Power, Politics & Irrational Logic

Power, Politics & Irrational Logic
By Sam Onimisi

Following the mammoth crowd which attended the formal declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan’s intention to context next year’s Presidential Election, some groups and certain individuals have faulted him on moral grounds. The kernel of their arguments are as follows. They accused him of disobeying the PDP’s rule of power rotation or zoning as they interpret it to mean that a Northerner must be in power for eight years, i.e. From 2007 to 2015. They also accused him of trying to be a judge in his own case; that is that he should not be a candidate in an election which his government is the conductor. There are other points of accusation which I consider too childish to discuss. Now let’s examine the two main issues dispassionately.

It is a well known truism that power rotation or zoning is a new or recent development in the political lexicon of the country; occasioned by the denial of late Chief M.K.O Abiola of his mandate validly and massively given to him by Nigerian voters in 1993. The winner of the Presidential Election was a Southerner and the annular was a Northerner. A serious crisis of confidence ensued which threatened the corporate existence of Nigeria in a way only the Civil War of 1969-1990 surpassed. Again, the contraption put together to assuage the South- the Shonekan led Interim National Government was overthrown within two months of its existence – also by a Northerner, General Sani Abacha. And he ruled for about five years during which he brutalized Nigerians of Southern origin. This was the background and underlying situation which forced the Northern political class to allow for power-shift to the South in 1999. Power rotation was inserted into the PDP Constitution in fear of the possibility that Southerners could behave in kind by holding onto power indefinitely.

Now, is President Goodluck Jonathan guilty as charged? The answer is an emphatic No! Why? All laws and enactment of the National Assembly are inferior to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, including the constitution or gentleman’s agreement of the PDP. The Country’s fundamental law granted every Nigerian the right to vie for any elective position of his/her choice. I suppose all law-abiding citizens should adhere to this constitutional position. It is my position that it is unlawful and undemocratic to assume that because a person was elected for a term of four years that it is automatic that he remains in office for eight years just because it was supposedly zone to him or his zone. How would anyone foresee that the party that presented him will win the next election? Do we know if he will die before his tenure expires? Must be it conceded to his zone at his demise as if it were a lineal monarchy? The only reason why anyone would assume this position is that only one particular is ordained to win all future elections. But is this the case, and if so, is it democratic?

As for the accusation that by contesting the next election, President Jonathan will be a judge in his own case is too puerile to be canvassed by adults. In the first place, the election is a political contest and not a court case. Again, Prime Minister Alhaji Tafawa Balewa took part in the 1963 general election. Alhaji Shehu Shagari contested the 1983 presidential election as the incumbent president. They were both Northerners. Did anyone accuse them of being judges in their own case? General Murtala Muhammed took over from General Yakubu Gowon. General Muhammadu Buhari took over from Alhaji Shehu Shagari. General Babangida took over from Muhammadu Buhari – all of whom are Northerners. In all, and from Balewa to Yar’Adua, Northerners have ruled Nigeria whether by election or by military coup, for 38 years out of 50 years as an Independent Country. Based on the forgoing facts, where is the moral high ground of any Northerner to deny others the right of leadership of the country?

It would have been better if Northern leaders had canvassed a case that an incumbent President or Governor should either not be a contestant or if he must be, that a neutral authority should conduct future general elections than to accuse an innocent man of a non-existent offence. It only portrayed Northerners as power monopolists or as greedy power hustlers who is intent on holding onto power by all means regardless of their poor past performance records. What a gratuitous self-inflicted insult! Even if this claim to power is based on the North’s perceived majority, it is not to be assumed that Northerners did not and would never vote for candidates from the South. Or must it be taken for granted that Northerners has no ideological value and so would not vote on the basis of ideology. Or are we to believe that Party Manifestoes does not attract Northerners? These are the presumption that power hustler’s wave about to justify why they are opposed to power shift to other zones of the country.

By this attitude of clinging to power on the basis of baseless assumptions, Southerners are being forced to think or fear that Northerners cannot be trusted to relinquish power as at when due or that they have actually manipulated their long strangle-hold on power in order to deny other Nigerians of access or the right to power. Otherwise, this is the first time in history when a Southern minority has been in a pedestal to vie for the Presidency in a democratic setting; rather than for Northerners to merely canvass a free and fair election, their top contestants are ganging up to deny him the ticket using untenable excuses and irrational logic. If Nigeria is one country, let us have the rights of common citizenship, especially the right to leadership. What is good for the goose is equally good for the gander.

There is what they call the Bangladesh electoral formula which ensures that an incumbent government has no hand in the conduct of election. In other words, an interim government for the sole purpose of conducting election is put in place upon the end of the tenure of an elected government. Of course, until we all agree to this arrangement, there is no place for it now in our laws and cannot presently be applied. Let Nigerian voters decide the fate of all contestants in the next election. By so doing, elected leaders will have the true mandate of the people and succession crisis would be averted.