The decision of the Adams Oshiomhole-led All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the position of the office of Senate President in Ninth Assembly to Ahmed Lawan may further divide the country along ethnic and religious fault lines, analysts have warned.
With strong indications that the party will zone the seat of Speaker of the House of Representatives in the incoming Assembly to the South West, political commentators have cautioned that the APC may have perfected a plot to scheme out the South-South and South East geopolitical zones from reckoning in the second tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari.
If the report that the National Judicial Council (NJC) has advised President Buhari to okay the appointment of the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad in substantive capacity, is anything to go by, it means that for the first time in Nigeria’s recent history, all heads of the three arms of government will be northerners and Muslims.
For instance, while President Buhari is a Muslim from Katsina State (North West), Lawan and Muhammad are both Muslims from the North East.
It is also believed that the Speakership position may be zoned to the South West geopolitical zone, where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo hails from.
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This, according to pundits, has not only reinforced the feeling of marginalisation by people from the South-South and South East but has also given credence to allegations of nepotism levelled against the Buhari administration by people from the areas.
This is not the first time the issue of marginalisation against people from the two zones in the Buhari administration would be highlighted.
In 2017, BusinessDay had reported that 81 of the 100 appointments made by the President were from the North while the other regions shared the remaining 19 appointments.
In an exclusive interview with BDSUNDAY, a political analyst, Taiye Odewale, said the development could hunt the party in the 2023 General Election.
He described the current happenings as a violation of the federal character principle as enshrined in Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Odewale expressed regret that APC is already branding itself as a party of ‘Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba’.
His words: “Since 2015, the APC has not shown knowledge or experience of knowing how to manage a country called Nigeria in terms of its diversity and applying the principle of Federal Character in appointment of Nigerians into key positions. You have six geopolitical zones. It is very wrong for the party that has the Number One Citizen from North West, Number Two from South West, Number Three which is Senate President from North East and has the Number Four from the South West which has already taken Number Two position.
“Zoning the position of Speakership of the Ninth House of Representatives to the South West is against the principle of federal character. Because the two zones that are left behind – the South East and South-South- it means that they are giving them the opportunity of coming out to say they are either marginalised or not being carried along. And that will not augur well for the unity we are trying to build in Nigeria.”
He insisted that “It is wrong, APC needs to address this matter or else Nigerians may be forced to kick against it in 2023. Because the party must have succeeded in branding itself as a party of Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba. And other people will join hands with aggrieved Hausa-Fulanis and Yorubas to push it out.
“What the party is doing is unconstitutional. Section 14 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) spells it out clearly that every segment of the country must be carried along in appointment and distribution of resources”.
However, some observers hold the belief that since the North West gave the President the highest number of votes in the last General Election, this is the best time to pay back the zone with the position of Presiding Officers in the Ninth Assembly.
A new twist was added to the matter last week when the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, Kabiru Gaya, who also hails from the North West with President Buhari, declared his intention to run for the position of Deputy Senate President.
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In a chat with journalists in Abuja, the ranking lawmaker submitted that the zone ought to produce the Deputy Senate President since it gave the highest vote to President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 general election.
Although the party had already zoned the position of Senate President to the Lawan, from the North East, Gaya, a former governor of Kano State, said there was nothing wrong with the northern part of the country to produce the President and Deputy President of the Senate, neither will it be out of order for President Buhari to come from the same zone with the DSP.
Specifically, he said the four zones of North West, North East, North Central and South West that gave President Buhari victory should be rewarded, stressing that “Those who worked hard (in the last election) should be rewarded”.
He added: “If the six zones are accommodated in the sharing formula for the National Assembly leadership positions, four of them contributed tremendously to the election of Mr. President.
“The South West, which has now got the position of the Speaker, North East which has now got the position of Senate President, North Central has the position of Deputy Speaker.
“Considering the zoning arrangement, it is clear that the North West has been left behind and I am a ranking senator from the North West. That means the Deputy Senate President position should go to North West”.
But an Abuja-based legal practitioner, Joseph Nwankwo, disagreed with Gaya, as he urged the APC-led government to take a cue from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN)-led administration of 1979 that appointed its members into key positions from opposition strongholds.
On the argument that the zones that didn’t deliver for APC in the General Elections should not be rewarded, Nwankwo said: “It doesn’t matter. There are people from those areas (South-South and South East), no matter how insignificant they may be in number, that are card-carrying members of APC.
“A very good example of how power should be shared was obtainable during the Second Republic. The zone now known as South West had a political idol then in the person of Obafemi Awolowo who was in UPN. In the 1979 election, all the four states -Lagos, Ondo, Oyo and Ogun – including old Bendel State now comprising of Edo and Delta States, voted UPN. But the NPN government under the late Shehu Shagari still allowed a Yoruba person from Ibadan, Adisa Akinloye, the National Chairman of NPN. Richard Akinjide was the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. Sunday Adeusi of blessed memory, was the Inspector General of Police.
“So, NPN that time did not say that because Yorubas didn’t vote for them, they wouldn’t appoint them into sensitive positions. In fact, Shagari lost all his deposits in all the four Yoruba-speaking states in the 1979 election. He didn’t score up to the required 25 percent of the votes cast. Yet, he appointed people from that area into key government positions. That is what the federal character principle says. There is no caveat in that principle”.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
