanding in the PDP that kicked out Jonathan when he attempted to get another term as president in 2015. The overriding sentiment then was that the south has had more than a fair share of the presidency and it should return to the north.
This saw politicians across the country unite to form the APC, which eventually won and produced President Buhari. So, the zoning understanding was directly or indirectly responsible for the Buhari presidency. Many have argued that if positions were to be based purely on merit, many people in position of authority today would not have smelt such posts from hundreds of meters away.
That was why it was curious what Malam Mamman Daura said in his interview. Many began to ask why he never raised such issue going into 2015 or 2019 elections. Why did he suddenly realised that zoning has not been working for the country?
Let us examine the merit of his claim. In the reality, the point he made was very apt. Historically, the democratic experiment has never produced the best among us to lead us. It is either accidental president or foisted ones. Up till 2019, the closest we saw brilliant and competent individuals get to was being vice president. Those parties that have such characters as their presidential candidates could not win a local government. Their parties only made up the numbers.
This was due to how dysfunctional the leadership selection process has become. I have written a few times about this in the past. The requirements, not in qualifications or competence, needed to become the president or get any political position in Nigeria have become warped. Firstly, it requires deep pockets, which only stolen public funds could finance more often. We saw how President Buhari lost his elections for three consecutive times before he eventually won in 2015. What changed? I leave everyone to answer that question. “Enu mi ko ni won ti ma gbo wipe iya tisa laje” (it isn’t from my mouth that people will hear that the teacher’s mother is a witch).
So, “clean” and averagely comfortable (financially), but qualified and competent people stand no chance. The kind of money deployed to get political office in Nigeria is “criminal”. Many times, one wonders what exactly drives such desperation. Well, it should be obvious if the level of stealing of public funds by public officials that we have been inundated with in the past weeks and months are anything to go by. It is all to gain access to steal and no more to serve.
If merits were to be the main criteria as suggested by Mallam Daura, Nigeria could have gotten the best out of its leadership. And the country could have been different from the pitiable state it is now. This seems to be the main factor in many developed countries across the globe, even now in Asian countries like Singapore, China, etc. But that was not to be in Nigeria.
Nigeria is a diverse country. There are multiple ethnicities, cultures, religions, with each group looking out for its own. The tendency of leaders to pander to their tribal enclaves instead of seeing the country as a whole is responsible for the “it’s our turn” mentality. Every leader is looking out for their tribe rather than taking the whole Nigeria as their constituency, despite swearing to that effect.
This often saw a president skews the majority of political appointments in favour of his region, allocates resources to favour same and focus major infrastructural developments there. These seeming imbalances and unfair treatment of other zones outside the president’s, drives the desperation of each zone to get their people to that position. Since 2015, this particular opinion has characterised the President Buhari’s administration. There has been endless criticism of his appointments which saw majority of “very important positions” occupied by people from his zone. This has generated so much unease.
Many have reached a state of seeing all his appointments now as “déjà vu”. Once someone in position, either political or in civil service, retires, resigns or is sacked, no matter where he or she is from, many always simply anticipated that the president will fill such vacancies with “his people”, many of whom got such not based on merit which his nephew now canvasses. And to be fair to people with such mindset, the president has never failed them on too many occasions.
This is why many considered the president’s nephew’s opinion at this time, in the face of all these, as hypocritical. Has he ever seen anything wrong in all those appointments by his uncle? What advice has he offered him?
However, when a more intense searchlight is beamed into such zoning arrangements, it will be realised that it only benefits the few elites in whichever zone produces the presidency. Largely, the majority of the people of such zone were usually left in the lull. There is rarely any significant impact on their lives based on the fact that “their man” is the president of the country.
For instance, when Chief Obasanjo was the president from 1999 to 2007, it was as if he was sent to “punish” the Yorubas and South West. The people of that region did not benefit much from his presidency except ofcourse, his own associates and cronies. We were all witnesses to what transpired between him and Asiwaju Tinubu while he was the governor of Lagos state. He siezed the state’s local government allocations for years, thereby crippled their functionality. But for the sagacity and ingenuity of Tinubu and his cabinet members, who deviced alternative means to survive, the state could have collapsed. So much for zoning the presidency to the Yorubas.
Those difficult times turned out to be the kick that Lagos needed to turn around its fortunes. And today, the state is better for it. How effective and efficient the surge in the revenues that resulted from such innovations are used is a different matter altogether. Likewise, the infrastructures in the South-West were dilapidated. Lagos-Ibadan expressway was a death trap. Lagos-Abeokuta way which leads to Chief Obasanjo’s town of Abeokuta is a mess. Idi-Iroko road that leads to Obasanjo Farm in Ota was a catastrophe. So, of what essence was his presidency to the zone? He even favoured other regions more, especially the North.
Also, the presidency of Jonathan did not addressed all the destructions in the Niger Delta, despite spending five years. He was even more focused on developing the north for whatever reason. He built 162 Almajiris schools, sited six universities out of a total of nine in the north, among many other things. His own cronies too did get “personal” benefits through political patronages but that was where it ended. His Niger Delta people were left in squalor. In fact, it is President Buhari who just finished construction of some roads in his state. The rail being constructed was designed by this administration to pass through his village, Otueke in Bayelsa state, this is same for other states in the Niger Delta region.
But what have the “ordinary” people of the same President Buhari from the north benefit majorly from his presidency? Not much. Well, many road and rail infrastructure developments are ongoing there, but the peoples’ conditions have become worse. I say this with all sense of responsibility. I lived in the north for ten years and I have been a frequent visitor to the region since I left there. More people are in penury. Their economic conditions worsened.
The worst of all is the insecurity. No one would have imagined that with a retired general in the saddle, criminal elements would highjack the country, killing, maiming, kidnapping, destroying properties, farmlands and businesses, and displacing indegineous people from their ancestral homes to become refugees in their own fatherland. It was incredulous.
All the accusations against him of nepotism, tribalism and jingoism are all in favour of the few elites. They have no impact on the more impoverished ordinary northerners. Therefore, I totally agree with Mallam Mamman Daura that this nonsense “turn by turn” arrangement have not worked for Nigeria largely, to the extent described above.
However, there is a reason why federal character was enshrined in the constitution. Given the human propensity for greed which could result in winner-takes-all. With the diversity of Nigeria and the quasi-military federalism we operate, which concentrates enormous powers and resources at the centre, their is need for fairness and equity to give every zone a sense of belonging.
In truth, all zones in this country have numerous qualified, competent and suitable people who could be the president of Nigeria as well as occupy various political positions. Even if we want to base our choices on merit, that should not be mutually exclusive of balancing through zoning for the presidency or federal character in appointments. It is preposterous for anyone to claim that all the people who were appointed lopsidedly are the only ones qualified to occupy those positions.
Therefore, it has become imperative for the country to be adjusted structurally. This is to enthrone a country made of regions which will be competitive. Each region can then choose who to lead them based on whatever criteria their people set. I am sure it will be unacceptable to some, a situation where people contesting for offices, including the highest one, to only be required to “know how to read and write”. Or a secondary school certificate at minimum, in a country boasting of countless graduates, Masters degrees and PhD holders, and Professors. That’s insane!
Where it is impossible to go regional immediately, it might become necessary to insert zoning in the constitution. This will make everyone to “calm down”, be rest assured that they will automatically get their shot at the presidency. It is also important to raise the minimum educational requirements for elective and appointive positions. How could the messenger in an office be required to have a school certificate and a president of Nigeria is also asked for the same? That is disgraceful.
In all, while merit is very important in choosing leaders for our country, ensuring that all regions have assurance of not being manipulatively dominated, is important by the application of zoning, not only at the presidency but at governorship and other positions. This will give all Nigerians, a sense of belonging.
May God continue to protect us and guide us aright.
God Bless Nigeria.
Lateef Adewole is a political analyst and social commentator can be reached by email lateefadewole23@gmail.com or via WhatsApp +2348020989095 and @lateef_adewole on Twitter
