Ganduje, presidency, North and South East

When the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, pointedly told Northern Nigeria to bury the ambition of producing the next President of Nigeria in 2027, it was obvious that he had stirred up a hornets’ nest. At a time when there is a huge disillusionment in the North over the presidency of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as in other parts of Nigeria, nobody was in any doubt that non-partisan leaders from the North and those in the opposition political parties would challenge the temerity of the former Kano State governor to, figuratively, shut them out from the quest to occupy the presidency in 2027.

Ganduje

Ganduje had, in a meeting with leaders and members of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre (PBAT Media Centre) and Tinubu Northern Youth Forum (TNYF), foreclosed the possibility of a northerner displacing President Tinubu in the 2027 election. He had declared that there was no vacancy at the Presidential Villa, as the APC would follow its zoning policy of “the North-South sharing formula.”

The APC chairman had stated: “When a leader from the northern part of this country was in office for eight years, we advocated that the next President in our party should come from the South.  And, luckily enough, we worked very hard with the cooperation of Nigerians. Our President has come from the South and is going, insh Allah, for second term, 2027. And then after that, it will be turned to the northern part of this country.”

As expected, this audacious position of Ganduje has attracted the ire of northerners. The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) could not stomach such an insult and came hard on him. The group, in a statement issued by its national coordinator, Jamilu Charanchi, summed up the position of the North by saying that it was “deeply troubling and disheartening that Ganduje has chosen to distance himself from the sad realities,” while asking: “Is Ganduje satisfied with the current state of extreme poverty, rampant inflation, perpetual insecurity, constant electricity shortages, declining standards of education and a crumbling healthcare system? Is he delighted with Nigeria’s collapsing economy? Does he believe that these failures are acceptable or justified?”

The CNG said that Ganduje was “dissociating himself from the realities” of high inflation, high fuel cost, insecurity and extreme poverty and, therefore, accused him of “suggesting that despite all these failures, President Tinubu deserves another term in office, just like that?”

Giving its forthright verdict, the northern group said: “We categorically reject his position and urge Nigerians to choose their leaders based on competency, capacity, integrity and respect for the rule of law.”

It must be said that Ganduje’s position on 2027 presidency did not come as a surprise. As national chairman of APC, he wants the status quo to remain. He spoke for northerners in the APC and not for those in other political parties or those who are non-aligned, politically, but who want the country to be ruled by the best hand. His is a display of partisan loyalty over national interest. His statement is a clear attempt to clear the path for President Tinubu’s re-election bid, regardless of the fact that the President has not done well to warrant such reward. His position is flawed and ignores the principles of democracy, which allow voters to choose the most qualified candidates, regardless of their region or ethnicity.

It is really amazing that APC is talking about zoning when the political party has not applied good reasoning, fairness, equity and justice in attempts to share political offices. While Ganduje is quick in stating that there is a North-South sharing formula, he failed to tell Nigerians why, in zoning the 2023 presidency to the South, APC chose to go to the South West, when justice demanded that any zoning to the South at that time should have been to South East, which remains the only southern zone that has not, since 1999, produced the President of Nigeria or the Vice President.

Yes, in the 26 years of democracy in the country, South West has produced two Presidents (Olusegun Obasanjo and Bola Tinubu) and a Vice President (Yemi Osinbajo). The South-South, within the period, has produced a President (Goodluck Jonathan) and Vice President (Goodluck Jonathan). The North-West zone has produced two Presidents (Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari), while the North-East has produced two Vice Presidents (Atiku Abubakar and Kashim Shettima). If, therefore, APC was in love with fairness, the natural thing to have done was to zone the 2023 presidency to the South East. That was the point the late Minister of Technology and Innovation, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, made at the national convention of the APC, prior to the 2023 presidential election. Onu’s valid point was ignored, as the APC opted for the South West.

Although APC is being clever by half in the zoning mantra, Ganduje is right that power should not shift to the North in 2027. With Buhari, a northerner, recently vacating the presidency, the power shift that would make sense is for the South East to take its turn at the presidency in the next election.

It is left for the main opposition political party – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – or the much-talked about coalition-cum-opposition mega political party to advise itself properly to know that as the South is still favoured for the next four years, from 2027; the South East is the place to go for a candidate. No matter how aggrieved the North may be against President Tinubu, it would be difficult for a candidate from there to defeat a southern incumbent President Tinubu. What would resonate is a South East candidate with massive northern support, boosted by support from South-South and progressives in the South West.

For good reason, the South East region has been clamoring for a chance to produce the country’s next President. With Nigeria’s complex history of power rotation between the North and South, it’s only fair that the South East, which has been marginalized for far too long, gets its turn based on the principle of equity. As stated earlier, since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, the South West and South South have produced Presidents, while the South East has been left out. This imbalance should be addressed to ensure that every region has a fair shot at the presidency.

The South East is home to some of Nigeria’s most brilliant and innovative minds. Producing a President from this region would not only be a matter of fairness but also a strategic move to tap into the region’s vast human resources. By producing a President from South East, Nigeria would be sending a strong message about its commitment to democratic principles and the values of justice, equality and fairness. Nigerians who cherish justice and equity have always supported this position. Such nationalistic minds as the late Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Chief Edwin Clark mouthed this till they died recently.

It is worth restating that as 2027 beckons, the task of producing a President from the South East is not only a matter of fairness and equity but also a strategic move to tap into the region’s vast human resources and promote democratic values. It’s time for Nigeria to give the South East its fair share of power and opportunity. Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians, irrespective of tribe or tongue. No region in Nigeria is more important or superior to the other. The manipulations leading to the exclusion of the South East from the political power equation must stop.

The principle of power rotation should be embedded in the psyche of Nigerians and the country’s democracy. Rotation of the presidency among the six geopolitical zones should become legally binding: enshrined in the constitution. The onus is on the National Assembly, in the ongoing constitution amendment exercise, to do the needful and give every component of Nigeria equal opportunity and a sense of belonging in the occupancy of the presidency.