To understand this and agree or disagree based on ration you're going to have to allow yourself to think outside of the box while remaining realistic and factual in your assessment.
I don't want to hear anyone emotions.


I've been rethinking my personal stance on zoning. I've come to see that it's actually one of the only ways Nigeria can operate a government based on merit due to our unique cultural disposition. This is ironic because the main and possibly only argument against zoning is it demote merit for ethnic sentiment and promotes mediocrity.
I disagree for this reason.

If a man from the west runs against a man from the east, the last thing on the minds of anyone in the west and east is the merit of this man. Instead, the vote will boil down to his/her tribe. It can be the most imbecilic westerner against the most brilliant easterner or the opposite. People on each side will simply want their tribes men to 'win' regardless of the outcome. If today Theodore Orji, an slowpoke runs against Fashola, a smart talented man, the fact that Orji is Igbo will push many igbos towards his camp who know very well that he's an idiot. If it was Barth Nnaji, a smart man, against Atiku, an slowpoke, you will see many northerners that know Atiku is a thief flock to his side. Though it's hard to say if this ethnic sentiment will determine the tide of the election, it's VERY safe to say that ethnic sentiment and 'home town champion' mentality has kept thousands of publically known thieves and illiterates in the government and allows them to roam and loot freely because they're always have a strong support base for nothing other than their last name. So the idea of a 'merit' based election in a tribal society will never work the way it's supposed to.


With zoning you will have a small effect in the zone who's turn it is to rule, and the rest of the nation will be completely ethno-neutral. We will then have a winner based on the best of 2 men because they are of the same tribe and only people in that tribe or zone can ever play 'home town hero' politics, but their numbers won't be enough to jeopardize the nation. As it stands each of the Zones are the size of a large african country respectively, so it's not as if each zone is will present a narrow amount of candidates. You can find more than 2 men capable of contesting for president and bringing about real change in each state, let alone zone.



I think zoning is, oddly enough, probably the only way to bring about merit because the rest of the nation will vote for the best of two people from another tribe.

and if its the turn of the zone that hasnt got a credible candidate to feature, a mediocre gets the job and drags the nation back 4 steps.

the way out is for all to have a generic knowledge of democracy, the 12 yorubas or 10 ibos or 11 hausas can rule without any prejudice. They only have to discharge their duties and be a democratic representative of their people.

There are more people in the "West" "East" or "North" than there are people in the netherlands. If the netherlands can find one credible leader each of these zone can as well. The problems is we look at our immediate political pool for leadership and keep promoting losers out of ethnic and home town sentiment. We need to look outside of politics for leaders. If you can do that you'll find that every village in nigeria has a potentially good president in it.