Zoning: The North as Feudal Lords?

By Eddy Odivwri

Almost as an electoral routine, the running issue of zoning of election offices comes up anytime election is drawing near. It doesn’t matter whatever the agreement had been. Some politicians revel in creating and escalating confusion in the polity. Last Tuesday, the 19 northern governors did just that. They rejected a political arrangement that will see the southern part of the country producing the next president in 2023. It is a contra response to the position of the Southern Governors Forum which has met a couple of times in recent months, insisting that the next president has to come from the South.

According to the argument of the northern governors, the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria does not recognize zoning. They also argue that even if there is zoning arrangement, the north still has some years to even up with the number of years the south has presided over the country as president, since the dawn of the 4th republic.

They argue that the turn of the north was cut short following the unfortunate death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, in 2010 while serving his first term in office. His then Vice, Goodluck Jonathan succeeded him, completed that term and went ahead to win the presidential election in 2011 and governed till 2015.

So, the northern governors are being clever by half by claiming that the constitution does not recognize zoning. Yes, technically, the constitution does not make provision for zoning, yet the political parties have always had that understanding among its members. But even then, the constitution provides for federal character in such a way that no one part of the country is seen to be over-dominating the affairs of the country either in appointments or electoral process.

If the northern governors argue that the constitution does not recognize zoning, so what explains the fact that both the president and his Vice do not usually come from the same zone? Has the arrangement not been that if the north produces the president, the South will produce the Vice President and vice versa? This arrangement holds sway, even in military governments, as history records have shown. In fact, beside geographical balance, there is also the usual consideration of religious balance. The only probable time this understanding would have been altered was in the June 12, 1993 presidential election when the late Chief MKO Abiola had chosen a fellow Muslim, Babagana Kingibe to be his Deputy. As fate would have it, the arrangement was not only botched, it threw up a political malaise, from which the country has not fully recovered, 28 years after.

In a straight logical reasoning, devoid of the needless complexity politicians revel in, it would be assumed that having served full two terms of eight years by May 29,2023, the sitting President Mohammadu Buhari, from the northern part of the country, should be succeeded by somebody from the Southern part of the country.

But the northern governors, claiming that they will not play second fiddle, argue that the years of presidential rule by a northerner are yet less than that of a southerner. The argument is not only warped, it is as mendacious as it misleading. Would the northern agitators have imagined that a northerner, who was not then elected into government be nominated to continue from where Yar’adua stopped? Would that not have been a great affront on the provisions of the constitution? Even before Yar’Adua died, was it not even a northerner (then Senator) Bala Mohammed, who moved the motion for Doctrine of Necessity, for then Vice President Goodluc k Jonathan to fill the void left by Yar’adua? Bala Mohammed is now the governor of Bauchi State and surprisingly, one of the governors who endorsed that wonky logic from the northern governors.

It is also puerile and deceptive to argue that the north needs another term to balance up the length of time a southerner has governed as president. There is no way the north will produce a president now and such a president will not insist on doing two terms. If that happens, it means that perpetually, the north will unduly be in a dominant rule of the nation, even in a democracy. They must be guided by the fact that Yar’Adua’s death was an act of God.

It is unfortunate that the north perceives itself as the God-ordained leader of the country. Thus, it considers political domination as a birth right and a matter of fait accompli.

Little wonder it echoes the tired cliché of not wanting to play second fiddle. So, whose portion is it to always play second fiddle? Did the dog not say, when I fall for you, and you fall for me, that’s when the play will be real fun? Perhaps, the north should be told they do not own Nigeria. They cannot always dictate the content and character of our collective interest as a people. Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians. And there are no second class citizens. Everybody is a full and free born.

The arrogant claims of people like Hakeem Baba Ahmed—the spokesman of Northern Elders Forum (NEF)– saying the north has enough votes to produce the next president is as preposterous and misleading as it is divisive. Such careless utterances deepen the fault lines of the country. Many of us do not have any other country unlike the Baba Ahmeds of this world who can claim a heritage even in far away Mauritania. Baba Ahmed, like the butterfly, thinks itself a bird. Does he need to be told that the constitution provides that whoever will be a president must win votes in at least 25 states of the federation? Does he also need to be told that the illusion of a one homogenous north is no longer there? The Middle Belters have become more assertive and politically independent than they were in years of yore. They are no longer political appendages of the northern oligarchy. So, Baba Ahmed should be roused up from his outdated ancient illusion.

The 19 northern governors fed by their narrow interests have refused to see the bigger picture of a united Nigeria. They are carried away by the blights of divisive and selfish politics. They are not bothered about all the troubles of banditry, killings, kidnappings, a shrinking and collapsing economy, and general unrest in the land, especially in the northern part of the country, as to warrant a solution summit, but they all had to congregate to push a warped argument of how they must dominate the political scene. They must wean themselves of this fixation of dominance. At 61 today, the unhelpful practices of politics of self and deceit in Nigeria, must begin to give way to the politics that promotes greater good for the greater majority.

NYSC as Marketing Officer for Bandits?

By Eddy Odivwri

Is it true that the quest for extra income and not to over depend on government is forcing some government agencies to look inward?#

What does that mean?

Are you a stranger in Nigeria? It is trying to do as the Police do. Have you not been stopped at Police check points and the Policemen begin to beg for money to buy fuel into their patrol van? Don’t you hear them say the DPO did not and does not give them money to fuel or maintain the patrol vans? So, they mount the road blocks to see how much they can garner from motorists so the Patrol vans can keep running? That’s the looking inward I am referring to.

So how does that apply to other government agencies?

Did you not hear the recent effort by the authorities of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to possibly look inward in sourcing for extra funds to run the agency? Did you not hear they are owing their vendors— those supplying the uniforms and other kits?

I don’t understand?

You seem to be behind in many national developments. Are you not aware that the NYSC , in its service booklet to intending 2021 Batch B corps members stated in section 65 (e) (pages 58 and 59) that intending corps members should ensure their parents or guardians give them enough money as reserve, possibly for ransom payment, if and when they are kidnapped during the service year? You didn’t hear that?

Haaaa, that’s despicable sacrilege. I heard it, but I dismissed it, although they said it is a mere advisory.

What stupid advisory? And how can you dismiss what is clearly written in black and white? It is not hear say. It is not a mere memo torn off a notice board. This is a carefully revised policy which is scripted out, given to the NYSC printer to add to the content of the NYSC service brochure, which must have been proof-read by somebody in the organization, approved same for printing and then got circulated/distributed to Corps members….. and you dismiss it? Don’t forget we are not talking about Onitsha market literature here

My dismissing it is because it rankles. It is unthinkable that such reprehensible and offensive idea can come from and organisation that is supposed to mentor Nigerian youths.

If you like, speak all the grammar you want. Many people have rationalized it that the desperation in many government organisations is forcing them into untoward actions. Some have said the kidnap of Corps members is an organized crime between NYSC officials and bandits. Do we need any other evidence? That the NYSC is seeking to function as marketing officers, sourcing for business for the bandits, who in turn will have to “settle” them for their services.

Were it not so, how could it have entered the mind of whoever, to ask intending corps members to package ransom money as part of the things they have to bring to Orientation camp? Is it not a sacrilege? This is an organisation headed by a serving Army General. So what does the policy mean? The Nigerian Army has acquiesced and surrendered to bandits and kidnappers and raw brigands and has become business partners with Bandits? Deus avertat!

Well, I do not think the NYSC set out to do a marketing job for Bandits. When I read the other provisions of the security tips, you will see that the intent is right and pure. It may have just come out in a wrong way. But the overall intent is to ensure that Corps members are security conscious, do less travel, be vigilant and avoid putting their lives at risk given the avalanche of kidnappers all over the place.

So, why didn’t the so-called advisory end at that point? Why add that corps members should identify someone like family members, friends and colleagues who could be on hand to pay off whatever ransom that could be demanded. Isn’t that smelly and cowardly? In any case, how much is the recommended sum that must be packaged as ransom? Is that not defeatist?

You see, the NYSC is determined to ensure that Corps members are safe wherever they are serving. And that is why three special roads: Okene-Lokoja; Abuja-Kaduna and Aba-Port Harcourt are specially identified as hellish highways filled with kidnappers and evil men and that…

(cuts in) But wait o, didn’t Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State boast that his state is one of the safest in the country? How come the number one deadly routes are in his state? Isn’t that the road that has consumed many people in recent times including army generals?

Forget about what Governor Yahaya Bello said. He is a politician. He’s making bogus claims to brighten his CV for the illusionary presidential ticket he is looking for. Let us focus on the NYSC management. Any right thinking human being will know that they mean well. Their overall interest is the safety and protection of the Corps members, Q.E.D!

Did you say they mean well? The question is : Have they done well or said well? Look,

don’t put anything beyond these desperadoes in government agencies. They can do anything. Anybody who conceives the idea of having a fore plan for kidnappers is up to something sinister and mischievous. That provision is not by accident. Trust me.

Take it is a clerical slip on the part of the NYSC authorities, even as they have vowed to investigate what happened. In the same vein, the members of the House of Representatives have also vowed to investigate the so-called clerical slip. Let us believe they will unearth everything about this needless scandal.

Clerical what? Look, it is an act of sabotage. It is a clear affront on the effort of the federal government to combat banditry and kidnapping. So, for any federal government agency to be inadvertently supporting and promoting the illicit business is a manifest and unacceptable act of sabotage. So, please don’t water it down as clerical slip? Clerical my foot!

Ok. Let us wait for the outcome of the investigation both from the NYSC and the lawmakers.

Awwwwww, that’s the end of the matter. Never expect to hear anything on this subject again. (stretching out his forefinger) Bet me!

Stop doubting the Nigerian system. For God’s sake, we are 61 today, but we are filled with skepticism for our nation. Let’s believe that things will work in Nigeria. We cannot remain with our pessimism 61 years after. The story cannot remain the same.

Happy Independence anniversary!