Letter and Spirit of PDP Constitution on Zoning By Ayo Turton




Much has been said and written about zoning system entrenched in Section 7 (2) (c) of the People Democratic Party’s Constitution (PDP) as to why Presidency must remain in the Northern part of Nigeria and why the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan who is completing the mandate jointly given to him and his predecessor due to the unfortunate death of the latter must not contest in the 2011 elections.

Arguments have gone back and forth, the protagonists of the so called zoning system have argued that after the eight years of former President Obasanjo who is from the South the Presidency must automatically revert to the North for the following eight years. They claimed that it is wrong for Goodluck Jonathan who is from the South to fly the flag of the Party in the coming Presidential election, contrary to this provision. Some also contended that there was a “gentleman agreement” reached by the stakeholders that the Presidency should go to the North for eight years after Obasanjo’s eight years.

The antagonists on the other hand have argued that zoning arrangement was never part of the reason the Presidency came to the South, but that the Presidency was given to Obasanjo a kinsman of Moshood Abiola from the South West and the winner of the annulled June 12 1993 presidential election to pacify that aggrieved section of the country. They argued further that, a few Northerners contested with Obasanjo both during his first and second term elections and nobody cried wolf.

They also wanted to know if the zoning/gentleman agreement recognizes only one term or two terms, if it recognizes one term, Jonathan is about completing a joint ticket of the deceased President from the North. If it recognizes two terms why then did the Northern PDP resisted Obasanjo’s second term so vehemently in 2003 based on the same gentleman agreement.

This controversy has been going on for too long and has indeed overshadowed the necessary questions that the electorates should be asking at this time concerning good governance and accountability. The issue therefore calls for a legal appraisal of both the letters and the spirit of the Constitution vis a vis their presidential candidateship.

According to the notorious Section 7 (2) (c) of the PDP Constitution in pertinent part…, ” in pursuant of the principles of equity, justice and fairness the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels ” it stated in the preamble that:

“to create socio-political conditions conducive to national peace and unity by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices among the diverse peoples of our country and evolving powers equitably between the federal, state and local governments in the spirit of federalism”

The letters and the spirit of this Constitution clearly stated that the party shall adhere to the principles of rotation and zoning in pursuit of “the principles of equity, justice and fairness”

It is trite and a common understanding generally among Nigerians that there are six zones in Nigeria, namely, the North West, North East, North Central, South West, South East and the South-South. The question begging for an answer right now is where in the PDP Constitution did it state that the principles of equity, justice and fairness shall only be available to the incongruous concept of North /South dichotomy?

Where is the recognition of only two zones for purposes of elections and to ensure equity, justice and fairness stated in PDP Constitution when it is clear that there are six zones in the country? Where in the PDP Constitution did it state that the zoning will go to one zone in the North and then one zone in the South, then back to another zone in the North and so on? What is there in PDP Constitution that seeks to ensure equal participation of the minorities of the North and the minorities of the South? Shouldn’t the principles of equity, justice and fairness be extended to the minority zones? If there was a “gentleman agreement” can such agreement supersede the letters of the Constitution?

What is unequivocal in the letters and also unmistakable in the spirit of PDP Constitution is that zoning is not for the sake of North/South dichotomy but for equity, fairness and justice.

Whatever rule of interpretation we may seek to adopt in the circumstances whether golden, plain or mischief we will only arrive at one meaning for that subsection, equal opportunity for all the recognized six zones of Nigeria. North/South dichotomy as basis for zoning is alien to that Constitution for all intents and purposes.

President Olusegun Obasanjo was from the South West, the heads of State that ruled the country for the preceding twenty years, from 1979 to 1999 were all from the three Northern zones, North West, North East and North Central apart from Shonekan who was there for only a few months. Therefore, in interpreting Section 7 (2) (c) which sought to ensure equity, justice and fairness, and not to lend credence to some North/South dichotomy which has remained in the imagination realm of some people,. PDP Presidency should equitably go to either the South-South or the South East, the zones that are yet to have a shot at Presidency since 1966. If indeed there was a gentleman agreement among certain individuals on zoning based on North/South, but did not give consideration to “equity, justice and fairness” as stipulated by the Constitution, such agreement is null, void and of no effect whatsoever. The Constitution privileged equity justice and fairness over all other considerations as the basis for it s zoning.

The argument about moving from South to North, is put forward mala fide, it is nothing but a self-serving argument of those who stand to benefit from the shenanigan and not in the context of what the PDP Constitution seeks to redress. Is the South –South not a zone recognized by PDP Constitution? Is the South-East not a part of the zones recognized by PDP Constitution? has anybody from these zones held the Presidency position in the last 40 years? Then where is the equity, justice and fairness that the Constitution is talking about? It looks like equity and justice have a different meaning for those who seek to benefit from the injustice.

It is my submission that only candidates from South-East and South-South should be eligible to contest under that Constitution. If I were Goodluck Jonathan I would be filing a counter-motion against a case already instituted against me to challenge the eligibility of any candidate from the North to contest under this dispensation based on the unambiguous letters and the spirit of the same section 7 (2) (c) of PDP Constitution.

Ayo Turton is a United States based Legal Practitioner.

Discrimination and Exploitation of Nigerians at the Polish Embassy, Abuja By Dixon Peters

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I recall vividly a couple of weeks ago reading on a daily newspaper about a young man who complained bitterly about the shabby treatment meted to him at the Polish embassy ,ona crescent,maitama, Abuja.Just weeks later i find the allegations of that report to be true,i personally had my own taste of the bitter experience.I therefore decided to do something about it.I believe the easiest way to improve our dear country Nigeria is to 'be the change' you desire.I like thousands of other nigerians got an admission to study at a university in Poland. As its required for student visa applications,i paid my full tuition fees to the university and thoroughly studied all other requirements to be met as clearly stated on the website of the embassy( http://www.abuja.polemb.net/)and and on the notice board placed at the gate of the embassy .I felt confident about getting the visa after painstakingly fulfilling all the rigorous processes and documentation to be met.I applied for the visa as at when due ,paid the visa fees and was told to call back after a few weeks to know the result of the application for the visa.I called a few weeks later and got a cold shock,i was told on the phone that my visa was refused.My first response to the person i spoke to on the phone was;please may i kindly understand why my visa was refused because i am very sure that i had met and surpassed every criteria set for the granting of a study visa.Even more shocking i was told by the same staff that the embassy does not have a reason for denying me and that the decision was final.After making that call my next response was to begin to call every other person i had met that applied for a study visa on the same day as i did,interestingly over ninety percent of the other applicants were refused too.I wanted to assume that it was just those who applied at the same time as i did that were refused visas but i was wrong. By the time i physically got to the embassy at maitama,abuja to find out what was really going on,i discovered that out of the hundreds of other nigerians who i met there day in and day out ,a large majority of them were refused visas,the statistics was clear; that the refusal rate was well over ninety percent.It meant that only one out of every ten nigerians that applied and paid visa application fee was actually given the polish visa.While still trying to comprehend this discriminatory high visa refusal rates of nigerians,more disturbing was the fact that we were clearly stopped from attempting to appeal the irrational visa decisions because a lot of us were very sure that there were errors in those decisions made.They sarcastically told us that they do not give anyone grounds for appeal on irrational visa decisions that they make.At first we wondered if may be on an individual basis there were some things that we did not do right in our applications but by consulting with each other, especially those that applied for study visas,collectively it then dawned on us that the administration of the polish embassy abuja is clearly a discriminatory and exploitative one.They are simply and only interested in collecting the visa fees and nothing else.Our observation is that the embassy is very inefficient in its administration as it is incapable of even carrying out the least investigation to determine the evidence that is given to them .An example of this is a case of a student that was refused visa also and yet his Parents who were his sponsors,had an account funded with well over ten million naira,meaning that he had sufficient funds for his education.In the same vein many of us nigerians that were applying for study visas had fat account statements with sufficient funds for our education in whatever capacity, economy or currency you may want to judge it or compare it with.We were not only dealing with a lousy and inefficient embassy we were also dealing with an embassy that was discriminatory,inhumane and exploitative to nigerians.An embassy were so many nigerian applicants are made to stand outside the gate for lengthy hours without a shelter under extreme weather conditions in heavy rains and hot sun,only to refuse their visa applications without a reason.They do not think the nigerian applicant deserves the dignity of an official letter to explain the reason for a visa refusal.We now wonder why they collect the visa fees if they cannot even dignify a nigerian visa applicant by typing an official letter explaining a visa refusal.Its equally frustrating to be told that they do not have a justice system in place ,where visa applicants that feel aggrieved can appeal a decision.Even worse is a known fact that corruption does exist in the embassy.Many applicants for study visa narrate how they were approached for bribe to facilitate the visa process by embassy staff only to still be disappointed after desperately doling out funds.Conclusively this report is made to alert nigerians to beware of exploitative and discriminatory embassies that are clearly after your visa fees.Nigerians are adviced not to waste precious time and monies trying to apply for visa at the Polish embassy Abuja.Its not worth the humilation and stress.If we must travel,there are so many other embassies that have learnt to treat nigerians with the dignity and respect that we deserve in our own country.We cannot force the Polish embassy to give nigerians the polish visa but we can protect the interest of nigerians from being exploited if we suceed in drastically reducing the visa fees which they get from nigerians.Its a fact that if nigerians stop paying those fees in droves,the income of the embassy would be greatly affected and then they would be compelled to change their discriminatory attitude towards nigerians. Sadly amongst many nigerians that have got dealings with the Polish embassy abuja,it is largely rated as the worse embassy in nigeria.Nigerians have a right to demand to be treated with dignty and respect by foreign embassies moreso in our own country.Every allegation made in this report is easily verifable and widely known. My name is Dixon Amangi-Peters and phone number; 08036582429.

i am sure PDP is going to have a hard time selling yaradua to the nigerian electorate at the 2011 elections.A government that has failed in almost every area from poor budget performances to absentee leadership to a lingering and persistent fuel crisis that it cannot control.I am afraid that the scorecard of the administration is not worth selling.