Former Federal Commissioner for Information and South-South leader, Chief Edwin Clark, has asked former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki, Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State, and other northerners with Presidential ambitions ahead of 2023 to abandon such a plan for the sake of justice.
In a statement issued yesterday in Abuja, Clark warned that zoning the presidency between the north and south is the best antidote to Nigeria’s breakup and the requirement for peace and unity in the country, but added that it is the South’s turn to produce the next President in 2023, not the north’s.
According to the elder statesman, zoning was used in the nation’s policy even before independence, when Tafawa Balewa was Prime Minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe was Governor-General in 1954.
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Clark stated, “First and foremost, I would like to use this medium to advise my most respected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftains in the persons of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, Governor of Sokoto State, and other PDP aspirants from the north, that in the interest of maintaining the unity of this country to which they have contributed so much, to reconsider their desire to run for President in 2023, because, according to both the PDP Constitution and convention, it is now the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the President of Nigeria in 2023, following President Muhammadu Buhari’s 8-year tenure.
“To do otherwise is to invite chaos, which will lead to our beloved country’s disintegration.”
“Zoning was used in the nation’s policy even before independence, when Tafawa Balewa was Prime Minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe was Governor-General in 1954.
“The zoning of political offices, particularly the presidency, is the best antidote to Nigeria’s breakup and the panacea for the country’s peace and unity.
“One of the reasons the north opposed Chief Anthony Enahoro’s motion for independence in 1953 was that they felt they were not equal to the South in education; that they were not in a position to produce proportional candidates who will run an independent government with the south because they only had about 4 graduates at the time.
“They subsequently walked out of the Parliament, went back to the north, and swore never to return to Lagos again.” That is what prompted the Constitutional Conferences held at Lancaster House in London and Ibadan, Nigeria, with the goal of keeping Nigeria united. The impression was that no one group or section of the country should dominate Nigeria’s government at the expense of other parts of the country.
“When Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Deputy Premier to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Premier of Western Nigeria, was scheduled to travel to the north to lobby northern political leaders such as Mallam Aminu Kano and others to support the Action Group.
“Some northern radicals in Kano got wind of it and were planning an attack on Chief Akintola at Kano Railway Station. However, the Colonial Government in Lagos learned of the plan and stopped Chief Akintola in Zaria on his way to Kano, instructing him to return to Ibadan.
“However, because the northerners were unaware, they went to the Rail Station and exacerbated the crisis.
“With their disappointment, they went into town and wreaked havoc in Kano, torching Igbo homes and businesses, as if Chief Akintola were an Igbo.
“My good friend, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai, a Comet Newspaper reporter in 1954, was present at the Railway Station when the incident occurred.
“When Nigeria gained independence in 1960, key positions in the Federal Government were distributed (shared) among the Protectorates of Northern and Southern Nigeria.”
“The North assumed the office of Prime Minister, while the South assumed the offices of Governor-General and President of the Senate.
“The Governor-General was in charge of the Eastern Region, while the President of the Senate was in charge of the Western Region.
“In the Armed Forces, another example of zoning was the Nigerian Army, which was controlled by British officers, and the General Officer Commanding the Army was a Briton.”
“However, after independence, and when Nigeria was to take over in 1965, the most qualified Officer at the time, Zakariya Maimalari, was a northerner who went to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, United Kingdom.
“The then-Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, intervened, stating that since he was already the Minister of Defence, appointing another northerner as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Nigerian Army would be inappropriate.
That is why General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi of Eastern Nigeria was appointed as the Nigerian Army’s first indigenous GOC.
“Zoning has been the pattern adopted even in the Legislative Houses to keep Nigeria together.”
“I recall that when Alhaji Shehu Shagari was President of the country, Senator Joseph Waya of Obudu in Cross River State, south-south Nigeria, was President of the Senate, and Rt. Hon. Edwin Ume-Ezeoke of Anambra State, south-eastern Nigeria, was Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the same reasons stated above.
“The zoning pattern was also observed in 1999, and the country wanted to compensate the Yorubas as a result of the June 12 incident.
“That is how Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, from the south, ran for president with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, from the north, as his running mate under the Peoples Democratic Party. Olu Falae, also known as Chief Olu Falae, also from southern Nigeria, ran as a candidate for the Alliance for Democracy (AD) political party with Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi from the north as his running mate.
“Zoning was maintained at the end of Chief Obasanjo’s eight-year tenure when the Presidency was given to the North in 2007, when Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Governor of Katsina State in northern Nigeria, became the PDP’s Presidential candidate, and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan of Bayelsa State in southern Nigeria became his running mate.
“Northerners did not want him to run for re-election in 2011 because of this zoning issue.”
“They objected to his appointment as the country’s Acting President. Sheikh Abubakar Gumi, the father of Dr. (Sheikh) Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, once came to my house and pleaded with me to request that Dr. Jonathan step down in order for a northerner to take his place because it was the turn of the north.
“That Dr. Jonathan should, in fact, be a Vice President to another northerner who would take Dr. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s place, and that when the north was finished, Dr. Jonathan could return and become President of the country.
“My response to him was that this would be in violation of the Nigerian Constitution, which states that when the Office of the President becomes vacant due to death, illness, or any other occurrence, the Vice President shall take over, as stated in Section 15 of the Nigerian Constitution.
“Dr. Jonathan faced opposition from a variety of sources, including Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Dr. Bukola Saraki were key members of that opposition, which lasted all the way through the 2015 presidential elections.
“Though it was his constitutional right to re-contest in 2015 to complete the 8-year term, as provided by the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Constitution. Dr. Jonathan’s succession to late Dr. Yar’Adua did not obviate his right to run for re-election.
“If we follow the American system of government, we should have realized that the Vice President is only disqualified to run if the President who died or vacated office died or vacated office less than two years into the administration. Dr. Jonathan had not completed half of Dr. Yar’Adua’s first term and was thus qualified to contest if we adopt the American system.
“Again, Section 137 (1b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that a person shall not be qualified for election to the Office of President if he has been ELECTED TO SUCH OFFICE AT ANY TWO PREVIOUS ELECTIONS,” it did not say if the person had been sworn in twice as claimed by Barr. Yadudu of Kano State, who posited that the time Jonathan was first sworn in when he took office with Dr. This is a completely incorrect position that contradicts the provisions of the country’s Constitution.”
” Despite this, northerners believed Dr. Jonathan should not run in the 2015 election because it was their turn.
“As a result, most northern leaders, including Governors and PDP politicians, decided to support Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, rtd, and even contributed funds to his campaign, including former Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Dr. Bukola Saraki.
“The majority of PDP leaders from the north who received campaign funds from the party did not use the funds for the intended purpose.
“There were only a few exceptions among the PDP’s northern leaders. That is why I stated that the “PDP defeated the PDP in the 2015 Presidential election.”
“The argument that Dr. Yar’Adua’s presidency lasted only about two and a half years, and thus that the north should be allowed to produce another candidate to complete the north’s statutory eight years, was met in 2019, when only northern candidates competed in the PDP Primaries in Port Harcourt, where Alhaji Atiku Abubakar won with a resounding victory.”
“Similarly, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Primary in 2014 was dominated by northerners, with the exception of Owelle Rochas Okorocha, a southerner.
“In the end, Muhammadu Buhari triumphed, with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar finishing second.
“It is instructive that the nation’s two main parties, the APC and the PDP, have faithfully followed the zoning and rotation system between the north and the south.”
“The north would have ruled for another 8 years by 2023. As a result, it is both rational and correct to insist on rotating the presidency to the south.
“Since 2015, it has made no difference whether the presidency has been produced by the APC or the PDP.
“It is a different matter entirely as to which sub-region in the south the presidency should be further zoned to.”
“We will decide which area, section, or region of the three regions of the South-East, South-South, and South-West should have it at the appropriate time.”
“It must be understood that the north has held the Presidency for roughly 45 years of our country’s independence.”
