Hugo Odiogor, Deputy Politics Editor
When in his 1987 funeral oration Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu described Chief Obafemi Awolowo ”as the best president that Nigeria never had” so many people mistook the Biafran war lord, and accused him of making cynical, if not ascerbic remarks on the patriarch of modern Yoruba nation.

But reality was that the late Sage, was considered to have the best political credentials to solve Nigeria’s leadership puzzle in a polity where merit and vision are determining factors.

But the political establishment built by the British was not to produce the best of men and women in leadership positions but rather, those who would rely on extra political arrangements and structures to grab power.

The alliance between the Northern Peoples Congress and the National Council of Nigerian Citizens was a marriage of convenience that was meant to capture power and keep the Action Group led by Chief Awolowo in the opposition.

The Second Republic politics tried to avoid a situation of the winner takes it all as the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), tried to improve on what its predecessor, the NPC did in the first republic by insisting that  holding key positions in the party must reflect national spread.

Consequently, the position of party chairman went to Augustus M. Akinloye from South West, the Senate President went to Chief Joseph Wayas from South South, the Speaker of the House of Representatives was given to South East.

The zoning was not restricted only to the office of the President as it has to stretch to the office of the Senate President, Deputy Senate President, the Speaker and Deputy Speakers, the Chairmanship of the party and other positions within the party.

When the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came on board, there was a consensus on zoning as a tool to deal with the intractable problem of access to power at the centre and this eventually trickled down to the state and local government levels.

Even without entrenching it in the constitution or produced in a written form, zoning was conceptualized along the line of the six geo-political zone in the country which has come to be recognized for purposes of administrative and political decisions.

Before zoning we had the quota system which was used for the purposes of admission.

This was further elevated to the federal character principles in the 1999 Constitution as stated in Chapter 2, section 14

(a) states that the composition of the government of the federation or any of its agencies and conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government. Section

(b) Also enjoined the practice of the same at the state and local government council s particularly at in ensuring the recognition of the diversities of the society and the need to ensure balance

The ruling People Democratic party is in quandary over its internal power sharing formula commonly referred to as zoning and the country seem to be producing puritans who it may appear have suddenly recognized the absurdity of the political arrangement that stands in the pathway into producing the Obamas of this world in the most populous black nation on earth.

Those who are opposed to the idea of zoning as power sharing formula have not kicked against the six geo-political zone formula which was one of the fall outs of the Abacha’s constitutional conference in 1994 and 1995.

The six zonal arrangement has since been recognized as a the basis for allocation of infrastructure, political appointments, etc, even though it is not entrenched in the constitution which became operational after the 1994 – 1995 constitutional conference.

This formula is not entrenched in the constitution, yet it is recognized for administrative purposes.

Leading the assault of the zoning formular is Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, the National Leader of the Ijaw nation, whose son is on the throne in Aso Rock, the seat of power in Abuja.

The octogenarian   statesman is virulent in his attack on the zoning formular and so are some new turks who believe that the political space in Nigeria is polluted by this arrangement which was conceptualized in the first place to deal with the inequities and imbalances left in the polity by the British colonial authorities and accentuated by the military intervention in politics in  Nigeria in 1966.

DELTA STATE

Until the ethnic conflict between the Itsekiris and Ijaws in Delta State between 1998 and 993, over the relocation of the local government headquarters from a predominantly Ijaw settlement to a predominantly Itsekiri region, Chief Clark lived a quiet life in Warri, Delta State.

But the events that radicalized him was the running conflict among the three ethnic groups of Itsekiris, Ijaws and Urhobos.

It follows that Chief Clark is no stranger to the intricate political structure in Nigeria and in his own State Delta.

As a member of the ruling People Democratic Party, one of the seeming strength and spread of the party is the inclusion of a power sharing arrangement that gives every Nigerian a chance to aspire to occupy the highest office available in the party irrespective of demographic size and faith and ethnic origin in a political system riddled with suspicion

It is a known fact that one of the fundamental reasons for the feud between Chief Clark and Chief James O. Ibori and by extension, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has to do with the acrimony over the conduct of the PDP primaries in Ogwashiuku with produced Dr. Uduaghan as the governor of Delta State.

The governor hails from the Itsekiri ethnic nationality which has been at state of armistice with the Ijaws and the Urhobos since 1998.  Without a political arrangement that will recognize the rights of minority ethnic nationalities, it will be difficult for an Itsekiri, Isoko, where an Urhobo man is a contestant.

Even where the Anioma people comprising of the Ikas, the Ndokwas, Aniocha and Oshimili people hold the balance of power, the Urhobos often team up with the Ndokwas or the Ikas to frustrate the ambition of even their own sons as excamplified in the cases of Professor Eric Opia in 1991, Chief Godswill Obieluem in 2007 both from Ndokwaland,  Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa from Ika and Chief Peter  Okocha from Oshimili.

Although the Ndokwa people have always claimed that they have a better political affiliation with the Urhobos they have suffered two electoral setbacks with the defeat of Prof. Eric Obia in 1991 and frustration of Chief Godswill Obielum in 2007 because the Urhobos would not have any other ethnic group gain access to political power, the same crime that they accuse the Hausa Fulani of perpetuating.

EDO STATE STATE

It took the massive popularity that Comrade Adams Oshiomole gained as the National President of Nigerian Labour Congress to overcome the resistance of Benin people for power to shift to Edo Central and North Senatorial zones, where Ishans, Etsakos and Afemais.

The Benins had remained immutable until late Professor Ambrose Folorunsho Alli got to power in 1979. The Professor of Mobid Anatomy had to ride on the back of Chief Awolowo and projected his middle name to make him gain the acceptance of some power men in the West who funded his campagn

AKWA IBOM  STATE

In Akwa Ibom State where the Ibibio’s are in overwhelming majority, the people of Oron and Anang and Eket are clearly outnumbered by the Ibibios who could win any electoral contest without any form of election manipulation.

In the build up to the 2007 election, Obong Victor Attah accepted the policy of power shift to give the Anang people and the other ethnic groups in the state a sense of belonging but this was only to pave way for his son-in-law, Dr. Bob Ekerika, to succeed him as the governor of the State.

The ongoing political kidnappings in Akwa Ibom  are nothing but a pre-election projection of animosity and rejection of the Anangs and the other smaller ethnic groups who should have access to political power in the state.

BENUE STATE

In Benue State, the Idomas and Igedes are in minority to the extent that the two have been denied access to state house. The frustration suffered by Gen. Lawrence Onoja and other Idoma politicians in the hands of their Tiv neighbours.

The Tiv are not in a huirry to give the other ethnic group access to political power. This situation has forced the likes of Senator David Mark to champion the struggle for the creation of Apa state.

KOGI STATE

The story is not different in Kogi State, where the battle is between the Igala and Egbira people. The Igala are in an overwhelming majority and they have abusively used it to thwart the ambition of politicians from Igbira land.

KADUNA STATE

We saw the rancour generated when Governor Patrick Yakowa was announced as the successor to Alhaji Namadi Sambo was appointed the Vice President.

Being a Christian from the southern part of Kaduna provoked protests from Muslims who were opposed to the idea of power shift.

According to the Kaduna based lawyer, Mathew Olabe, “when the North talk of rotation of power it is often seen as a North and South divide, they do not include the Northern minority as part of the demographic composition of the North. Women and Christians are not included in the calculation”.

At the national level, the Igbos has become so politically disadvantaged as a result of the outcome of the civil war. The other ethnic groups in Nigeria would not trust an Igbo man to be the President of Nigeria in a political system where there is no legal or institutional framework to recognize the diversities in the federation.

The Ethical Imperatives of Zoning

There is a moral imperative of leadership, the ethical factor in the actions and conduct of leaders and those in positions on authority which enjoins them to live above reproach.

Beyond the political realities of zoning, there are also the ethical imperatives of the debate which the likes of Dr. Iyorchia Ayu have raised.  The fact that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan participated in formulation of the zoning formula, puts him in a bad spot to be the one who will breach it to satisfy his own personal ambition.

So far, the protagonists and antagonists of zoning formula have been speaking for their ethnic groups and geo-political regions.

In a country where politics is all about access to resources and appropriation of such resources there is no doubt that the must be an institutional and legal framework to ensure equity, fairness and accommodation of the interest of the weak and vulnerable.

Politics in Nigeria is such that those in the majority believe in the concept of the winner takes it and when it does not favour them they scream to high heaven.

There is no doubt that Nigeria’s political system is not as sophisticated as to accommodate a political situation where merit alone is used to determine who gets what. Those who think abolition of zoning will benefit them in the short run, are vociferous about its abolition, a situation that will invariably return the polity to a zero-sum option where the winner takes it all.