Unarguably, when the major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), threw their presidential ticket open, it was a deviation from a known tradition and unwritten agreement since 1999.
After the presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, it was not in doubt the next part of the country to produce the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The flag-bearers of the two major political parties in 1999 were all from the South-West. Chief Olu Falae was the flag-bearer of the alliance between the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and All Peoples Party (APP).
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the presidential candidate of APP stepped down for Falae. Onu is from the South-East.
Obasanjo did not sit on the fence on the issue of who would succeed him. He was direct and without mincing words, to let the world know that Umaru Yar’Adua would succeed him.
His choice of Yar’Adua was clear. To respect the unwritten agreement of power rotation, believed to be the greatest instrument to hold together a country of “variegated ethnic nationalities.’’
Jettisoning zoning, is an indication that many of the current political gladiators are not students of history or are guided by personal ambition.
For 2023, the Chief Whip of the Senate, Sen. Orji Uzor Kalu, pointed out the imperatives of maintaining this zoning arrangement with respect to the presidency.
Kalu as a leading pioneer member of the PDP played a key role in the emergence of Obasanjo as Nigeria’s president in 1999. Some people even accused him of supporting Obasanjo instead of late Dr Alex Ekwueme, from the South-East.
For 2023, Kalu was clear and unambiguous that the presidency should be zoned to the South-East. He was just appealing to reason and not making a threat. He said that if that was not done that he won’t contest the presidency.
He said that based on equity, the next president of the country should come from the South-East or the North-East.
Kalu stressed this issue in a statement he issued titled: “2023 Presidency : The Fairness I Know.’’
Kalu said inter alia: “It is my desire and intention to run for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but I can’t make an official declaration to this regard without the full support of other regions. Everywhere in the world, politics is situational and that of Nigeria is exceptionally situational.
“The situation is that without the support of other regions, it would amount to a shadow chase for a South Easterner to be president. This is the reason I have been in the frontline of the call that the two major political parties, APC and PDP should zone their presidential tickets to the South-East as they did for the South-West in 1999.
“In the absence of this zoning, I shall return to the senate and stay away from the presidential contest. The reality is that the North is more advantageous to win elections in this democratic setting.
“I am even shocked with the number of aspirants from the South-West and South- South. It is embarrassing that these aspirants (APC and PDP) have no single respect and concern for the South-East.
“I had thought they would think about the South-East; I thought they would support us. The amount of money being spent by these aspirants is alarming and they have forgotten that money alone cannot buy the presidency.
“It has become a joke to an ordinary Nigerian who hears Southern commentators and aspirants rooting for a Southern president on the premise of fairness, equity and justice.
“How can you talk about these morals when you are not even fair to your own brothers?
“If there is anything like `fairness,’ `equity’ and `justice,’ it should be the entire South pushing for a president of South-East extraction. Anything less than that is `hypocritical,’ `unjustifiable’ and `inordinate.’
“What moral justification does a Southerner who refused to be fair to his brothers have against a Northerner running for president? It will be very insensitive , unreasonable and disrespectful for any Southern man to criticise a presidential aspirant from the North on the ground that the North has done eight years and power should return to the South.
“The South-West and the South-South have successfully completed their tenures as ‘president and vice president’. They should have the courage to support their brothers from the South-East.
“If the next president after President Muhammadu Buhari does not come from the South-East, there would be nothing unfair and unjust if he/she comes from Daura.
“If you are convinced that where a president comes from does not matter, let Nigerians not hear you clamour for power shift. Be brave to encourage everyone to run, including President Buhari’s kinsmen.
” But if you have conscience and believe in equality, then you should support the South- East region that is yet to produce a president. That is what I consider as fairness .
” If power should come to the South and not the South-East or North and not the North- East, the essence for which the six geopolitical zones were created is dead.
“To Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Edwin Clark, Deji Adeyanju and a host of others who have stood firm in their support for their brothers in the South-East, posterity will be kind to you.’’
When Lawan picked the form for the presidency, Kalu congratulated him and restated his stand on power rotation.
“ I congratulate my friend, former roommate and boss, Sen. Ahmad Lawan as he picks form to run for President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria .
“I am most glad because he is from the North-East , the only zone alongside South- East that is yet to produce President of Nigeria.
“I have always maintained an unambiguous stand that for justice, equity and fairness in our country, the next president of Nigeria after President Muhammadu Buhari should come from the South-East or the North-East.
“I have also told Nigerians that I would only run for president if the APC and PDP zone their tickets to the South-East.
“That is why I was disappointed with our Southern brothers who are talking about fairness and equity, but have zero tolerance for the same fairness and equity in the South.
“In the absence of a South Easterner being president of Nigeria in 2023, I have my full support for a North Easterner.
“This is because it would be the closest to the equity, fairness and justice everyone is talking about.
“It further means that justice is on its way to the South-East.’’
Elder statesman Chief Edwin Clark, was however not comfortable with Kalu’s position on Lawan. He construed it to mean that Kalu has betrayed Igbo people and Igbo cause. He debunked that North-East had not produced a president as he equated the post of prime minister with that of a president. Tafawa Balewa, Nigeria’s first Prime Minister, hailed from Bauchi in the North-East.
The elder statesman said that he doubted the sincerity and transparency of the senate chief whip.
Kalu in his response to Clark’s assertion maintained, that “I didn’t betray my people, rather I am doing my best to reintegrate them into mainstream politics.
“In the last two years, I have been at the forefront agitating for a Nigerian president of South-East extraction, when most of them were all saying `Southern Presidency.’
“None of these actors openly said the South-East geo-political zone should have it. I was shocked that even the zone the entire South-East supported in unity, including myself in 2011 and 2015 respectively, has the highest number of contestants without thinking of their brothers, knowing full well that the South-East zone has remained the only zone in Southern Nigeria that has not produced the nation’s president since the rotation convention dispensation that began in 1999.’’
“The truth is, Chief Edwin Clark knows the South-East cannot get the ticket of any party in an open contest as it is today without a gentleman’s agreement to concede it to the South-East.
“If all the aspirants from the South-West and South-South cannot support their brothers from the South-East, it is only politically correct to support the North-East geo-political zone, which to me is the shortest route for the South-East geo-political zone to produce the president after their eight years instead of waiting for another 16 years.’’
“It is rather surprising to me that Chief Edwin Clark didn’t call the majority of other Southerners including governors working against the South-East to order or the names he called me.
“What did you say or do when all the aspirants from South-South and South-West were buying forms to run against South Easterners who have always supported them,’’ Kalu queried.
Even before the recent comment by Chief Clark, Kalu did not mince words to commend the elder statesman and others that had insisted that it was the turn of the South-East to produce the next president.
Kalu said: “To Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Edwin Clark , Deji Adeyanju and a host of others who have stood firm in their support for their brothers in the South-East, posterity will be kind to you.”
Analysts, however, dispute equating prime minister’s position to that of an executive president or a military head of state.
It is a return of that political arrangement that produced Balewa that Nigerians are yearning for-Regionalism. In the Balewa era, power resides in the regions, that was why the leader of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), Alhaji Ahmadu Bello refused to come to the centre. He was the leader of the party.
The position of the likes of Kalu is power rotation to the Rightful Place to ensure equity, fairness and national cohesion.
