THE fit of anger triggered by the rejection of power shift to the South by governors from the North spread on Tuesday as prominent persons and ethnic nationalities accused the North of toying with the unity of the country.
Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, pan-Igbo group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) and the Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), as well as a former vice president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Anthony Ubani said the North could not rule back-to-back at the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure in 2023.
They don’t want us to be together—Afenifere
Leader of Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, Pa Ayo Adebanjo has flayed the stance of the northern governors, saying that it means “they don’t want us to be together” if the northern governors and traditional rulers insist on retaining power in 2023.
He made this known to the Nigerian Tribune via a telephone call on Tuesday evening. Pa Adebanjo, who said he was not surprised at the resolution of the governors, said they are pushing the southerners out of Nigeria. He, therefore, stated that the southerners cannot continue to be underdogs, adding that such domination would not be accepted.
According to him, “I am not surprised. If they have to continue to rule forever, that means there is no Nigeria. They want to continue to rule us. They are pushing us out of the Nigerian federation. It means that they don’t want us to be together and we cannot to be underdogs. We don’t accept their rule forever. The basis of staying together is not there. We won’t accept to be in a Nigeria where you would dominate us.”
Akinyemi warns against consequence if negotiation fails
A former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi said nobody should expect the northern governors to back their southern counterparts that power should shift from the North in 2023. But he said the knotty issue could be resolved through negotiations if the two sides were sincere, failure of which he warned could lead to disaster or destruction.
Akinyemi, who is also a former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, and foremost member of the 2014 National Constitutional Conference, said this in his reaction to the rejection of power shift by the northern governors.
“Why would I react to that; what were you expecting? No! Were you expecting that the northern governors would see eye to eye with the position of the southern governors? I mean they are northern governors. And they would come up with what they think would benefit them; whether they are right or not is not the issue. Why do you expect the northern governors to endorse what the southern governors want? Why?” He queried.
“That is their own position, they’ve made their own position clear,” he declared.
Professor Akinyemi, while suggesting the way-out, said: “When each person is sincere in defending his own position then we sit down and negotiate. And if you refuse to negotiate, then you continue to push the ball towards the cliff. The ball would then fall off the cliff and there would be disaster, destruction.”
Zoning controversy is a deception—Falana
Foremost lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana spoke of his objection to the controversy. He believed the controversy was contrived to divert Nigerians’ attention from the socio-economic and developmental ills, plaguing the country.
He said, “The political class should stop confusing the Nigerian people with dubious ethnic agenda. The bourgeois politicians have engaged in promoting regional agenda in order to divert the attention of the Nigerian people from the crises of poverty, insecurity, unemployment and rising prices of food and other essential materials.
“Even though the country is on the verge of collapse, politicians have kicked off the campaign for the 2023 general election in defiance of the provisions of the Electoral Act. We appeal to the print and electronic media to compel the politicians to engage in issue-based campaign. In particular, they should be made to declare their stand on electronic voting, access to education for every Nigerian child, public ownership of government-owned enterprises, control of the economy, job creation etc.”
1999 Constitution, PDP, APC constitutions support zoning —Adegboruwa
Also, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and rights advocate, Mr. Sam Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa was unequivocal about the constitutionality of power rotation between the North and South of Nigeria. He picked holes in the contention of governors from the North that their Southern counterparts didn’t make a valid request for the presidency to come down South in 2023.
Adegboruwa said the framers of Nigeria’s constitution envisaged the kind of brewing political scenario and built a bulwark in the constitution. He said, “The excellencies (from the North) were not well-advised (by concluding the request from South was unconstitutional). The constitution cannot be read piece-meal. It must be seen as a whole. The section quoted by the governors relates to how to win election, and choosing and agreeing on candidate.
“Drafters of the constitution envisaged a situation when a section of the country may want to dominate others and provided for provisions against it.
“Section 14 (3) forbids domination of political space or occupation of office to the detriment of others. It is to promote national cohesion, loyalty to the country and spread of offices, including the presidency.
“If six geo-political zones called north have been in power since 2015 and after exhausting eight years, the constitution expects the south to produce the next president. Zoning is lawful and constitutional. And there is precedent. In 2006, they (Northern governors) made similar demand for power shift, if they check their records.
“Again, Article 7 of PDP says zoning shall be adopted and enforced. Article 7 of APC says similar thing, to promote national unity. Both in their constitutions and the constitution of Nigeria, there is room for zoning and rotation, to promote national cohesion.”
Paradigm shift is in the interest of every Nigerian —Ohanaeze Ndigbo
Also speaking, the pan-Igbo organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, stated that the resolution of the northern governors portends a bleak future for the country with precarious omens, stressing that the North appeared “undisturbed that Nigeria is fast collapsing under its leadership.”
This is just as Ohanaeze warned of dire consequences for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) over “maneuvers and alliances by its members” to frustrate the decision of the 17 governors from the South for power shift in 2023.
In a statement by its national publicity secretary, Chief Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, Ohanaeze noted that if the history of leadership of the country were anything to go by, the North ought to have been an Eldorado for dominating the political space.
“Let it be made abundantly clear that if Presidency is a panacea to people’s problems, the North would have become the Netherlands of Africa. This is because the North had Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Abdulsalam Abubakar, Musa Yar’Adua, Muhammadu Buhari, yet the problems of the North are on the increase,” Ohanaeze declared.
Listing a litany of woes that has befallen the North in recent years, Ohanaeze said from the Obasanjo presidency to the Jonathan presidency, the South consistently honoured the principle of power shift that culminated in the Buhari presidency.
“Therefore, the least that is expected from the North is a show of profound gratitude to the entire South for their large heart, equanimity and sportsmanship. Furthermore, it is in the interest of every Nigerian that there should be a paradigm shift to governance techniques. Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide unequivocally stands with the 17 southern governors and any black leg among them will incur the wrath of history.
“Nigeria has two major groups of people: those that cherish the corporate existence of Nigeria and those that do not value the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria. The latter indulge in reckless nepotism, ethnocentrism, avarice, supremacist mentality, hollow expansionism and poor judgment of history. It is the law of nature that light illuminates and that in religion, both the Lord Jesus Christ and Prophet Mohammed stood for truth,” the body said.
It exposes them as hypocrites, cowards —PANDEF
The Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) also described, as cowardly and irresponsible, the opposition of the northern governors to the call for power shift to the south and states’ collection of Value Added Tax (VAT).
PANDEF’S national publicity secretary, Honourable Ken Robinson, said the submissions of the northern governors were parochial and hypocritical.
“Northern governors’ opposition to power shift to the South is most ridiculous, cowardly and irresponsible. Their opinion on the issue of the southern presidency is preposterous and parochial; they have enjoyed massive support from the South for President Muhammadu Buhari to attain power.
“It exposes them as hypocrites and cowards. That is what they are and they should be told clearly. No sane person would say power should not rotate after eight years of a northern presidency. Buhari was supported by southern Nigeria to become president. Our money was used to sponsor him and we can name the states where our money was used to sponsor Buhari to become president, particularly in 2015.
“After using our money and our votes to become president, they are now saying that power shift is unconstitutional. It is a most absurd, unreasonable, irresponsible statement. Anybody, no matter how highly or lowly placed, that says that there should be no power rotation in 2023 does not love Nigeria. Those people do not want Nigeria to progress and to be united; they do not want peace in Nigeria. Let it be known to the northern governors and indeed the northern community that there can be no peace without justice, and saying that there should be no power rotation is an act of injustice against southern Nigeria,” Robinson averred.
On VAT, he said: “PANDEF wholly supports the position of Rivers, Lagos and the southern governors that states should collect VAT.”
Ubani accuses northern governors of double speak
A former vice president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Anthony Ubani, also accused the northern governors of doublespeak having described power shift as constitutional in 2006 in their quest to produce a president.
His words: “I dug out something where the same northern governors in 2006 insisted that power should shift to the North because, at that time, it was very equitable to them; it was something that was just and of course, something that was constitutional. It was the Northern Governors Forum that insisted that power should shift. If they said power should shift to the North in 2006 when they said the principle was constitutional and it was just and it was proper, I feel that they are only playing to the gallery, when in 2021 they are singing a different song because you cannot appropriate and reprobate.
“If it was just for power to go to the North when they felt it was, then there is something wrong for them to now say it is unconstitutional for the same power to shift to the South after residing for eight years in the North. President Muhammadu Buhari will complete his tenure in 2023; it would make eight years that he has been in power. Is it not right now for power to come to the South? They are just interested in playing politics. The same day they were making the argument, bandits were killing people in parts of Kaduna State and other places. So, these people have not used power even to the advantage of the people; it is only for themselves. That is the truth.”
Power must shift in 2023 —YCE
Dr Kunle Olajide, who is the general secretary of the Yoruba Council of Elders (YCE) also expressed anger over the opposition of the northern governors to power rotation in 2023. He said: “I must first express my disappointment that the royal fathers, some of them eminent people that made that counter-declaration against southern governors. I would have felt much better if their remarks about 2023 were about maybe the best man becoming president. The Nigerian situation is so bad now as far as I am concerned that competence, capacity and character are attributes we must look out for in anybody who aspires to be president.
“Yes, the North has held power in the last six years, but honestly, the North has been the worse for it in terms of security. In fact, when they were all gathered in Kaduna on Monday, bandits went on rampage and killed more than 34 people, as well as burnt a lot of houses somewhere in that state. So, for any group of people, who have failed to give a good account of their tenure in their area, now aspiring to lead a much wider area, I’m not particularly impressed because in the North today, banditry, kidnapping, killings are far more in the north than any other part of the country.
“There is a silent agreement on power shift because we are not yet a nation. And Nigeria has become more polarised in the last six years instead of bringing us together. After 60 years of independence, I expect us to look for the best candidate, not minding where he comes from. So, I was disappointed. Power should shift to the South in 2023 because I don’t think the northern governors have much to show for their tenure, given what has been happening.”
Survival of the country paramount beyond constitutional provision —Oshun
In his own reaction, national chairman, Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), Honourable Olawale Oshun argued that the northern governors should consider the survival of the nation rather than argue that the issue of rotational president is not enshrined in the constitution. According to him, “They cannot mean that power should not shift because it is not in the constitution. They cannot mean it. Not many things are in the constitution, you have antecedents, precedents. What is important is that for the survival of our country, there is a basic understanding that at least, for now, there must be some kind of rotation. The United Kingdom, as entrenched as its democracy is, also relies on precedents. Their constitution is not written but they know what the values are. What are the values here? That for everybody to have a sense of belonging, that we must be sure that power goes round.
“When it was felt that education was not evenly spread across the whole country, decision was taken by policy makers led by Professor Jibril Aminu that there should be a kind of quota system where there were marked differentials to encourage the educationally backward states. Every country must use its own rules. I don’t think they mean it. The fact that they have behind them their traditional rulers, emirs is an indication that they acknowledge that this country is a country of diversity and it has to respect that diversity. They cannot mean it.”
North can’t rule Nigeria back-to-back —MBF
The Middle Belt Forum declared that the core North had no moral right to contest the 2023 presidential election at the end of the tenure of President Buhari.
The president of the body, Dr Bitrus Pogu said the North was wrong to plan jettisoning power shift after having its turn in power.
“We in the Middle Belt stand for power shift; it should be among three zones: that is North, South and Middle Belt, not just between North and South. We in the Middle Belt have severed ourselves from the core North. For the sake of the unity of Nigeria, power cannot remain in the North under any guise in 2023. It is wrong for the North to rule back-to-back. Unless they have something they want to hide and are afraid of power leaving the North, there is no justification for the North to say power shift is unconstitutional.
“In present-day Nigeria, things are bad; there are agitations for succession everywhere. There is mistrust among Nigerians, people are complaining of marginalisation, so for the sake of the unity of this country power must shift. We want Nigeria to be regenerated, to be united so that the country can have peace and progress it deserves,” he said.
On Value Added Tax (VAT), Dr Pogu declared: “With regard to VAT, the matter is in court; the court will determine the outcome of VAT. But it is a signal to those who are destroying beer through Hisbah, that you cannot eat from the proceeds of alcohol and then be destroying the product. It is unfortunate that it is the same North that is clamouring for VAT money. Let us be sincere with ourselves and call a spade a spade; the court will determine the outcome of VAT.”
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