THE death of former President Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has since opened a new vista in the scramble for presidential power.

When in 2007, Goodluck Jonathan from the South-South zone was nominated as vice presidential candidate to Yar’Adua from the North West zone, little did he (Jonathan) know that providence would confer on him the privilege of becoming president.

Whereas reports had indicated that Jonathan was actually in the race for the governorship of Bayelsa State; the trajectory of the Otuoke-born politician was Abuja bound: the Presidential Villa, where he was to assist Yar’Adua as Vice President.

His emergence, in itself, had a streak of good luck: it was an elevation from “obscurity” in the Niger Delta region to national and international visibility.

The visibility, which began with his position as Vice President, became more pronounced when he stepped in the saddle as president on May 6, this year.

His emergence constitutionally and naturally pushed the original zoning arrangement of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the background.  The persona of the President now takes precedence.

Indeed, where he comes from becomes unimportant within the ambit of the 1999 Constitution which provides or guarantees the rights of every Nigerian to aspire to become president of the country.

This is yet another good luck in the emergence of Jonathan as President; which was why from the outset of his presidency, there had been suggestions that he should throw his hat in the ring for the 2011 presidency.

Jonathan’s emergence was rooted in a political circumstance that was beyond human manipulations; otherwise some cabals must have truncated it.  This must be saying something about the divine character of his presidency.

In fact, this explains why many people have been saying that the Almighty God has, in His infinite wisdom, zoned the presidency to the South-South.

Rationalization:  Jonathan’s presidency is God’s gift to a people in the oil-rich region who have been so exploited for decades that they have almost become so unsure of their identity in the entity called Nigeria.

The argument, even though debatable, in socio-political and economic circles is that the South-South zone should be allowed to hold the reins of power or national governance in order to demonstrate good faith.

This is quite rational.  It fosters a great sense of national unity and harmony- that apart from the chicken-that-lays-the-golden eggs mantra- the ethnic minorities or even the super ethnic minorities in Nigeria can dare to hope for accommodation in the power sharing arrangement both at the state and the federal levels.

Beyond the zoning arrangement within the PDP, which the emergence of Jonathan has, through divine intervention, vitiated is the possibility that ethnic minorities of this great country can hold the presidency in their bosom on behalf of the rest of us.

Yes, after all, are we not all parts of one nation bound by one destiny: to achieve greatness and be numbered among the great economies of the world?

The Jonathan presidency is already working towards this.  In fact, he has continued the programmes and policies of his former boss, the late Yar’Adua, which were encapsulated in the Seven-Point Agenda of the Yar’Adua/Jonathan administration, albeit with some slight modifications, to achieve a decisive national transformation agenda.

Nigerians believed in the capacity of Jonathan to do this; which was why in the peak of the hospitalisation saga of his boss in Saudi Arabia, there was a sustained advocacy to have him empowered to perform the full functions of the president in acting capacity.

But now, because of politics, some Nigerians have embarked on a pernicious mission to dent Jonathan and portray him as either too iron-fisted or weak such that one does not really know how to categorize or characterize the man whose urbaneness, according to testimonies by his friends and associates, presaged his entry into the murky waters of politics.

Unlike some leaders who threw in their weight in the mission to supplant their bosses, Jonathan never plotted to undermine Yar’Adua.  To him, loyalty is next to godliness.  Even when the actions of some cabal in the presidency were considered brazen enough to elicit anger, he maintained a high level of equanimity and equipoise.

To him, the destination must be a greater Nigeria.  And to get there, basic and critical infrastructure like power must be put in place.  In fact, this is why he has continued the quest for improved power supply through adequate funding of the sector.  Other infrastructure development plans are also being vigorously pursued.

This is aside the commitment to the principle of rule of law and the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta region.  But what is worrisome is the reluctance of some members of the Northern political elite to key into and assist in the successful implementation of the policies and programmes of government that could be of national benefit.

However, uppermost in their mind is how to wrest power from Jonathan.  They are seized by some inexplicable phobia of total and irredeemable loss from vantage positions where they could control the mechanics of power.

This very possibly informed the current last ditch effort to come up with a Northern consensus candidate.

But the good thing is that the arrangement is being perfected only within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with a view to stopping Jonathan from clinching the presidential ticket of the party for the 2011 election.  Again, there is good luck for Jonathan in this enterprise that was bound to fail ab-intio.

Members of the Northern Political Leaders’ Forum (NPLF) promoting the consensus option are PDP members.  The consensus arrangement is not a work in progress by the entity called Northern region because there is no such thing as a monolithic North.  It is restrictive and selfishly-motivated venture.

There are other parties in the North jostling for the presidency and there are aspirants like General Muhammadu Buhari and Nuhu Ribadu, for instance in the CPC and ACN, respectively who are far better than the quartet of Ibrahim Babangida, Bukola Saraki, Atiku Abubakar and Aliyu Gusau who are the promoters of the consensus option in the PDP.

It is, therefore, expected that the consensus option being pursued by the quartet within the PDP will fail on the altar of selfish political considerations.  On a larger scale, there is no such thing as a monolithic North that is capable of producing a single presidential candidate even in a general election.

Even if it happens, that will be abridging the essence of democracy: to have as many candidates and platforms as possible from whom and which peope could make their choices.

This is the good luck for Jonathan beyond the consensus option being pursued as there will be many candidates for people to choose from, if he picks the PDP ticket and his defeated foes gravitate to another party.

Mr.Abubakar ALIYU, a political analyst, writes from Kaduna.