Each of the six geographical zones in Nigeria is big enough to stand alone as a country,the notion that you cannot at any given time find one person from each zone who is capable of leading Nigeria is laughable.
The president  is just a president, he is not God, he can never govern alone.
Whatever he can do, there are probably a thousand more who can do the same or even better. It is up to the political parties to throw up the best candidates.
If you think you are Nigeria's Obama and it's not your turn, just wait. besides, here are many other ways to serve your country.
Our own democracy does not have to look like anyone elses, we have to take into account our own peculiar situations and act accordingly.

Reading some of the comments here, you will think you are reading about a different country and not Nigeria. How long ago was it when people were complaining about the North monopolizing power, have we forgotten so soon?
The only thing that is truly capable of tearing Nigeria assunder is power struggle between the ethnic groups, if it is not addressed one way or the other we are inadvertently working towards a self fulfilling prophecy that Nigeria will break up one day in the future.

Sky Blue:

I completely agree with the bolded part and do believe a key to diffusing all the tension is serious decentralisation of power. Abuja is simply too imposing and powerful, overbearing on almost every aspect of a diverse and truely multicultural country such as Nigeria, States can't even generate power for their own consumption, can't recruit their own police force to suit their needs. Decentralisation would also empower people to take control of their own development and would make government more closer to the grassroots and more in tune with the citizenry.

I don't see what this has directly got to do with having a truely democratic electoral process though.

I will say it has Everything to do with it. While the idea of a truely democratic anything is difficult to define, i think a situation where local citizen-participants have a closer, greater access to their democratic institutions, leaders and systems and resources like we should have in a decentralized government is better than what we currently have.

In the case of elections, it will give us the power to provide a better system where people know who they are voting for, have better access to them, and can make local electoral laws(yes the ability to make unique local laws is critical to this too) that will better serve their local situations, this current system where the national president can decide who my local govt chairman will be and bring the power of the federation to bear on local elections is simply not working.

Tuyis:

Each of the six geographical zones in Nigeria is big enough to stand alone as a country,the notion that you cannot at any given time find one person from each zone who is capable of leading Nigeria is laughable.
The president  is just a president, he is not God, he can never govern alone.
Whatever he can do, there are probably a thousand more who can do the same or even better. It is up to the political parties to throw up the best candidates.
If you think you are Nigeria's Obama and it's not your turn, just wait. besides, here are many other ways to serve your country.
Our own democracy does not have to look like anyone elses, we have to take into account our own peculiar situations and act accordingly.

Reading some of the comments here, you will think you are reading about a different country and not Nigeria. How long ago was it when people were complaining about the North monoplizing power, have we forgotten so soon?
The only thing that is truly capable of tearing Nigeria assunder is power struggle between the ethnic groups, if it is not addressed one way or the other we are inadvertently working towards a self fulfilling profephecy that Nigeria will break up one day in the future.

Amusing how you dodge the points raised. I genuinely mean no offence, but please no need for stating such obvious things like 'the president does not govern alone' it dodges the issue and is a tad condenscending. I simply said you should at least be honest when arguing based on your stance and watch the use of superlatives like "best", when the system you propose is not actually searching for that.

With regards to the part in bold, I find it even more amusing that you believe a system of rotation would not continue to put ethnic politics on the front burner as opposed to governance, credible candidates and performance. The only way I will support rotational presidency is if it is rotated among the 250+ ethnic groups, simple. So why this opposition to true rotation? What is the north? Is the north an ethnic group? Is the south an ethnic group? It is quite insulting and to be honest reeks of ethnic chauvinism (in my opinion a major cause of the ethnic tension in places like the Niger Delta) when someone says things like "let us give it to the south south this time". Is south south an ethnic group? Do you know how many ethnic groups are in the middle belt? Do you know how many ethnic groups are in the south south? So do you now see how silly it is when you say your proposed panacea to the problem would be to say, 'ok, south south or wherever, it is your turn to rule, everyone from there sort yourself out and give us a candidate'? This will defuse ethnic paranoia of other groups dictating to them and reduce tensions how?!! Unless we are ready to do this rotational thing well, please spare the excuses because it it just down right patronising and insulting. What is the fear? If people really want to rotate presidency then let us do it properly.

If Nigeria is to break, a significant reason would be because of this silly and arrogant WAZOBIA attitude the country has adopted. We can rotate among everybody properly so it is truely suited to our peculiar situation and respective of everyone; or we can just have free, fair and open elections for the presidency, while decentralising power from Abuja. But please, enough with the hypocrisy and enough with the arguement that rotation is to give everybody a shot, because it isn't. Rotation is simply a means of keeping power within a select group. What if after how ever many years the presidency returns to say the Middlebelt, and last time it went to a particular ethnic group; what is to say it can't go to that same ethnic group again and what is to say such a result won't cause tension? You want to deal with all the problem that goes with division along ethnic lines by instigating an unbalanced political system based on ethnicity?

Sky Blue:

Amusing how you dodge the points raised. I genuinely mean no offence, but please no need for stating such obvious things like 'the president does not govern alone' it dodges the issue and is a tad condenscending. I simply said you should at least be honest when arguing based on your stance and watch the use of superlatives like "best", when the system you propose is not actually searching for that.

With regards to the part in bold, I find it even more amusing that you believe a system of rotation wil not continue to put ethnic politics on the front burner as opposed to governance, credible candidates and performance. The only way I will support rotational presidency is if it is rotated among the 250+ ethnic groups, simple. So why this opposition to true rotation? What is the north? Is the north an ethnic group? Is the south an ethnic group? It is quite insulting and to be honest reeks of ethnic chauvinism (in my opinion a major cause of the ethnic tension in places like the Niger Delta) when someone says things like "let us give it to the south south this time". Is south south an ethnic group? Do you know how many ethnic groups are in the middle belt? Do you know how many ethnic groups are in the south south? So do you now see how silly it is when you say you your proposed panacea to the problem would be to say, ok, south south or wherever, it is your turn to rule, everyone from there sort yourself out and give us a candidate? This will diffuse ethnic politics and reduce tensions how?!! Unless we are ready to do this rotational thing well, please spare the excuses. What is the fear? If people really want to rotate presidency then let us do it properly.

If Nigeria is to break, a significant reason would be because of this silly and arrogant WAZOBIA attitude the country has adopted. We can rotate among everybody properly so it is truely suited to our peculiar solution and respective of everyone; or we can just have free, fair and open elections for the presidency, while decentralising power from Abuja. But please, enough with the hypocrisy and enough with the arguement that rotation is to give everybody a shot, because it isn't. Rotation is simply a means of keeping power within a select group.

GBAM!!

Sky Blue:

Amusing how you dodge the points raised. I genuinely mean no offence, but please no need for stating such obvious things like 'the president does not govern alone' it dodges the issue and is a tad condenscending. I simply said you should at least be honest when arguing based on your stance and watch the use of superlatives like "best", when the system you propose is not actually searching for that.

With regards to the part in bold, I find it even more amusing that you believe a system of rotation would not continue to put ethnic politics on the front burner as opposed to governance, credible candidates and performance. The only way I will support rotational presidency is if it is rotated among the 250+ ethnic groups, simple. So why this opposition to true rotation? What is the north? Is the north an ethnic group? Is the south an ethnic group? It is quite insulting and to be honest reeks of ethnic chauvinism (in my opinion a major cause of the ethnic tension in places like the Niger Delta) when someone says things like "let us give it to the south south this time". Is south south an ethnic group? Do you know how many ethnic groups are in the middle belt? Do you know how many ethnic groups are in the south south? So do you now see how silly it is when you say your proposed panacea to the problem would be to say, 'ok, south south or wherever, it is your turn to rule, everyone from there sort yourself out and give us a candidate'? This will defuse ethnic paranoia of other groups dictating to them and reduce tensions how?!! Unless we are ready to do this rotational thing well, please spare the excuses because it it just down right patronising and insulting. What is the fear? If people really want to rotate presidency then let us do it properly.

If Nigeria is to break, a significant reason would be because of this silly and arrogant WAZOBIA attitude the country has adopted. We can rotate among everybody properly so it is truely suited to our peculiar situation and respective of everyone; or we can just have free, fair and open elections for the presidency, while decentralising power from Abuja. But please, enough with the hypocrisy and enough with the arguement that rotation is to give everybody a shot, because it isn't. Rotation is simply a means of keeping power within a select group. What if after how ever many years the presidency returns to say the Middlebelt, and last time it went to a particular ethnic group; what is to say it can't go to that same ethnic group again and what is to say such a result won't cause tension? You want to deal with all the problem that goes with division along ethnic lines by instigating an unbalanced political system based on ethnicity?

The problem with your position is that every time there is an election in Nigeria where there is a Yoruba, Hausa or an Igbo candidate vying for the presidency, it always degenerate into a kind of ethnic battle and the voices of the minority groups are invariably drowned.

I am scratching my head, I can't find a situation where you throw open an election for all Nigerians and there is not an Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo. It is the way it has always been in Nigeria. But, if you have a better idea, Iam certainly open for it.

Also, there is nothing chauvinistic about rotational presidency, it is actually meant to prevent that. I don't understand what is chauvinistic about my position.

Tuyis:



The problem with your position is that every time there is an election in Nigeria where there is a Yoruba, Hausa or an Igbo candidate vying for the presidency, it always degenerate into a kind of ethnic battle and the voices of the minority groups are invariably drowned.

I am scratching my head, I can't find a situation where you throw open an election for all Nigerians and there is not an Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo. It is the way it has always been in Nigeria. But, if you have a better idea, Iam certainly open for it.

Also, there is nothing chauvinistic about rotational presidency, it is actually meant to prevent that. I don't understand what is chauvinistic about my position.

No need to be mischevious (intended or not). I never said I had any problem with an Hausa or Yoruba or Igbo candidate (how are you even sure I am not one of those?). I have no problem with any credible candidate. Free and fair elections for all, or proper rotation; I just said that like three times (so I really don't know why you are asking for my input again).

With regards to why some might see the rotational presidency you propose as chauvinistic, I really don't like repeating myself if I don't have to so if you are genuinely asking that question then I would point you back to my last post. You really want to rotate? Then rotate it properly, if not please spare us having to read such proposals.

Akanbi_edu:

One question. Lets assume there is no rotational presidency, the elections are fair and a zone keeps winning. Will the other zones accept this scenario in Nigeria?

Wow this is a very powerful question I've always wanted to ask!!!

Fhemmmy:

If the election id free and fair that means the zone must represents something for people to keep voting for them.
Democracy is the govt of the people by the people for the people, so if the PEOPLE keep voting for same zone, it means it is the voice of the people and that means people are being heard.
Now tell me what is wrong with that scene

there will still be ' let us taste power' group, democracy is a game of numbers some particular group in nigeria don't know how to play politics on a national level, their support is always limited for some reason
What do you think will happen if they cant produce the president yet again!

May I point out again to members of this forum that in my opinion the greatest failure of Nigeria is the inability of the educated and well informed to win the battle of informing and sensitising the general public. The mischievous  elites (includes Yaradua, Jonathan, Mark, Bankole and a host of others you all know) have continuously, since the inception of independence in 1960 sold their selfish agenda's with ethnic coloration's which "we" who should know better bite hook line and sinker. They are all birds of the same feather and have brokered their deals and benefits while we shout our self hoarse over the wrong things.

Apart from a few friends and cronies no one else benefits from the thieving people who have ruled us for decades. Neither would the Ijaws benefit from a Jonathan Presidency (apart from his retinue and friends and a few elites: did u look at the list of the presidential advisory council?), Katsina has been crying loud that they have benefited nothing from Yaradua and Ogun state indigenes and elders would readily tell you the legacy of the Obasanjo's rule (part 1, and part 2) resulted in disruption and oppression.

The idea of rotational presidency is a dubious one concocted by the same thieving elites to give themselves an opportunity for a turn by turn in looting Nigeria. It is a very retrogressive and unreasonable idea. Naturally power would rotate in a Presidential system, whether it is a rigged or a controlled one; how? Its simple

When Obasanjo was president and his tenure was coming to an end, it was only reasonable that he would pick someone from the north to succeed him, he picked Yaradua and Jonathan as VP. If all things being equal Yaradua had ruled for 8yrs he definitely would have had Jonathan succeed him (if joe plays his cards well), If he eventually fell out with Joe, naturally political expediency would dictate that he fights to stop him or replace him with a candidate from Joe's region (eg Banbangida Annuling June 12; enter Shonekon; OBJ fighting Atiku enter Yaradua).

The Joe or Joe replacement would naturally pick a northerner from another geopolitical zone in the north (not yaradua's zone), when Joe or his replacement wants to leave the Northerner takes over and picks a deputy not from Joe's geopolitical zone; come in an Igbo man etc and continues. This is not a certainty but is likely to be the sequence and a naturally flowing one. The agitators for a contrived one are scheming for their own benefits and trying to expedite their case so they are direct beneficiaries now they are at the corridors of power

Now those of us supporting a clearly cut out constitutional rotational system are only playing into the hands of our enemies, cause the direct beneficiaries are the ones singing the tunes and beating the drums, they know themselves and they are a few.

The general public stands to gain nothing. Most despicable about this rotational balderdash is that it has not been practiced anywhere in the world successfully, America is more diverse than Nigeria, a multi racial society not even ethnic, same for India, UK, South Africa etc. For those who would say Nigeria is different, may i remind you that our difference has been associated with failure, looking at models and picking those that have worked is a sign of maturity and wisdom.

What we should be fighting for is a just and equitable society, without that the president can come from mars, it would not benefit anyone apart from the inner caucus or cabal (as is popularly used now).

Does not really matter who going to run the country
in 2011. "The Powers that Be" will always be in the background
controlling things -

At the Moment Lt.-Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) is running
the Country lol!!!

And Please guys dont give some hasty reply
without understanding your Geo-Politics and looking at the
plain facts!

blueflame1:

May I point out again to members of this forum that in my opinion the greatest failure of Nigeria is the inability of the educated and well informed to win the battle of informing and sensitising the general public. The mischievous  elites (includes Yaradua, Jonathan, Mark, Bankole and a host of others you all know) have continuously, since the inception of independence in 1960 sold their selfish agenda's with ethnic coloration's which "we" who should know better bite hook line and sinker. They are all birds of the same feather and have brokered their deals and benefits while we shout our self hoarse over the wrong things.

Apart from a few friends and cronies no one else benefits from the thieving people who have ruled us for decades. Neither would the Ijaws benefit from a Jonathan Presidency (apart from his retinue and friends and a few elites: did u look at the list of the presidential advisory council?), Katsina has been crying loud that they have benefited nothing from Yaradua and Ogun state indigenes and elders would readily tell you the legacy of the Obasanjo's rule (part 1, and part 2) resulted in disruption and oppression.

The idea of rotational presidency is a dubious one concocted by the same thieving elites to give themselves an opportunity for a turn by turn in looting Nigeria. It is a very retrogressive and unreasonable idea. Naturally power would rotate in a Presidential system, whether it is a rigged or a controlled one; how? Its simple

When Obasanjo was president and his tenure was coming to an end, it was only reasonable that he would pick someone from the north to succeed him, he picked Yaradua and Jonathan as VP. If all things being equal Yaradua had ruled for 8yrs he definitely would have had Jonathan succeed him (if joe plays his cards well), If he eventually fell out with Joe, naturally political expediency would dictate that he fights to stop him or replace him with a candidate from Joe's region (eg Banbangida Annuling June 12; enter Shonekon; OBJ fighting Atiku enter Yaradua).

The Joe or Joe replacement would naturally pick a northerner from another geopolitical zone in the north (not yaradua's zone), when Joe or his replacement wants to leave the Northerner takes over and picks a deputy not from Joe's geopolitical zone; come in an Igbo man etc and continues. This is not a certainty but is likely to be the sequence and a naturally flowing one. The agitators for a contrived one are scheming for their own benefits and trying to expedite their case so they are direct beneficiaries now they are at the corridors of power

Now those of us supporting a clearly cut out constitutional rotational system are only playing into the hands of our enemies, cause the direct beneficiaries are the ones singing the tunes and beating the drums, they know themselves and they are a few.

The general public stands to gain nothing. Most despicable about this rotational balderdash is that it has not been practiced anywhere in the world successfully, America is more diverse than Nigeria, a multi racial society not even ethnic, same for India, UK, South Africa etc. For those who would say Nigeria is different, may i remind you that our difference has been associated with failure, looking at models and picking those that have worked is a sign of maturity and wisdom.

What we should be fighting for is a just and equitable society, without that the president can come from mars, it would not benefit anyone apart from the inner caucus or cabal (as is popularly used now).

Apt and quite true.

Decentralise powers and stop making the presidency a seat of some all encompassing god and people won't even care much as long as they can get development in their area. Make politics more grassroots oriented. Decentralisation of power is a must to douse the tension. I don't care if the president is from one village for the next hundred years, as long as he is competent, serves all Nigerians, progressive, etc. Give more power to the people so that states and regions can determine the way they would like to progress and develop. The federal government can't keep holding everyone hostage.

Politics is about Power and Power is about
control, and no matter what form the Goverment
takes it would always be centralised with a dense
core - Nearly every government today is controlled
by a ruling oligarchy without exception -

martinosi:

Politics is about Power and Power is about
control, and no matter what form the Goverment
takes it would always be centralised with a dense
core - Nearly every government today is controlled
by a ruling oligarchy without exception -

Martinosi: It is time Nigerians start looking at facts and stop making unfounded statements like "it is the same everywhere"

What cabal controls the USA, UK, South Africa and even Ghana. Case in point, in South Africa Zuma rested power from Mbeki who was after his head; in Ghana power has moved from one party to the other and back to another party within the last three transitions. And Obama? Guess u would say he was from a Kenyan Oligarchy? And there are numerous examples; France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Ukraine etc

Rotation of the presidency in a democracy, are y'all crazy, ? This is annoying.The party chairman never mentioned zoning the "nomination" to a zone but rather the presidency like the people's vote dont count , dam!!!!!!!. PDP don steal naija, The best way to vote PDP out of power,

Crazy or not, look at the slant of arguments on Nairaland - the undercurrent of ethnic mistrust runs through

Do we really believe that the Igbos believe that the best can come from anywhere other than the SE?
Do the Yorubas not also believe they are the best?
Ditto for SS, NE, NW and NC

It is hard to implement this matter of free and fair elections of the best

With the likes of Obj hanging around like "enforcer", how do we get credible elections if we don't confront them!

when peeps talk of ''voting PDP'' out of power i wonder which planet they have been living in. where in nigeria have we had elections in the true sense of the word?

perhaps some people really think that nigerians voted for the PDP in the first place

the issue of rotational presidency is to ease ethnic tensions. anyone who denies ethnic tensions in this country either is very ignorant or has not lived in nigeria b4 . . or perhaps lives in absolute denial.

pres-elect:

the issue of rotational presidency is to ease ethnic tensions. anyone who denies ethnic tensions in this country either is very ignorant or has not lived in nigeria b4 . . or perhaps lives in absolute denial.

So the way it is being proposed how would it ease ethnic tension? So the current tensions as a direct result of it is not clear to you? And how and when do you propose the entire 250 tribes in Naija would get their turns?

A typical case of talking based on rumour and propaganda while ignoring facts on ground.

no govt ever satisfies everybody. if it is zoned into the six groups, it will get to the majority of the peoples' ethnic group. population wise. it mustnt get to a group whose population is 200 as compared to the igbos e.g who are estimated to be 10-14 million people.

no system is perfect, but even if we have a free and fair election which produces a hausa man from katsina or kano each time, people will still be unhappy. our country is tribalistic in nature. if you want evidence, take a closer look at this forum. some igbos just hate yorubas. period. no matter how good a person is, once he is yoruba he is hated. same for yorubas, and hausas. . and efiks etc. and this kind of people are probably in millions. you cant ignore the ethnic nature of nigeria. this must be considered in our polity

pres-elect:

no govt ever satisfies everybody. if it is zoned into the six groups, it will get to the majority of the peoples' ethnic group. population wise. it mustnt get to a group whose population is 200 as compared to the igbos e.g who are estimated to be 10-14 million people.

no system is perfect, but even if we have a free and fair election which produces a hausa man from katsina or kano each time, people will still be unhappy. our country is tribalistic in nature. if you want evidence, take a closer look at this forum. some igbos just hate yorubas. period. no matter how good a person is, once he is yoruba he is hated. same for yorubas, and hausas. . and efiks etc. and this kind of people are probably in millions. you cant ignore the ethnic nature of nigeria. this must be considered in our polity

So what is the need for the rotational govt then?

an attempt to satisfy as much people as possible

pres-elect:

an attempt to satisfy as much people as possible

That is not being satisfactory now, cos how do u determine who to satisfy and who not to give a damn about?

Fhemmmy:

That is not being satisfactory now, cos how do u determine who to satisfy and who not to give a damn about?

Fhemmy your wastin your time on that guy. your point is quite clear, and since he cant answer logically he has gone parochial, he has been exposed as pushing the interest of a specific group who probably think its there turn now or in the next few turns. Whatever his tribe let's hope he would be ready to line up at turn 250, because 250-6= 244 nd 244 is majority to 6.

In conclusion no point!!!

blueflame1:

Fhemmy your wastin your time on that guy. your point is quite clear, and since he cant answer logically he has gone parochial, he has been exposed as pushing the interest of a specific group who probably think its there turn now or in the next few turns. Whatever his tribe let's hope he would be ready to line up at turn 250, because 250-6= 244 nd 244 is majority to 6.

In conclusion no point!!!

Lol . . . .he is a kool dude and i think we just all having fun

Fhemmmy:

Lol . . . .he is a kool dude and i think we just all having fun

Yes Oh! i concur

zoning or rotational presidency is not good for Nigeria. let the best man do d job it doesn't matter if he is yoruba,hausa,ibo,calabar,egun,tiv,ijaw e.t.c

Fhemmmy:

Lol . . . .he is a kool dude and i think we just all having fun

blueflame1:

Yes Oh! i concur

@fhemmy & bluefame

i cant believe that there are still people in nairaland who are gentle enough to debate passionately without going personal and calling names. i salute you guys. now i have to start getting a little bit more positive about nigeria, when we have nigerians like you still breathing in this planet

i appreciate our legitimate different opinions and i salute your argumentative discipline.