Edeoga: Rotational Presidency Good for Nigeria

Hon. Chijioke Edeoga

Interview

In this interview with Akinbami Faloye, a former House of Representatives member and Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on National Assembly Matters, Hon. Chijioke Edeoga, spoke on current national issues. Excerpts:

There are beliefs in some quarters that President Jonathan should be a statesman and sacrifice his second term ambition for the sake of unity, what is your opinion?

They are entitled to their opinions so far they fall within the ambit of the law. With regard to the continuation in office of President Jonathan, there is a process. In the Peoples Democratic Party, you first declare an interest, contest the primaries and if the person wins, he or she will be presented to Nigerians for election. I sincerely believe that if Jonathan declares an interest to contest for the presidency in 2015, a majority of Nigerians will vote for him based on his scorecard in office and for the sake of continuity. It is also in the strategic interest of Nigeria that Jonathan seeks second term.

What strategic interest?

A convention of rotational presidency is emerging. From 1999, for instance, it started with the South-west, where Olusegun Obasanjo did two terms. It rotated to the North-West. Unfortunately, Musa Yara’dua died in office. The power automatically by law devolved to Jonathan. He completed the tenure and ran on his own card and won. The important thing that has happened is that the presidency moved from the South-west to the North-west and then to the South-south. The Nigerian constitution has the federal character which implies that the things we own in common should be distributed as much as possible to accommodate all.

Ideally quota system should exist for a time until a particular ill is cured. Some people argue that it is inimical to national development, but it is a thing that we have to live with. It accommodates our weaknesses and strengths. In the political sphere, the equivalent of the federal character is zoning of political offices. The PDP has adopted it. It was adopted by the defunct National Party of Nigeria. The contention among the NPN people was that if the zoning had continued, Alex Ekwueme would have succeeded Alhaji Shehu Shagari. Another school of thought opines that part of the coup that removed Shagari was to jettison an impending Ekwueme presidency.

Rotational presidency is a necessary invention to address Nigeria’s differences. It seeks to build an homogenous national entity. If the contest is left for numerical strength as it is claimed, it might not have gone to the South-west. Obasanjo would not have been qualified because he did not even win in his ward as the PDP constitution stipulates. These are sacrifices that we have to make for national unity. When Yar’adua died, the rotation went to the South-south which is in tandem with the rotational principle. When Jonathan serves his second term, it will go to any other zone where it has not gone at least in the current democratic dispensation.

It can go to the South-east or the North-east. If rotational presidency is adopted, the acrimony that goes with the contest will be eliminated. Rotational presidency will also address the issue of some people who feel that they are entitled to some political offices in this country. There are also some people who feel alienated from Nigeria because they feel there is a particular limit they can aspire to in the Nigerian polity. Rotational presidency will create an atmosphere conducive for every Nigerian to be president.

Would you canvass that rotational presidency be made a constitutional matter?

It is an evolving convention. A convention is also a legal precept. A convention practised overtime becomes not really a law in terms of written, but acceptable by everybody. Lawmaking has various stages. If something happens overtime and it is not resisted, it becomes a convention. Look, the APC is now trying to zone the position of the Vice-president to either the South-south or the South-east.

Recall also that the days when the Igbo aligned with the North and accepted the position of vice-president, the South-west media kept attacking the Igbo for taking the crumbs from the northern table. But now it is the same South-west that plans to zone to the South-east the same position which they derided the Igbo for. We must remember our history.

Which political party do you think can protect the corporate integrity of Nigeria?

The PDP is evolving a convention of rotational presidency which is the best for Nigeria. It is a good thing in motion because it has gone to the North-west where former President Shehu Shagari comes from. Buhari is also from there. Abacha also claims to be from the North-west. From the North-west, it moved to the South-South, where it has not gone before. If Jonathan is allowed to complete his constitutional term like Obasanjo, automatically it will move to another zone where it has not gone to before.

It is in the best interest of democratic evolution of Nigeria at least in the short term. If it goes round the six zones and we choose to jettison it, so be it. After Jonathan’s second term, it could go to the North-east because that zone has not had it since Tafawa Balewa. My sympathy goes to both North-east and South-east. It is clear now that the North-east and the South-east are the least represented in the presidential political map of Nigeria. It becomes clearer that if Jonathan does his second term in office, those against this move want instability in the polity.

The interest of Nigeria is best served in the PDP which has the sympathy for Nigeria’s different zones and is addressing it at least with regards to the movement of the presidential power. Moshood Abiola was denied unfairly and Nigerians, through the platform that Alex Ekwueme created, assuaged the South-west. That addressed an injustice. It is in consonance with the federal character which is a mechanism to address national unity.

We should not join the parties that want to truncate it. There are elements in this country, which because of the hierarchical perception of things, feel that some political offices are their sole entitlements. They won’t like this national stabilisation revolution. It is in the interest of everybody to see that Jonathan not only runs his second term, but runs it in peace. Tension should stop; most of them are man-made.

Within the PDP itself, there seems to be dissenting views. I talk about the G5 governors and former vice-president Atiku Abubakar

Within political parties, it is acceptable that people have their opinions. In the run-up to the 2011 general election, there were people who did not want Jonathan to contest. Atiku also contested. People are allowed to have their views, but the important thing is that when these views come together, superior views should have the way. The five governors are already in the minority. Nobody stops anybody from canvassing his or her views so far it is done within a democratic norm.

But they should listen to other views and allow the superior views to prevail, and that is the party’s position. What I canvass is also my personal view. If various zones of this country agreed to come together as a country, do you think any part of Nigeria would agree to be part of a country where it would never lead? What I am canvassing is a function that the Supreme Court of America had done for ages? Several judgments in America target to perfect its union. In Switzerland the presidency is rotated, the same in Canada. Jonathan’s second term is for the sake of national cohesion and growth.


Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime, recently declared that an Nsukka man would succeed him in 2015. How do you react to the reactions that greeted this decision?

There is also in Enugu State an emerging convention about rotation of the gubernatorial position. It started from Chimaroke Nnamani who did two terms for Enugu-east senatorial district and then Sullivan Chime, who is currently the incumbent, and about to round off his two terms in office. He is from the Enugu-west senatorial zone. The next place it has not gone to is Enugu-north. It is also in tandem with what I am saying that we should follow this emerging convention. Things evolve.

Personally the Nsukka cultural zone is being short-changed because it constitutes over 50% of the population of the state. Nsukka should be the one to give because they have the numerical strength to determine where the pendulum of the state should swing. It was done in the early 90s during the Babaginda transition.