By Rotimi Fasan

THERE has been a loud increase in calls for the adoption of the zoning principle from the North. Calls for the application of this unfair advantage has been coming, not unexpectedly, from that section of the Northern oligarchy whose hold on leadership in this part of Nigeria and, indeed, Nigeria at large has become a stranglehold.

This class of oligarchs has been the sole beneficiary of those invidious advantages Nigerians from other parts of the country have come to see as the exclusive preserve of the North. Many of these advantages were clamoured for and enjoyed on the putative claims of their championing the interests of a so-called monolithic North that caters, equally, to the needs of all sections of the region.

Today, the focus of this class of spongers is to insist on the presidency of Nigeria being zoned to the North on the basis of the claims that the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua has denied the North the full complement of eight uninterrupted years on the presidential saddle.

If this principle has to be followed through it would mean that President Goodluck Jonathan cannot stand in next year’s election once he completes the present term of President Yar’Adua. Which is not the same thing as saying he should stand.

In the loud noises being made by the Northern leaders about zoning, a purely intra-party arrangement of the PDP whose authenticity is yet the subject of dispute is suddenly being made to look like a constitutional principle. Let us not forget that while the proponents of zoning insist it is an agreed principle of the PDP others within the PDP have questioned such claims.

But the fact is that none of those who say zoning is central to the principles establishing the PDP can point to any section of the party’s constitution that prescribes zoning as a power sharing formula. Yet Chief Solomon Lar, among others, insists zoning was agreed to by PDP leaders in 1999 while former President Olusegun Obasanjo sees the matter differently.

Whatever the case may be and wherever the truth may lie here, what those members of the PDP insisting on zoning must realise is that they have no right to impose an internal arrangement of their party on the rest of Nigerians. Zoning as a principle for power sharing  may have something to remind us all of the federal character/quota system principle, what must be remembered is that while the latter with all the controversies surrounding it may be statutory, the former has no basis in the laws of Nigeria.

But because it is a principle that has worked to the greater advantage of some people, they are determined to make of it a constitutional claim and seek its implementation in a manner that would ensure that they continue to enjoy the benefits of unearned power or authority.

As I mentioned earlier, what those calling for zoning seek is  unfair advantage and beneath their clearly selfish claims is the unspoken assumption that whoever wins the PDP ticket automatically becomes the president of Nigeria, not for any reason of meeting the expectations of Nigerians but for the singular fact that they presently control the lever of power.

And for now that lever firmly lies in the hand of a Goodluck Jonathan whose emergence has brought erstwhile enemies and strange bed fellows together under one umbrella, and with the sole agenda of ensuring he does not contest the election.

I had mentioned here last week that a Nigerian politician will not preside over an election he would not win. The truth of that claim is being operationalised in the fear of those Northern leaders, especially those who issued a communiqué last week, affirming the ‘sanctity’ of the zoning principle with the subtle prediction (or is it threat?) of a breakdown in law and order should the zoning formula be jettisoned. Yes, we know the prediction of the PDP under its sacked chairman, Vincent Ogbuluafor, to rule for the next 60 years.

But is that because the PDP has done so much to impress Nigerians? Can the tales of rank corruption, woes, torn clothes, broken ribs and bruised egos that followed last week’s brawl among members of the PDP in the House of Reps over the sharing of pork be the recommendation for their desire to rule Nigeria perpetually?

No! Rather, it is because the PDP is a past master at rigging elections and its members expect to employ both foul and FOUL means to retain power. Knowing itself for what it is, a winner-takes-it-all party, members are disturbed by the fact that whoever holds the reins of power at any point in time wins, hence this clamour for zoning by strange bed fellows who now see the need to expand their selfish base by extending invitation to Mohammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Shekarau simply for their expression of interest in the presidency.

But that is the very point where these so-called leaders get it wrong. For a wind of change is gradually blowing across Nigeria, among Nigerian youths, and this is coming very strongly from the North whose youths do not share, in fact oppose, the claims of zoning. Nigerian youths from the North have been making their voice heard in their opposition to what their past leaders have made of the region in the last 50 years of independence, during which the North has held power for about 35  years with nothing to show for it in the life of the average Northerner.

These Nigerians are saying no to zoning. And they are not alone. The likes of Babangida Aliyu, Governor of Niger State, have made similar statements in recent weeks as was the Arewa Youth Forum. Gradually the country is moving towards a pan-Nigerian vision that would see Nigerians from all parts of the country speaking with one voice. No more shall a group of self-described leaders take for granted the support of the people for their selfish agenda. The p
osition now is clear:  Nigerians insist on merit and say No to zoning!