Tenure debate: Ekwueme got it right
According to him, the 1995 Abacha constitution would have tackled most of the current political challenges facing Nigeria, including the issue of power rotation and zoning which would have removed the unnecessary heated emotions that characterize the current arguments about power sharing. He regretted that the Justice Niki Tobi-led constitution review committee established by the […]
According to him, the 1995 Abacha constitution would have tackled most of the current political challenges facing Nigeria, including the issue of power rotation and zoning which would have removed the unnecessary heated emotions that characterize the current arguments about power sharing. He regretted that the Justice Niki Tobi-led constitution review committee established by the former General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime had thrown away the baby with the bath water.
Dr. Ekwueme, who was a member of the 1994-1995 National Constitutional Conference, said the Abacha constitution was “the first formal recognition of the six political zones now in common usage politically as a legal or constitutional document.” The former Vice President in the Second Republic argued further that, if the Abacha constitution had been incorporated into the 1999 constitution, two of the three senatorial districts of each state would have already produced governors in every state, leaving the third remaining district to produce the governor at the next election. As a result, he posited, “all the problems currently bedevilling most states in the matter of power shift would not have arisen and all parts of the country would have been given a sense of belonging.”
He also maintained that if the provisions of the Abacha constitution “had been incorporated into the 1999 constitution, two of the six geopolitical zones would have already produced a President of Nigeria and a third zone would have been looking forward to producing the president in the next dispensation.” This arrangement, he noted, would have ended the cry of marginalization. Chief Ekwueme recalled that under the provisions of the 1995 Abacha constitution, when a President resigns, dies or is impeached, the Vice President can hold office for a period of not more than three months during which there shall be an election of a new President from the same zone which produced the President in the first place to complete the tenure of the President that died, resigned or was impeached while in office.
With hindsight, most of those who participated in discarding the provisions of the Abacha constitution by Niki Tobi committee must privately be having second thoughts over their myopia, which has now caused the nation needless divisions and acrimony over power sharing. The death of President Umaru Musa Yar’adua and its concomitant heated political controversy over zoning almost tore the nation apart. In particular, the decision of some members of the PDP to abandon zoning after Yar’adua’s death on the grounds that the internal power sharing arrangement was unconstitutional unfortunately revived old regional rivalries and acrimony. Niger Delta militants even threatened war if Dr. Jonathan was not allowed to contest in the 2011 Presidential election.
In the north, tension also ran so high that Alhaji Lawal Kaita threatened to make Nigeria “ungovernable” if zoning was abandoned to gratify Jonathan’s ambition to run as the Presidential candidate of the PDP. The post-election violence in Kaduna in April was a reflection of the deep-seated bitter resentment that attended the abandonment of zoning. Though General Buhari of CPC is not a PDP member, the sentiments of zoning cut across party borders in the north. Whether the post-election violence was instigated or not, we cannot deny the fact that the abandonment of zoning was a key factor that fed the bitterness of northerners who felt it was unfair to deny them the right to complete Yar’dua’s tenure of eight years. Northerners argued that if former President Obasanjo, as a beneficiary of zoning could complete his tenure of eight years, why deny them the same opportunity under the internal power sharing arrangement of the PDP?
Objectively speaking, these sentiments are understandable. As brilliantly argued by Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the political bitterness that accompanied Yar’adua’s death could have been avoided if the provisions of the Abacha constitution were sincerely and critically given a good consideration by the Justice Niki Tobi constitution review committee. One of the tragedies of this country is the tendency to abandon good ideas merely because our leaders don’t like to give any credit to their predecessors. As a result, such good ideas are destroyed out of myopic considerations and not the larger interest of the nation. Can a country go far with leaders obsessed with this puerile mindset?
Political opportunism and expediency should not be used to destroy the larger interest of Nigeria.
Former Vice President Alex Ekwueme needs no lecture on patriotism and therefore, he is taken seriously by Nigerians. This fine and gentle Igbo Chief could have given Nigeria credible direction in 2003 because he is more cool-headed and gifted with the finesse that the office of the president demands. President Yar’dua’s demise in office was a reminder that Nigeria greatly needs prescient statesmen like Dr. Ekwueme who see beyond their noses. General Obasanjo in contrast, is a tempestuous character who has caused us so much divisions and bitterness in the country.
Uzor wrote from 43, 1st Avenue, Gwarimpa Housing Estate, Abuja. [email protected]