Sen. Brume...North should make sacrifice this time around ;Chief Achuzia...Zoning is irritating and Evah...Northern leaders want to cause confusion

BY Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South- South
SOUTH-SOUTH leaders  have cautioned the group of 150 Northern leaders, who are opposed to the idea of President Goodluck Jonathan contesting the 2011 Presidential election to mind their utterances, as the country belongs to all Nigerians, and no section or group possess the powers to stop the other from vying for the office of President.

They also asked the Northern leaders to stop equating a nebulous zoning arrangement of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which has been faulted by the leaders of the party, to a law that Nigerians must  abide with, saying the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is superior to any agreement entered by members of a political party or  parties.

The leaders, who include , a former Biafra warlord, Chief Joe Achuzia, aka “Air Raid”, former chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger-Delta, Senator Fred Brume, ex-national chairman of the Traditional Rulers of Oil Mineral Producing Organization of Nigeria (TROMPCON), the Pere of Seimbiri kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Charles Ayemi-Botu, Senator Francis Okpozo, chairman of PDP, Edo state, Chief Dan Orbih,  co-ordinator of the Ijaw Monitoring Group (IMG), Comrade Joseph Evah, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard said a cross –section of  Nigerians, including Northerners and the people of the South-South geo-political want  President Jonathan to contest  the 2011 Presidential election.

They wondered  why 150 Northern leaders should gang- up against President Jonathan, as if it’s a crime for a South-Southerner to rule Nigeria, saying that the imputation by some of the Northern leaders that  there would be anarchy if the South-South goes ahead to present Jonathan for 2011 was clearly in bad taste and unacceptable to the zone.

According to the leaders, the era where politicians from the South-South accept crumbs from the North and betray their people was gone and this is the time for the North to pay back to the South-South, which has been supporting them since the First Republic.

In fact, former chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the PDP, who many are wont to say, was a beneficiary of such arrangements in the past by Northern politicians, only recently repudiated the so-called zoning arrangement, saying it is not untouchable.

However, a group of South –South leaders, including Chief Edwin Clark, former Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe (rtd) and the President of the Ijaw National Congress (INC), Dr. Obianime Atuboyedia were understood to  be reaching out to Northern, Southwest and Southeast leaders to explain why they should support President Jonathan to continue with the mandate given him and the late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Nevertheless, other influential leaders, notably former Head of State and Presidential candidate of the ANPP in the last elections, Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari and secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Mohammed Abdulrahman do not see any reason why Jonathan should not contest because of a supposed zoning arrangement of the PDP.

Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum and Governor of Niger State, Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu had also indicated that the North would agree to shift position on the initial zoning agreement only after discussions and negotiations with the zone.

Zoning is irritating – Achuzia
Chief Achuzia told Saturday Vanguard, “I am a member of the PDP and I can tell you categorically that the issue of zoning that is being bandied about by some Northern leaders, not all of them, is not in the constitution of the PDP. For me, it’s an annoying issue to be talking about zoning in a democratic election.

Mr. Victor Ebikabowei a.k.a. Generaal Boiloaf

“If I am President Jonathan, I will contest the 2011 Presidential election because the opportunity may not come again. It was the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo that said that if he had the opportunity to win and be president for one day, he would be satisfied. From the way ex-Presidents are struggling to go back to that office, there must be something there for Jonathan to contest.

“Anybody trying to tell Jonathan not to contest in order to write his name in gold should write his own name in gold and leave Jonathan alone to make use of  the slot of the South-South geo-political zone in 2011”, he added. On President Jonathan’s non committal statement to the race so far, he said, “I support his decision to be tactical but will not support him abandoning a God-given opportunity”.

Jonathan should complete Yar’Adua’s 8 years – HRM, Ayemi-Botu
In the words of HRH, Charles Ayemi-Botu, “Looking at the position of the so-called 150 Northern leaders, I think their stand is unfair, it’s unjust and borne out of greediness. First, Jonathan has the fundamental human rights to seek for any elective position or office in the country and more so, he has a joint ticket with late President Umaru Yar’Adua.

He only took over on the demise of Yar’Adua. He had to take over as Vice President. If Yar’Adua did not die, would the leaders, most of whom are spent forces have said that he should leave for somebody to take over. Two of them would have continued to rule for another four years. The death of Yar’Adua and assumption of office by Jonathan as  President  is a watershed in the history of this nation, they should allow him to complete the eight years, which he and Yar’Adua had jointly been given the mandate by PDP.

“Another  thing  I want to say on this matter  is that PDP is banking on zoning but a top leader of the party and former chairman of its Board of Trustees (BOT), Chief Tony Anenih wrote to PDP National Working Committee recently, saying that as far as he is concerned, Jonathan has every right to contest for 2011 Presidential election because when it was zoned to the Southwest in 2003 and 2007, late Rimi from the North contested against former President Olusegun Obasanjo and again in 2007,  one- time chairman of PDP, Barnabas Gemade also contested. So, what are we talking about? There is nothing like zoning.” he said.

According to him, “We, as royal fathers, feel that the North does not want other regions to rule Nigeria and it’s a sad commentary that the likes of erstwhile President, General Ibrahim Babaginda who ruled this country for eight years through military putsch is still ganging up with others to want to rule the country. Even Alhahji Atiku Abubakar who was Vice President for eight years is part of it, saying that if North did not rule, the country will balkanize. This is ridiculous”

Said the royal father, “Have they forgotten  that out of 50 years of Nigeria’s independence, the North has taken the lion share of ruling Nigeria for 38 years and yet, they are still clamouring for fire and brimstone that if the North does not rule come 2011, there is going to be problem. I had earlier forewarned – let them not try to compromise with what President Ghadaffi of Libya said in March, last year, which was that the country is too large to remain as one entity.

He initially blundered by saying it should be divided along religious lines, North and South and after scathing remarks by some Nigerians, including the Senate President, Senator David Mark, that he is a mad man, he stood his grounds by saying that Nigeria should be divided through ethnic basis, and further postulated: Arewa Republic, Republic of Biafra, Oduduwa and Ijaw Republic, which is Niger-Delta Republic.

“It will be recalled that in 2005, American congressman, whether it was a prediction or because of the way Nigeria is being managed, said that in 2015, Nigeria was going to disintegrate. From what we are now seeing towards 2011, if care is not taken, we are asking for the total balkanization of Nigeria . Suffice it to say and I am seizing this opportunity to call on President Jonathan to convoke a Sovereign National Conference (SNC). This is the most appropriate time for all the ethnic nationalities in Nigeria to converge in Abuja and let us decide this fledgling polity that is called Nigeria .

“One would say no thanks to Sir Fredrick Lugard who, indeed, forcefully amalgamated the Northern and Southern regions in 1914 for the purpose of administering this country and to enrich Britain with our raw materials. We want to put it on record that only the convocation of an SNC to decide our destiny can bring a lasting solution to the political quagmire that has been raging on.

It assumes a different crescendo anytime election is approaching, the country is always at the brink of disintegration and I would want this group of Northern leaders to realize that one of the issues that is capable of disintegrating this country is the Niger-Delta question, which has been the economic hub that is keeping Nigeria one because of the black gold.

So, if the North does not allow it, now that through divine intervention  a Niger-Deltan has been made President to manage that natural wealth that God has bequeathed to the region, it simply means that they are asking for nothing,  but, break –up of  this country”, he added.

Reminded that President Jonathan has not told anybody yet that he would run in 2011 and why the South-South leaders are insisting that he should contest, the monarch asserted, “The issue of asking Jonathan to contest 2011 is not peculiar to South-South only.

It’s nationwide call and recently, General Danjuma also reacted vehemently to the so-called monolithic North, saying that minorities of the North have been serving as slaves to the core North. Even the chairman of the Midle-Belt Forum blamed South-South leaders that have been helping the Northern cabal in the past”.

Said he, “It is not the South-South only that is spearheading it. It is the inalienable rights of every zone to rule- that is why, through divine intervention, a South-Southerner is there today, the zone should not be stopped. He should be given a chance.

There have been perennial social, economic and political problems during the 50 years of rulership by the North and Southwest and no solution has been found and we are throwing them to Jonathan to prove to  us what somebody from the South-South can do. As a country, we have the problem of energy. We should have light 24 hours as a country.

There is the problem of electoral reforms and we want one man, one vote, we want to see if he can bring about changes in these areas. Also, we want to see real infra structural development in this country and there is corruption on one side. If the tackles these things, people would give him chance to continue in office. He is the second graduate to rule this country.

He knows this and that is why he said in a Presidential media chat recently that it is the electorate that will decide, it is the people that will decide based on his performance.

“Like I told you earlier, ganging up of people like former Minister of Finance, Mallam Adamu Ciroma and IBB is indecent. They are spent forces, they should see themselves as elder statesmen. IBB for example attends the Council of State. If they gang up against the South-South at this time, it means they are saying that rulership of this country is the exclusive rights of the North.

They are calling for balkanization and if they persist, let us hold SNC. The zoning was only a gentleman’s agreement and it is the same IBB that caused it with his annulment of the June 12, 1993 election won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola. It was introduced to pay back the Southwest zone and  that was why  he (IBB) went to woo Obasanjo, and even bankrolled Obasanjo’s election.

You can now see that the zoning was to compensate the South-West for denying Abiola power and Anenih, who was the chairman of the PDP BOT, said the arrangement was not obeyed by Rimi and others. There is noting like zoning and it cannot take precedence over national interest. Anything not in the Constitution is inferior. It is only a ploy to hold on to power, you have been there for 38 years. It is ridiculous; you can only tell that to the marines. They should mind their language because it is no longer business as usual and South-South will not accept it”.

North should make sacrifice this time around – Brume
On his part, former chairman of the Senate Committee on Niger-Delta, Senator Brume stated; “The issue of zoning or not zoning has been controversial for sometime now. Some say it was an understanding within the PDP, others say even if it is there, it’s not constitutional while another group say there is no such understanding.

“However, what happens in politics most times is that what some persons believe or want to believe, either by propaganda or other means, they push it and want others to accept it. And that I think is the belief of some of these people you are talking about, they believe there is zoning and they want to sustain it to serve their interest.

“But the other issue of course is whether it is constitutional. Personally, I believe every Nigerian has the right to seek any public office, whether he wins or not. We cannot say that there is any political restriction to President Jonathan contesting 2011 Presidential election.

We know that it takes give and take to keep Nigeria one since amalgamation and sacrifices were made by our founding fathers. That is why for instance, the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (South) became Governor General, just a titular position,  while Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (North) was the Prime Minister in a coalition they formed after the general election then.

The North should make a sacrifice for the South-South at this stage of the country’s development to keep Nigeria one. It is not too much to ask of the Northern leaders, that is my position”, he asserted.

Northern leaders want to cause confusion – Evah
Speaking to Saturday Vanguard, coordinator of IMG, Comrade Joseph Evah said he was surprised that the National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Goodluck Jonathan was part of the Northern leaders that  ganged up against his boss.

“If they are doing it in a moderate way, that is to say that let us apply the party’s rule on zoning, that is a different thing, but, at the moment, the whole thing is becoming a threat to the South –South and President Jonathan, saying that it would be dangerous and it would lead to anarchy if Jonathan contests next year’s election. Now, that they are threatening anarchy, who are we going to complain since the NSA is part of it.

“I think Nigerians should be on the alert and start asking questions. What do these Northern leaders who are threatening anarchy want, which zoning are they talking about, was this zoning not there when the late Alhaji Rimi contested against Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003? The cabal that threatened Nigeria when Yar’Adua was around is still there”.

Evah called on the Save Nigeria Group and others to mobilize to stop the cabal, adding, “The threat is real, it is not a mere threat because the NSA was in that meeting where the threat was issued”.

He dismissed the claim that President Jonathan would be breaching a standing agreement between the North and South if he opts to contest 2011 election or that such a move would be a betrayal to the North, pointing out, “There is no agreement, some people said it was tea talk by some persons and there was no written agreement.

“When some of them said they would leave the PDP if Jonathan is made the candidate of the party, they were only speaking in parable. It is not that they will leave PDP, but, I think they are telling Nigerians that they would cause confusion or anarchy that will consume our democracy. That is why the threat issued by them should not be taken lightly. President Jonathan should ask his NSA questions on this matter”, he said.

Zoning is not sacred – Edo PDP chairman
Edo state chairman of PDP, Chief Dan Orbih in an interview said, “In very political party, people evolve different formula for the purpose of winning an election and zoning is a political strategy to generate votes and support from areas that candidates are put for election.

The case of PDP has, however, not reached a situation where people are presented and others stopped from contesting. That was why the late Rimi challenged Obasanjo in 1999 and in 2003, the same Rimi and former national chairman of the party, Barnabas Gemade picked up forms. In 2007, people like Admiral Akhigbe and others from the South South also picked up nomination forms to contest”.

Chief Orbih, however, noted, “Zoning or no zoning, PDP will put up a candidate for the Presidential election and the constitution of the country allows everybody to indicate interest in any election once he is qualified. The country’s constitution is supreme to any agreement and rule of the party”.

Zoning can’t override Constitution – Okpozo
Senator Okpozo who was furious at the grandstanding of the North said, “Northern leaders should not bring crisis into the issue of 2011 election. Nigeria ’s existence as one country has been by negotiation and from independence, the leaders of the various ethnic nationalities had made one sacrifice or the other to keep the nation as one. Northern leaders have not exhausted this time-honoured method before coming out with their present antics. To me, this is unfortunate.

“Before the June 12, 1992 election, everybody was free to contest for any public office and before then, there was Northern Elements Progressive Union, PPP, NPN, etc and everybody was free to contest election. It was one Nigeria and it was the late Azikiwe that called for a unity government that made Tafawa Balewa of NPC to be Prime Minister, the late Awolowo of AG backed out of the government. The footstep of free contest was what brought up Chief Abiola and Alhaji Tofa of the SDP and NRC respectively. There was no zoning.

“In the last election- that was in 2007, people from the North, South and West contested the election. Even though it was not particularly successful, Yar’Adua won; it almost created anarchy in the states, as people that ought not to have emerged governors, senators and members of House of Representatives got there. My position is that zoning is working against the principle of democracy. It brings ill-equipped people into government. You are killing democracy with it. Zoning is the opposite of what people seek in a democracy and should be rejected.

“From available information, any agreement, if any, purported to have been made by PDP is of PDP and it cannot override the interest of Nigerians. It is the constitution that must be followed. And once the constitution is followed, there will not be anarchy; it’s zoning that will lead to anarchy. To continue with zoning is wrong. It should be discarded by the agitators. It’s not political, even if it is conceded to be an arrangement of the PDP, which many PDP leaders have disowned, it cannot be binding on the country.

“When one steps into the shoes of a President, he is the President of all the political parties, not one party and so, tying down Jonathan not to contest because a Northerner is meant to stay eight years is wrong. If Yar’Adua was not dead, nobody would tell him and Jonathan not to go for another term of four years, but, now that he was no more, Jonathan should be allowed to complete their mandate. He has a Northerner as his deputy and that is what’s supposed to be”, he said.

North should forget about zoning – Boyloaf
Ex-militant leader, Victor Ebikabowei Ben, alias Boyloaf said the days Northern leaders sneezed and people catch cold in the South-South were over. His words, “They cannot decide for us what will happen in the Niger-Delta region. President Jonathan is qualified to contest for the 2011 Presidential election and it’s not only the South-South that is calling on him to contest, other zones, including the North are part of it. So, the Northern leaders should support him.
North divided on zoning
On the other hand, the North as a political bloc is divided over the move by some persons to stop President Jonathan from contesting the 2011 Presidential election under the guise of zoning arrangement between North and South. One of them is former mlitary Head of State, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), who has refused the move to draft him into the camp of the Northern leaders that are spearheading zoning.

Firstly, Buhari who was the presidential candidate of the ANPP in the 2003 and 2007 elections said the  zoning arrangement of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) is most unfortunate, adding, in as much as the Northern leaders in questions  were exercising their rights as enshrined in the constitution, their views should not be taken as that of the entire North.

In a statement in Kaduna by his public affairs secretary, Ya’u Shehu Darazo, Buhari lamented that 50 years after the country’s independence, the presidency  was still being trivialised along sectional divides.

According to him, the presidency should not be viewed as being about the North versus South or Muslims against Christians, but a programme for development.

Buhari said that he had nothing to do with such a meeting of Northern leaders and insisted that zoning remained a PDP affair.

The statement further stated that Buhari and his party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) would have nothing to do with the meeting as “it is diversionary and its principles inconsistent with the tenets of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The meetings were largely PDP affair and General Buhari cannot be a party to it.”

Also speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Niger State Head of Service in Alhaji Abdullahi Matane in

Minna, during the week, Governor Aliyu gave an indication that the position of the 150 Northern leaders is not binding on the people, as he said, “If we must renege on the initial zoning agreement, then we must come back to the table to negotiate and discuss it.”

Aliyu, who had always been opposed to any form of zoning arrangement, which he described as undemocratic and one that promoted mediocrity, started to change position with the entry into the presidential race of former military president, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.

He, however, said until such negotiation had taken place, the North would expect that the former zoning arrangement stood.

According to him, “We should learn to respect an agreement. We should not throw away agreement because things have changed. If we must renege on the agreement, we must come back to the table to negotiate and discuss it. There is an agreement on mutual understanding and should not be thrown away. Every religion respects agreement; we should not do things that will heat up the polity”.

S-South leaders ready to negotiate with North
Saturday Vanguard learnt that some South-South leaders are only preparing the grounds for such negotiation and that is why some of them opted to keep sealed lips when contacted for comments.

According to one of  such leaders, “You know I am involved in high-level meetings with our counterparts from the North to lobby and explain to them why they should cooperate with us and support our bid to present President Jonathan for 2011 election, so I don’t want to speak to you now on the issue of zoning because whatever I say now may be used against us”.

Former CGS, Admiral Akhigbe did not mince word when he told Saturday Vanguard, “It is immature for me to speak on the issue of zoning now, you see, we are leaders and have to weigh our words and their consequences before speaking.”

It was gathered that Chief Clark and some South-South leaders had already commenced talks with some Northern groups to support Jonathan, but, because of Clark ’s perceived pose as a godfather to the President, some Northerners fear he would not  be  objective.