ROTATIONAL TOMFOOLERY

ROTATIONAL TOMFOOLERY
By Ohi Ohida
Power rotation entered into Nigeria`s political lexicon around 1993 after Gen. Ibrahim Babangida`s infidelity by his failure to conclude his transition to democracy program on a honest note.
For twenty continuous years (1979-1999, save for Chief Earnest Shone- kan’s three months shenanigan), the North dominated political power and meted out injustice by denying Chief M.K.O. Abiola his well deserved trophy in the 1993 presidential race. The odium this singular act brought against the North and, the sense of humiliation it brought to the South propelled the quest for power rotation or power shift and Obasanjo became the first beneficiary of power shift.
By power rotation, it is meant that power shifts every four or eight years between the North and the South. The Peoples Democratic Party quickly appropriated the rotational formula into a doctrine of turn –by – turn. The philosophers of power rotation could not be blamed, given the poor and ruinous service delivery of those at the helm of affairs at the time. What more, there was no prospect of power ever shifting to the South except by the rotational formula. And so, for a country divided by political power monopolists, it was considered that the cause of equity will be served through power rotation. With it, the PDP hopes to cling onto power for eternity by presenting (or is it imposing?) candidates from both sides of the geographical divide at every eight years interval. They have done so successfully twice so far, in spite of its undemocratic method. The country was forced to endure Obasanjo`s crudity for eight long years even when there were myriads of reasons to impeach him. Tried as Speaker Umar Na` Aba did, he and the National Assembly were prevailed upon to spare the country of another round of political crisis. So, the PDP or power monopolists considered Obasanjo’s acts of impunity a lesser evil to the possibility and implications of allowing power to get into the hands of ‘unpatriotic elements’. The doctrine of power rotation is an expedient one as it is devoid of the best interest of the country, for the test of its desirability could not be adequately assessed until after President Yar’adua’s demise.
Even on his sick bed in Saudi Arabia, various groups and individuals were jostling to succeed him, some of which will make nonsense of the so-called power rotation formula. As Yar’adua succumbed to his sickness, the Constitution supports his deputy Vice President Jonathan Goodluck to succeed him, which in effect, rendered the doctrine of power rotation a non-starter. But geo-political politics says no to such constitutional succession. The North believes that by power rotation, Goodluck may only complete Yar’adua’s first term tenure, while a Northerner must become President in 2011. All manner of lies, intrigues and subtleties have been deviced by government functionaries, politicians, interest groups and power-brokers for or against constitutional succession or power rotation. The truth is that there is no easy escape from power devolution and geo-political restructuring if the country is to enjoy political stability. The reason why the then Vice President was incapacitated from acting as President is not because the National Assembly, the Federal Executive Council or the ailing Yar’adua has done or failed to do one thing or the other to enable such to happen.
They failed to do what was needed to enable the then Vice-President to become acting President on the basis of the geo-political, religious and the ethnic origin of Jonathan Goodluck – the same needs or factors which rotational formula was made to serve. As important as the health of an individual is, even if that person is the President of a country, the health of a country of over 140 million people is much more important and should have been considered by power hustlers who connived to prevent Goodluck from acting as President. The truth is that Nigeria was on sick-bed with Yar’adua for those 6 months and the country’s economy, politics and governance are the worse for it. Whereas, the President was receiving adequate medical attention by competent doctors and at a hospital of his choice, Nigeria was not receiving the same attention as needed – all because the sick President is from a particular region, or of a particular religion and or from a particular ethnic group – who was taking their turn in power!
Fear is at the root of those besotted to power rotation; the fear of misuse of power in the area of resource allocation, of hire and fire and of justice, equity and fair play – all of which have been denied by past experience. But are we not experimenting with rotational vengeance in rotational presidency or governorship? Have we not seen Yar’adua reversing certain decisions of his predecessor? The Oodua nation has been complaining of Yar’adua’s lopsided appointments to executive positions against the Yoruba – and the allegation is self-evident. Other ethnic nationalities were of the same opinion. What we are left with is rotational vengeance as the cycle of offence and revenge goes full circle from South to the North, from Hausa to Igbo, or Yoruba to Fulani ad infinitum! Covetousness of power by people from certain ethnic, religious and geographical origin heightens the fear of domination, cheating and even enslavement. If this is true, it means that the answer does not lay in rotating power but in its devolution.
Rather than concentrating power in the centre to be exercised by one individual who is not only fallible but susceptible to sectional, sectarian, regional and religious influences, why not devolve power to geopolitical regions based on ethnic nationality, territorial contiguity, geographical and cultural affinity and linguistic harmony? The truth is that in a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society such as Nigeria, no individual could be so detribalized as to be trusted with the kind of power invested in the Presidency as presently constituted. In the absence of such trust – and there is no basis for it - rotational presidency or power rotation is not only a formula for offence and – revenge, it amounts to collective un-wisdom, that is, rotational tomfoolery!