Arewa elders’ assembly on the PDP’s zoning

In fact, at well over seventy years, a former Commissioner in several ministries in his home state, a one-time Chairman of IMPRESIT BAKOLORI, a chieftain of the defunct NPN and SDP as well as a minister-in-charge of the strategic Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources in the immediate past regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji […]

In fact, at well over seventy years, a former Commissioner in several ministries in his home state, a one-time Chairman of IMPRESIT BAKOLORI, a chieftain of the defunct NPN and SDP as well as a minister-in-charge of the strategic Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources in the immediate past regime of General Olusegun Obasanjo, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura is an eminent personality by all Nigerian and, indeed, global standards. One of the earliest graduates of the University of Lagos, when Nigerian graduates were as good as products of the best universities in the world, you must also give to the man that he had a sound educational background. For these and several reasons, the words, standpoints or views of Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura, especially on critical national issues cannot be dismissed as the whimpers of a no-body. Such deserve analysis and then, given appropriate response if necessary.

Writing on page 13 of the 27th May edition of the Daily Trust Newspaper, under the caption “Zoning Arrangement for North and South”, Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura made some far-reaching and weighty comments which according to him, are the views and stand of his Arewa Elders Assembly  on the question of President Goodluck Jonathan’s political career beyond 2011. Harping on how much the “North and its people have given” to keep Nigeria away from disintegration “for the collective good of all of us”, Dan Masanin Daura, in the article, warned that, “the North is not prepared to play second fiddle to anybody during its allotted time”. That is, in reference to the location of the Presidency which, in the PDP’s much talked about zoning formula, should be in the North between 2011 and 2015. “Formally”, urging President Jonathan to “ignore calls by groups of unpatriotic Nigerians that he should contest the presidential election in 2011”, the spokesman of Arewa Elders Assembly proceeded to give a terse warning: “We therefore put it emphatically to all responsible Nigerians who believe in the unity of the Nigerian state, to come out clean and identify with the truth and nothing but the truth”.

Haba Dan Masari! Which North are you speaking for? The new generation of enlightened northerners, who, like their compatriots from south of the River Niger, have since pulled off the retrogressive hood of division along the primitive lines of ethnicism, religion, regionalism and personality cult? Or, is our elder and leader speaking for the pathetically impoverished talakawa who are barely living to produce the almajiri children and equally unfortunate, befuddled street beggars found on the streets of all cities, towns and villages in the North, East, South and West of Nigeria? When he talks of the North and a Northern Presidency, could Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura be anticipating the presidency of a General Muhammadu Buhari, a Colonel Abubakar Umar Dangiwa, an Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa or the emergence of an Alhaji Sule Lamido as the flag bearer of a northern presidential candidate?

An honest answer to the latter question would be that the Steering Committee member of the Arewa Elders Assembly has in mind a President Muhammed Aliyu Gusau in whose campaign machinery he belonged in 2007 or, a President Ibrahim Babangida and, very very remotely, a President Atiku Abubakar. That’s why, the nests of “Arewa Leaders” are best feathered. Contracts, ministerial and other choice appointments are best assured for selves, children, loved ones and cronies. Or else, how does the Dan Masari explain the opulence of a few and the abject penury of the majority of the people of the North which paradoxically evolved and matured in the era that Arewa ruled the country?

According to Bernard Shaw, the English Playwright, Poet and Philosopher, only fools debate the best form of government because, in concrete terms, the best of governments is that which impacts the most positively on the lives of the governed. In the context of the prevailing Nigerian situation, Sani Zangon Daura, the Arewa Elders Assembly and other persons and groups of their ilk, in the north or south, should better awake to the reality that Nigerians have come of age. They have come beyond that stage when some self-seeking individuals could hood-wink them into a civil strife along regional lines.

They have become so wise by their bitter past experiences that, the Nigerian masses have come to realize that their so-called leaders and defenders are only so to the extent that their pursuits result in their own narrow interests. The Dan Masani seems clearly in the article, to be rehearsing or testing the drum beats of a national cataclysm, but the Arewa people, those radio-clinging mai ruwa, mai gadi, herdsmen, shoe clobbers and their fortunately educated brothers and sisters will not dance to their beats.

This was demonstrated in 1993 when Chief M.K.O Abiola, a philanthropist whose act of charity knew no ethnic, religious or regional divides, resoundingly defeated one of their own, Alhaji Bashir Tofa in the historic presidential election. Ironically, and sadly, our elders are today, overtly but clearly campaigning for those insensitively unpatriotic Nigerians who aborted the mandate of the people, especially people of Arewa. That election if it had been allowed to see light of day, would have translated into making us a vibrant, united and stable people, thereby making Nigeria a quintessence of a democratic African nation state.

On a final note, the zoning arrangement being talked about is supposed to be an arrangement of the PDP and not a constitutional ordinance. Why then is the Arewa Elders Assembly so worked up as if it is guaranteed that whatever happens, fair or foul, the PDP is going to win the presidential election of 2011? Further, what is it that seems to make the likes of Alhaji Sani Zangon Daura believe that the geopolitical zone of the candidate rather than his or her personal qualities are what Nigerians, including the electorate of Arewa, need to decide their choice of their President? Arewa people like every other Nigerian craves for a leader that demonstrates the genuine concern and capability to check the menace of poverty, the ever deteriorating condition of infrastructure, unemployment, insecurity of lives and property, corruption, fraudulent election.

Awwal Garki, 134 Obafemi Awolowo Way, Jabi, Abuja.