By Andy Asemota
The much-talked about presidential election might still be about two years away, but the controversy trailing the demands for rotational presidency have been generating some heat.
From the North to the South, the picture of where the pendulum would swing is becoming more confusing by the day.
Judging by the ongoing clamour of both political and non-political actors in different zones, the issue of zoning has become quite sensitive in the two leading parties.
Many political stalwarts, irrespective of their political persuasions are clamouring for their zones to occupy the nation’s number one seat in 2023.
Their current agitations over power rotation might be a strong factor in the emergence of Nigeria’s president in 2023.
Regardless of the agitation in the South, many PDP leaders in the North are determined to ensure the presidential slot is retained in the region where the incumbent president on the APC platform, Muhammadu Buhari, hails from.
Among those believed to have positioned themselves for the PDP ticket in the North (for now) are former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and the governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.
Despite the dust being raised by southerners within the PDP fold, the opinion of many prominent members of the party in the North, including a former Minister of Police Affairs and Board of Trustees (BoT) member of the party since its inception, Adamu Maina Waziri, that PDP must present its presidential candidate from the North, cannot be dismissed with the wave of the hand because it is public knowledge that citizens of northern extraction account for the greater percentage of voters in each general election.
So, this may not be unconnected with why neither the PDP nor APC leadership have committed themselves to a choosing a southerner as its presidential candidate.
Many believe that the revelation by PDP chairman, Uche Secondus that the PDP presidential ticket “is open to all” meant that aspirants from the South can give the ticket a shot, but do they stand a chance of winning the slot, given the body language of leaders of the party?
And if the party runs them out, will the South not interpret the move as shutting her out after eight years of a president of Northern extraction? How will they campaign to the people of the South? No easy route indeed.
But, keen watchers of the party may be looking in the direction of powerful leaders like Gov. Nyesom Wike, his Delta counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa among others to resolve the seeming rotation impasse.
APC
In the ruling party, APC, the issue of zoning is definitely more intense than in the main opposition party.
Unlike the PDP, APC has no clear-cut zoning policy. Thus, as Buhari is due to exhaust his two terms totalling eight years in 2023, different geopolitical zones are eyeing the APC ticket.
From the North comes the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello and his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai. Former governors of Kano and Zamfara states, Ibrahim Shekarau and Sani Ahmed respectively, are also believed to be positioning themselves for the presidential ticket of APC.
Even at that, there is none that has been touted so much as the next in line for presidential slot of the APC as former governor Lagos State and National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
In addition, Umahi, who is also the chairman of South-East Governors’ Forum, may have debunked nursing a presidential ambition, despite defecting from the PDP to APC because as he alleged, the PDP reportedly proved insensitive to South-East agitation, but he may still be eyeing the number one public office.
Apart from Umahi, those championing the issue of rotational presidency can’t help adding to the list of 2023 presidential hopefuls, Senator Rochas Okorocha, a former governor of Imo State.
Meanwhile, a founding member of APC and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, who spoke to THISNIGERIA recently, urged the North to forget the 2023 presidency.
The Adamawa State-born politician had declared that “Northerners made the point that President Goodluck Jonathan should have a Northern successor because Yar’Adua did not complete Northerners’ turn. “That shows implicitly that we have accepted zoning from the way we argue from time to time. So, we cannot therefore turn around now and say after Buhari’s tenure that the presidency should not go to the South.”
The APC chieftain equally revealed that the Yoruba were of the opinion that if they supported northerners for the presidency, the North would be charitable enough to return the support in good faith. He maintained that Tinubu and Okorocha, based on their antecedents and contributions to APC since 2015, were entitled to have a shot at the 2023 presidency.
However, an increasing number of the APC new leaders, ThisNigeria learnt, have some soft spot for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was the Attorney-General of Lagos State during Tinubu’s administration, as a possible successor to Buhari.
Many believe that the controversy over 2023 presidential ticket of APC may have its roots in the plans by some APC leaders to ensure the party’s presidential hopeful emerges from the trio of Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi; his Kogi State counterpart, Yahaya Bello, or Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, notwithstanding that President Olusegun Obasanjo from the South-West completed two terms of eight years on the PDP platform.
Keen watchers of the polity have, however, observed that Tinubu had been losing his grip on the APC, but the party could not ignore him and his loyalists in the search for the next president without facing the consequences in the South-West.
Regardless of the factors working for or against Tinubu or the South-West, a founding member of APC and the Director-General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON), Mr. Osita Okechukwu, warned that the party might implode over zoning arrangement ahead of 2023 general elections.
Okechukwu, a member of the manifesto committee of the defunct merger committee of APC, explained in an interview with ThisNigeria, “Without sounding like a broken record, if equity, good conscience and natural justice are at play, it is the turn of Ndigbo. I will be an idiot to say that Bola Tinubu is not qualified to bid for the presidency. I am talking about the unity of the country, national loyalty and sense of belonging.”
Umahi’s Quest To Be President Reason for Defection, Says Wike
On the critical issue raised by Buhari’s nephew, Mamman Daura, in the national political space that the battle to succeed Buhari in 2023 should be based on competence instead of zoning as a deciding factor, former governor of Anambra State and erstwhile special adviser to Obasanjo, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, said the 2023 South-East presidency is not negotiable because if the Ndigbo lead Nigeria, the nation will witness unparalleled economic growth.
“There are many qualified people (in the South-East) and you know it. The other time somebody in the Villa said that merit should be the order of the day. If it is merit, it means after one Ndigbo, the next will be Ndigbo and the next Ndigbo and Yoruba,” he said.
As the issue of which zone produces Nigeria’s next president, two years thence, rages, the citizens watch in suspense how the highwire drama eventually plays out.
