09 Jun 2011

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President Goodluck Jonathan

By Tokunbo Adedoja in New York and Chuks Okocha in Abuja

President Goodluck Jonathan has promised that the imbalance in the body politic caused by the election of a new speaker and deputy speaker in the House of Representatives will be redressed through other appointments.

On a reconciliatory note, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has reached a truce with key officers of the lower chamber over their refusal to abide by the party’s position on the distribution of government positions.

The party had zoned the speakership to the South-west and deputy speakership to North-east to balance out the other appointments which saw the North-central get Senate presidency, South-east deputy Senate presidency and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). The South-south had already produced the president and the North-west the vice-president.

But the emergence Hon. Aminu Tambuwal from the North-west as speaker and Hon. Emeka Ihedioha from the South-east as his deputy has effectively shut out the South-west and the North-east from the top seven positions in government in the next four years, while the North-west now has the vice-presidency and speakership and the South-east controls the SGF, deputy Senate presidency and deputy speakership.

Fielding questions from United Nations correspondents at the UN auditorium at its headquarters in New York, President Jonathan said: "Well, I am not the chairman of PDP. I am just a member of PDP and the president of this country - though a senior member of the party. But based on our party structure, chairman of the party is the number one citizen of the party. As the president, I am second to him.

"But I don't think it is a major issue because if the House of Representatives, for one reason or the other has decided to vote against the position of the party, the speaker is going to be their own leader. We (PDP) will look at it as a party and see how we adjust to make sure that a section of the country doesn’t feel marginalised."

Noting that there is always a lot of confusion about the issue of zoning and the spread of political offices because Nigeria is multi-ethnic and multi religious, he said that is why there is the federal character law that set up the Federal Character Commission.

He said: "So to make sure that people don't get angry over certain things, the Federal Character Commission was established very long ago. It was even during the military government that we came up with the Federal Character Commission to make sure that offices are spread. So the PDP believes that whenever you elect the president, who comes with the vice-president, who would come from different zones, you spread other offices to the remaining zones.

"That has nothing to do with the so-called zoning that people are talking about. But there is always a mix up and for the circumstances of my own election; I don't like to comment on it because of mix up. So PDP tried to decide that after the president had emerged from the South-south and the vice-president from the North-west, that other offices should be distributed among other zones just to obey that federal character principle by ensuring that there is uniform distribution of the top political positions. But the House of Representatives, in their own wisdom, voted against the position of the PDP.”

On the view that the South-west in particular, which the party zoned the speakership to, may have been marginalised by the election of Tambuwal, Jonathan said: "We should also know that even the South-west that does not seem to have a key position voted for the speaker (Tambuwal)."

According to him, "From the result, I believe they also voted for the speaker. I have not seen the analysis of the voting. You know in parliament, voting is no secret. It's open or open secret. So if you want to know, you will easily know who voted for whom."

He, however, said: "Even if that is the wish of the South-west, there may be a way of amending it. There are other positions within the parliament, even within the House of Representatives. You have the positions of the minority leader, minority whip, which could be used to balance that perceived skewed distribution."

The president also spoke on the rising wave of bomb explosions, especially in some parts of the North, particularly on the day of his inauguration, arguing that it had nothing to do with his election as president.

On the explosions on the day of his inauguration, he said it had nothing to do with his election.

"We have these challenges but they have nothing to do with the election, These issues of explosions have been with us and we are doing all we could to contain it. I can promise you that as a government, we are committed to the task and we will bring it down," he said.

Buttressing his point, he said: "If you look at the elections, if you look at the spread of how I won the elections, you will see that I got almost the whole country. Only about four states had less than 25 per cent. Our constitution says for you to win, you need to get about 25 per cent of at least two-thirds of the states. Even the states in which I didn't get the 25 per cent, the margins were quite minimal, 16 was the minimum. Unlike previous elections, you see some regions voting for one candidate and the other candidates scoring less than 10 per cent.

"So one error people who are not Nigerians make is that Northern Nigerians are all Muslims and the Southern part of the country is all Christians. That is completely wrong. We have Christians and Muslims in both North and South.”

He said even in the far North, there is a significant percentage of Christians even though there are more Muslims, adding that the population of Nigeria is about 50:50 in terms of Christians and Muslims distribution.

Meanwhile, the controversy over the emergence of Tambuwal and Ihedioha may have come to an end as they both offered apologies for rejecting the directives of the PDP on the zoning arrangement.

Instantly, the party accepted their apologies, congratulated them and urged them to carry the party along in the filling of other vacant positions of principal officers.

The party had on Tuesday refused to congratulate them.

Tambuwal and Ihedioha arrived the PDP national secretariat at 3.25 pm where they were received by the Acting National Chairman, Dr Mohammed Harilu Bello, and other members of the National Working Committee (NWC).

Speaking first on their mission, Tambuwal said: “We are pleading with our party to forgive whatever it was that went wrong in the process and continue to accept us because I know that we have not been rejected as your children and continue to guide us in doing only those things that will promote the unity, harmony prosperity and peace of this country.

“Mr Chairman, I and my deputy are here to assure you and indeed the party, through you, Mr President, the head of our government that we shall give our government maximum cooperation, towards ensuring that all the laudable programmes of our party are implemented through good legislation that will come out of the House of Representatives in collaboration with the Senate.

“We assure you that we shall give cooperation and every support to Mr President and the government so that our party can deliver on its promises to the electorate. As I said earlier on, Mr Chairman, we seek for your understanding. We seek for your forgiveness, we hereby apologise.”

He also said they were not unaware of the fact that in the course and the process of the emergence of the leadership in the House, what happened was beyond their control.

According to Tambuwal, “Even though we were not exactly wanted, we knew that we actually gave you the party night.

“As your dear children and as loyal members, we are here this afternoon to give you your due respect and to say here and now that all that we did was not intended in anyway, to either undermine our party or out of disrespect to our party. It was a sheer coincidence of the history of this country and destiny and providence had it that from the inauguration of the 7th National Assembly, House of Representatives in particular, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal from North-west, and Emeka Ihedioha from South-east, contrary to the hope and aspiration of our party will emerge as speaker and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. It was designed by God; it was not designed by us.”

In his response, Bello said: “Now that what has happened has happened, the remaining positions in the House, you should allow the party to look at how we can balance it, so that the other zones are taken care of before we come back to you to give you the chance to lead your people in electing to reflect balance in the leadership of the House. Thank you very much for this visit, we accept your apology.

“Mr Speaker, you are welcome to your home, the headquarters of the party. You are right; we are not very happy with you at this moment. But we are quite aware that you and your colleagues in the House did not quite work in line with the policy of our party.

“But you have not left the party, what has happened has happened, it’s not a surprise to us. We are not quite comfortable, but we have not rejected you. And PDP, being the largest party, and a collection of different mind sets, we are used to crisis in the affairs of our party.

“We believe in different views and like we said in our statement yesterday, we believe in free choice, for all Nigerians including members of the National Assembly. What has happened may be a breakdown in communication between members of the party and this will not be for the first time. Fortunately, PDP is a versatile party, and we have got the organisation and the strength to weather all our problems and to work our solutions to whatever misunderstanding that arise within the family.

“The election of Speaker has happened; I am glad it was free and fair because we observed it even though it didn’t go according to the dictate of the party. We are faced with a fait accompli. What remains now is for the party to use our usual dispute resolution mechanism, to work out the way forward. All we want is peace and stability in this country.

“That is why PDP arrived at zoning. In the process of zoning we don’t look at the individual; we look at the institution because it is only PDP among all the parties in this country that has the zoning policy that assures all parts of this country of fair share of participation in the decision making in the ruling of this country. PDP wants to assure that all zones, all tribes, and all religions, big or small, have got a share and have got a say, in the formation and the process of governance of this country.

“That is why we have had zoning and rotation and put it in our constitution. I am sure Mr Speaker, your election will not mean the end of zoning. Because even if we don’t take zoning as a policy, PDP is a party of equity and fair play. And equity and fair play demand that of the major positions, at the party and the government, each section of this country should have at least one position or the other so that we can achieve peace and stability. I know Mr Speaker, you wouldn’t go out of your way to spite your party.”

But speaking later, the National Auditor of the party, Dr Samuel Ortom, said the party had forgiven them, but could not take a decision on a constitutional matter like zoning. He said the party would consult with its other organs such as the National Caucus and National Executive Committee (NEC) before a final resolution on the matter is reache

Ok o! we dey lool like lucozade!!!!

compensate them for what?abeg let the train move on

Hope he's not talking about ministerial postions because i thought those positions were given to enhance the nigerian economy, not as a gift or compensation. We'll see. Would be naive if that is what jonathan is hinting at though. If anything It'd be in nigeria's best interest to give the "gift" to a Swesterner of Ijaw or Egun extraction but definitely not the typical Swesterners, we all know who they are I aint goin say no names. We definitely don't need any more billions of nairas stolen by the usuals. As for the NE, a Tiv(christian) from Taraba State would do.

Goodluck will soon be made to look like a mere figurehead. 

Never bite the hand that feeds you.

Jonathan, why Compensate Yorubas, they are Rejected people.

Honestly, don't think the yoruba's and Igbo's deserve to be left in the loop the way they have. All the post went North. The Northerners have been reaping the rewards of the rich oil south for too long and GEJ government need to be dominated by southern and central official that voted for him .

Is Jonathan making a mistake to surround himself with northerners? Is he deluding himself to think befriending the devil will turn evil to love? I think so, but patiently waiting to see how it all plays out and consequences. 

Calculia:

Honestly, don't think the yoruba's and Igbo's deserve to be left in the loop the way they have. All the post went North. The Northerners have been reaping the rewards of the rich oil south for too long and GEJ government need to be dominated by southern and central official that voted for him .

Is Jonathan making a mistake to surround himself with northerners? Is he deluding himself to think befriending the devil will turn evil to love? I think so, but patiently waiting to see how it all plays out and consequences.

This could have all been check if he would have a greed the SE Speakership and the SW SGF. Because of his letting of unfairness to the SE, he is reap this ire situation with horror.

He should be careful this time around s/w should not get their hands on goverment cheques and bank account who knows this time they might sell nigeria