I HAVE not hitherto bothered to comment publicly on the apparent anguish in the South East or among South Easterners over the recent sharing of principal political offices or positions in the country. In the last few weeks, I have heard some of my fellow South Easterners utter all manner of vain, self-serving and even unprintable retorts on the subject-matter.

One notable fellow has even appallingly described the allocation of the office of Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF, to the South East as a sin.

I was rather bemused at the outpouring of negative emotions on the subject. Indeed, I never took the matter serious, as something worthy of a reaction from my person until this morning when a bosom friend, a fellow South Easterner of uncommon sensibility, cerebral disposition and analytical genius phoned in and made slightly similar remarks about the zoning of the SGF position to the South East, showing disgust at the way things have developed.

That is when I realised the depth of the matter and how terribly the average South Easterner might be feeling about the development. It dawned on me then that this is not a joking matter or one that should be ignored and taken as something trite and inconsequential.

In fact, it became clear to me that South Easterners needed to be told some home-truths that should help moderate their expectations and position on the over-flogged issue of what zone should hold what office in the current dispensation as well as their general approach to national politics.

Lest we forget, the zoning formula adopted by the PDP ruling elite since 1999 is founded on the tenet that the following six most important political offices must at any given time be distributed and rotated among the six geopolitical zones in the country. These are the offices of President, Vice-President, Senate President, House Speaker, Party Chairman and lastly, though not the least, Secretary to Government of the Federation.

It is expected that at the expiration of the life of six consecutive governments to be produced in the country from May 1999, each geopolitical zone in the country will have tasted of or held each of these positions once. There is also the understanding that when the President is from the South, that is from any zone in the South, the Chairmanship of the party would go to the North, to a Northern zone that has not previously held the Chairmanship, and vice versa; ditto for the vice-presidency.

The formula has nothing to do with voting patterns or what number of senators or House members the party garners from whatever zone. As long as there is even a single House member or senator from a zone that can so represent the zone or fill the quota within the National Assembly, the formula is deemed applicable, especially with respect to the Legislature.

The question that arose after the 2011 general elections is: Given the above stipulations, which of the six pre-eminent political positions ought to go to the South East in view of what has transpired in the contemporary past? This is the crux of the matter! A sane analysis of the matter shows that now that the President is from the South-South, the positions of Vice-President and Chairman of the party have to reside within zones in the North; the South East cannot have any of them.

That leaves out the positions of Senate President, House Speaker and Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF. The South East has already taken its shot at the Senate Presidency during the Obasanjo presidency and should therefore not have it again until after it has rotated to the five other zones. In the last four years, the North Central has held the office of Senate president.

It makes sense therefore that the position remains with the North Central so that it can thereby complete its eight-year tenure as indeed the South East did during the eight-year rule of ex-President Obasanjo. So what is the basis for a South East demand for the position of Senate President at this point in time when the office has not gone round?

A similar argument can be raised about the zone that should occupy the office of House Speaker in this dispensation. Oh yes, the South East has not as yet held the office of House Speaker. But the South West is just completing its first term of Speakership and should be allowed another four years to complete its requisite eight-year tenure before the position can reasonably be taken to another zone.

Going by this simple political arithmetic, I think it is clear that the South East cannot but settle for the position of Secretary to Government of the Federation, SGF. It is very clear that this is only appropriate. I find it rather worrisome that most South East political leaders should in the face of this reality choose to raise the political temperature of the country by making unsustainable claims, crying wolf where there is none.

The dust raised and the insult heaped on the Presidency over this matter is regrettable, unpatriotic and to say the least uncalled for. Such reckless utterances can never lead the South East, nay Nigeria, to political Eldorado! The overall negative attitude of most South East politicians over this matter is the kind of politics that takes a people to the desert or to engage itself in a needless female fight, as Achebe would say.

I think that our South East political leaders must be more discerning, more analytical and in fact, more responsible. Their lackadaisical attitude and crude approach are a dire embarrassment to most of us South Easterners. What has gone on is indeed cheap politics that misleads rather than enlightens.

It can never augur well for our teeming masses that deserve better direction from the leadership. We must admit that there is absolutely no case of South East marginalization or Igbo baiting in this matter! It is indeed shameful that at a time we should be consolidating and indeed cultivating friendships across ethnic boundaries a self-seeking and noisy minority of South Easterners bent on turning things upside down is having a field day eroding the little political progress the South East has managed to garner in recent times.

Those of them that have been shouting from the roof-tops that the position of House Speaker for the South East is non-negotiable and must not go elsewhere must learn and resolve today to mind their language.

In the first place, that is not the language of democrats. They must also understand that the South East cannot on it own effect even the most inchoate signs of a new order in the system. To bring change in the system, we need the support of the broad majority of the other geopolitical zones in the country. Therefore, we must at all time speak the language of conciliation, of alliance building, of accommodation, egalitarianism and equity. A word is enough for the wise!

Mr.  UCHENNA NWANKWO, an architect, wrote from Lagos.