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Zoning: North gives up!

On June 12, 2011 · In Headlines
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* North no longer interested in zoning – Kaita

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

The North’s patience with zoning seems exhausted after a prominent northern leader Alhaji Lawal Kaita,declared weekend, that they were no longer interested in the arrangement that sees Nigeria’s top six offices shared among the six geo-political zones.

Kaita spoke on the controversial zoning arrangement, just as the leadership of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, navigate its way out of the cul-de-sac the power sharing arrangement has run into following the emergence of the Aminu Tambuwal as speaker of the House of Representatives.

The party had zoned the House of Representatives speaker to the South-West geo-political zone, which could only return six Reps at the 2011 polls, an alibi for most Reps and some stakeholders to oppose the zoning formula, which translated into the election of Tambuwal (from North-West) as speaker and Rep Emeka Ihedioha (South-East) as deputy speaker.

Consequently, the PDP zoning formula is now distorted as the South-West has no post in the power equation except chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees held by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. The North-East is worse off without any post.

Currently, the South-South has the President; North-West has Vice President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and acting national chairman of the PDP; North-Central has Senate President and Chief Justice of the Federation; and South-East has Deputy Senate President, Secretary to the Government of the Federation and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Notable PDP top shots, who shared their perspective apart from Kaita,inlude Chief Guy Ikokwu and Chief Ebenezer Babatope. Others are third Republic Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ezeife; former National Vice Chairman of the PDP (South-East), Chief Nze Ozichukwu; veteran presidential candidate, Mrs Sarah Jubril; former national chairmanship candidate of the party, Chief Sonny Iroche; and chieftain of the PDP in the South-West, Chief Oladipo Jimilehin.
Let every zone find its way – Kaita

Speaking on the issue, Kaita said the country would not have been on the cliff-hanger if President Goodluck Jonathan did not go against the PDP’s zoning arrangement by running for the presidency.

Stating that founders of the PDP advocated for zoning to cater for the interests of all parts of the country, he queried: “Without zoning, who would imagine that somebody from Bayelsa State will rule this country?”

The Second Republic politician said what jettisoning of zoning portended for the country was palpable with what had panned out so far: North-West has Vice President and Speaker of the House of Representatives; South-West and North-East have nothing.

“We advocated zoning but Obasanjo, President Jonathan and others because of their interests jettisoned zoning. Now they want zoning. They can’t eat their cake and have it. It is a shame for the party, PDP,” he said.

Asked the way out, Kaita said the solution lied in stakeholders sitting down to re-think but for now, he said “We (North) are not interested in zoning, let every zone find its way.”

Equity, meritocracy, the way out – Iroche

To Sonny Iroche, recent events in the polity indicated the death of zoning. He called for entrenchment of equity and meritocracy. For a start, he wants the PDP to throw open the race for its national chairmanship, to get the best hands for the job of repositioning the party.

His words: “The recent development in our polity, whereby the will of the people and not a few was victorious, played out in the House of Representatives in electing a Speaker for the House in defiance of zoning. The emergence of Hon Tambuwal has put the final nail in the coffin of zoning. I am an advocate of equity, good governance and for the emergence of the available best candidate for any political or economic office in the land, as long as the person is a Nigerian in good standing.

“It is not equitable to have the office of the speaker zoned to a political region with only five members in the House. This is against a zone like the South-East, which overwhelmingly voted for the Peoples Democratic Party. It is gratifying that the South-East produced the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, but is this enough political compensation for the region that voted massively for the PDP? If you look at the composition of government today, you will see an inequitable distribution of office, Vice President, Senate President and Speaker all from the old Northern bloc. And from current PDP zoning structure, if allowed to stay, the North -West zone is to produce the National Chairman of the party, this will be most unfair and inequitable to the rest of Nigeria.

“As an advocate of non-zoning, but equity and merit, I am therefore suggesting that the context for the next National Chairman of PDP should be thrown open to all party members, irrespective of their zone of origin. PDP must as a matter of urgency hold its national convention to elect new officers in the current dispensation, in which all interested members are allowed to contest any office of their choice.

With the current Jonathan dispensation, we have the golden opportunity to do away with parochial zoning, but to entrench a system of putting our best foot forward- our First Eleven and not to place a premium on mediocrity at the expense of meritocracy in what we call zoning without equity. Only the best should be allowed to emerge, if we are to build a great nation.”

PDP erred in zoning speaker to South-West – Ikokwu

Second Republic Chairman of the defunct Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) in Anambra State and one of the founders of PDP, Chief Guy Ikokwu, attributed the brewing controversy to the party’s wrong interpretation of political currents in the country by zoning the speakership to the South-West zone.

He said: “The election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives is a reflection of the almost total loss of confidence by the electorate of the South-West zone and ability of the PDP to effectively represent the zone in the National Assembly. The performance of South-West Representatives at the National Assembly with particular reference to the speakership, which was zoned to the South-West does not show that the zone has risen up to the responsibility of their assignment. The first speaker, Patricia Etteh, was disgraced out of office because of contract scandal in the House and in quick procession, the Integrity Group in the House replaced her with Dimeji Bankole, whose tenure was characterised by worse scandals leading to his arrest and arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“With only five Reps in the House, the PDP national headquarters was clearly insensitive to the feeling of the people of the South-West and National Assembly. If the PDP headquarters had read the political pendulum correctly, they would not have tried foisting a speaker on the South-West and National Assembly, a situation, which does not give them any choice. Sokoto State returned a virtual 100 per cent for PDP. Same for Imo State. So, it is not surprising that the party loyalists in the House and in the two states refused to be bullied into an undemocratic and unrepresentative choice of speakership.

“The ACN, which has almost 100 per cent going by South-West representation refused the offer of speakership. The position of the House showed that there is clear difference between Parliamentary democracy and Presidential democracy. The Party whip is stronger in a parliamentary democracy than in a presidential democracy. A lack of confidence in a parliamentary democracy topples the government and leads to a general election before the end of tenure. But it is not so in the case of Presidential democracy. This is the reason for persistent calls for a return to a parliamentary democracy because the presidential system, which we have now, was foisted on this country by the military regimes of the past.

“Party discipline and democracy would be better enhanced by our return to parliamentary system. It is not surprising that under our present presidential system, candidates who lose primaries in their parties automatically decamp to other parties to contest the same election without let or hindrance and if they succeed in the elections under a different party banner, they automatically revert to their former party without qualms or remorse. Party discipline and democracy would be strengthened when we reject the system of carpet-crossing. Those who want to change their party affiliation should go back to the electorate to seek a new mandate instead of the political harlotry reminiscent of the present system, which is highly undemocratic.”

PDP ‘ll resolve the logjam – Babatope, Jimilehin, Sarah Jubril

Babatope, Jimilehin and Sarah Jubril, were optimistic the PDP would overcome the challenge posed by zoning.

Babatope said the zoning controversy did not portend any problem for the PDP or the country, insisting that the party’s zoning policy was alive. “What happened at the House of Representatives is that a gentleman, Tambuwal went against the decision of the party, he kicked against party supremacy and discipline. And the party has said it does not condone what the boy has done. The National Working Committee and the presidency will meet and decide what posts to give to the South-West, to assuage the zone.”

Babatope has a soul mate in Jimilehin, who countered that the PDP did not err in zoning the speakership to the South-West.

Said Jimilehin: “The zoning formula is another way of complying with the Federal Character Principle. That is what PDP has done by zoning the Speakership to the South-West. What happened last Monday was against the Federal Character Principle. I expected that Akande-Adeola would have been unanimously elected.

“Many reasons have been adduced for voting Tambuwal. One is they did because PDP did not win in the South-West. Another reason is, it is a ploy by opposition to weaken PDP and paint it in bad light that PDP is unable to control its members. But we will resolve the matter. President Jonathan is the leader of our party. The BOT chairman is from the South-West. I am sure they would put heads together and correct the imbalance.”

Relatedly, Jubril said the challenge was not “too much of a turmoil,” adding that the leadership of the party and National Assembly had met and was moving towards resolving it.

Zoning has no benefits – Ezeife

To Ezeife, who saw the issue as a crisis, noted that it was being managed and would be resolved.

The former governor, who regretted that his South-East zone had been dragged into the mire, said contrary to speculations, zoning had no benefits.

“The matter is simply a crisis. But it is being managed. Contrary to some speculations, it has no benefits. It also bothers me that South-East was somehow brought into it. These transient problems will rear their heads and may appear to threaten long term project but we can handle them,” he said.

We must not confuse zoning with rotation – Ozichukwu

On his part, Ozichukwu said many people were confusing zoning and power rotation, which he said meant different things in the PDP. “Zoning and rotation mean different things in PDP lexicon and cannot be used interchangeably. Rotation is moving from one zone to another. Zoning is when the President, Governor, Chairman and their deputies have emerged, you share other offices to reflect equity.”

He said the prevailing problems, which he said were normal, would be surmounted by the party. “PDP is a fast growing organisation beset by teem fantasies, peer jealousy and sibling rivalry. These are birth pains. Hon. Tambuwal’s challenge is one of its symptoms. It is just a consequence. PDP will get over them. These things will happen for sometime. PDP is a growing party. I think it will be resolved before 2015. I think good conscience will prevail. We are almost into full blown democracy. Shocks here and there will strengthen the party. PDP has shown some restraints. We are going through a weeding process. Various legislatures are coming of age. It is the most vulnerable and youngest of the three arms of government. The Judiciary and Executive have matured more than the legislature. I hope things will turn out well,” he said.

Asked if President Jonathan’s emergence had not killed zoning, Ozichukwu said to the contrary because “the Jonathan thing is a one off thing, an accident. It was not premeditated. It was an act of God. You don’t query God. His emergence was an exigency through the Doctrine of Necessity. Nobody is saying what happened is fine. But given the circumstances of what happened, Jonathan had to emerge. We thank the North for sacrificing and allowing one Nigeria to continue. Nobody knew President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was going to die. We pray such things don’t happen again. It was an act of God.”[/b]