By Kunle Oyatomi
Since 1998, the Nigerian Political environment has been evolving into one huge theatre of the absurd. And one of  the most hopelessly absurd event then was the choice by the Northern Political elite of who the Yoruba Presidential candidate should be in 1999.

IBB, Danjuma and the rest of the northern elite ensured that it was their Yoruba candidate, Olusegun Obasanjo, who became the President in May 1999. To tell how much the Yoruba people distrusted Obasanjo at the time, he was rejected in his own ward, where he lost to Chief Olu Falae who was the undisputed Yoruba choice.

The North enjoyed themselves unfortunately at the expense of the Yoruba Nation, who are still living with the pain of that political travesty till this moment.

Obasanjo eventually stabbed his northern benefactors in the back and then went ahead (after the failure of his third term bid) to re-enact the same absurdity that brought him to power: he personally and single-handedly made the choice of who the northern president should be in 2007, and the terminally ill Yar ’Adua was his candidate.

In his desperation to force through his choice  for the north, (as the north bulldozed Obasanjo on the Yoruba nation) he declared the election of 2007 a “do-or-die affair”.
Yar ’Adua won, and the world saw it was a fraudulent arrangement.

The north couldn’t laugh; and when Yar ’Adua passed on, they wept, and they are still in political agony because Yar ’Adua’s tenure was billed to stretch for eight years; but somehow that presidency continues albeit without a Hausa/Fulani directly in charge. As you read this, the late Yar ’Adua’s presidency is on-going under the leadership of his vice from the South/ South, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan!!

But that’s not where this absurdity ends: constitutionally, Jonathan as a person is entitled to contest the 2011 presidency; and if he so chooses, nothing stops him from claiming his right to conclude the eight-year tenure of the Yar ’Adua presidency, which was a joint ticket between the late President and himself!! Can you then imagine how ludicrously distasteful and inappropriate this zoning stuff is? That it is still dominating the political debate speaks volumes of our political immaturity.

Again, contemplate this absurdity; a group of northern leaders in the PDP are insisting that the zoning nonsense must be the determining factor of who should get the presidential ticket of the party, and has therefore instructed all parties to field only northern candidates pursuant to the dictates of the zoning principle. And, as usual with most of them, a group of PDP leaders from Ibo land are already identifying themselves with the northern position even before Ibo leaders take a definitive stand on the issue.

You can only imagine what permanent political enmity would be created between the east and the south/ south if it’s leaders proceed to endorse zoning against a Jonathan ticket.

Besides, there is a palpable tinge of arrogance in the ACF’s call to all political parties to field  northern candidates for the 2011 presidential race, as if imposing, or attempting to impose discredited zoning formula (which is essentially a PDP affair) on all the political parties of this country.

If we must tell ourselves the truth, zoning is a deadly political instrument intended  to permanently institutionalize mediocrity in our social, political and economic life. The idea of zoning is practically the same as “Federal Character” which is the prime cause of our institutional and bureaucratic collapse in Nigeria to date.

Besides, the same deadly poison of zoning is at the core of our educational policy thrust, which down grades entry qualification for students in so-called “educationally disadvantaged states” (whatever nonsense that means) to allow them into higher institutions of learning with lower grade, while students with higher grade are denied admission.

We can see the effect of this absurd policy on the quality of products from many of our universities today. Yet we refuse to learn, and the political class is making it  look as if the best approach to politics is to lower the standard for “unqualified” people to be permanently in power.

The more the proponents of zoning insist that it should be central to electing the next president, the more they give the impression that what is critical in the political life of this country is not WHO the President is, but WHERE he comes from. And, to be polite, that is dumb indeed.

If 50 years after independence, the quality of mind –the WHO- plays a secondary role in the process of electing a Nigerian President in the 21st Century global community, as against the WHERE he comes from, then this country may have for ever lost its claim to leadership in the African Continent, and indeed the black race world-wide; and by extension would be under threat of dissolution.

What Nigeria needs as a matter of urgency is a president with the mental, intellectual and spiritual capability and capacity to do the job and move this nation forward. Any thinking contrary to this, or any approach that fall short of this standard is a recipe for chaos, and a vote for retrogression. This is exactly what the relentless call for adherence to zoning is tantamount to.

NB:     This column will be unavoidably off this site  next Saturday. It will resume later. Thanks for your understanding.