Alex Ekwueme: Apostle of Rotational Presidency
By Paul Uwadima
Today, zoning has become a contentious issue, especially in the rank and file of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Presently, many pundits are convinced beyond doubt that the PDP, the way we know it, will not be the same ever again, if the party goes against its constitution and allow the principle of zoning to be discarded at its presidential primaries ahead of the 2011 election.
Already, a founding member of PDP, Mallam Adamu Ciroma has warned that majority of PDP faithfuls will dump the party, if President Goodluck Jonathan picks the party’s ticket at the primaries.
But before the present heightened tension, over zoning, the principle has been with us. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Section 14 sub section (3) states that: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the Federal Character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or any of its agencies.”
The constitution is clear about it: Government should at all times reflect the federal character of the country. It was this principle that the authors of the PDP constitution adopted in section 7(2) (c) of the party’s constitution which states that: “In pursuant of the principles of equity, justice and fairness the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.”
It also stated in the preamble that the party intends: “to create socio-political conditions conducive to national peace and unity by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices among the diverse peoples of our country and evolving powers equitably between the federal, state and local governments in the spirit of federalism.” The PDP constitution clearly stated that the party shall adhere to the principles of rotation and zoning in pursuit of “the principles of equity, justice and fairness.”
Before the present tardiness of the PDP leadership and brouhaha over zoning, one man had foreseen the need to take the federal character principle to the next level by advocating for the creation of six geo-political zones in the country in such a way to reduce potential conflicts. That man was former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, at the constitutional convened by the Late General Sani Abacha administration.
Ekwueme had advocated for the president to be rotated between the six geo-political zones, with six Vice Presidents representing the zones. His proposal was not accepted by the conference but his advocacy for six geo-political zones has been adopted for administrative purposes by federal government and political parties, even though it was not in the constitution.
The former Vice President was so passionate about the need to have a President, with six Vice Presidents, that despite the rejection of his proposal, he wrote a minority report on it. On hindsight many analysts agreed that it was poor judgment on the part of those who convened the conference and the participants over their rejection of that proposal. It has been said that, if the proposal had been adopted and enshrined in the constitution, when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died, there would have been no noises over making Jonathan his successor, as a Vice president from his (Yar’Adua’s) zone would have automatically mounted the saddle and rule in his place. But none of the leaders then foresaw what wise-man Ekwueme saw and today the country is on the edge of precipice because of zoning.
Aside, his famous proposal at the constitutional conference for a just and equitable power sharing in Nigeria based on the six geopolitical zones which have now come to be accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable Nigerian polity, he was also famous for mobilizing the group of 34 eminent Nigerians who risked their lives to stand up against the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha during the dark days of military rule.
Despite his role in enthroning democracy, he was schemed out of the presidential slot which was zoned to the South in 1999 by the powers-that-be. At the Jos National Convention where the PDP chose its presidential candidate, Ekwueme was head and shoulder above Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in democracy credentials and had the support of most delegates. Expectations were so high that he would pick the ticket. Besides, his closest rival, Obasanjo had failed to fulfill the party’s condition to be in the presidential primaries’ race.
Before the primaries, the party had stated that, the only eligible aspirants would be those aspirants who were able to deliver victories for the party at the ward, local government and governorship elections earlier held. Obasanjo did not meet that requisite condition and thus ab initio have no business contesting the primaries, but the military leaders at the time in collaboration with retired military leaders connived and granted him waiver to contest. Obasanjo ‘won’ the primaries and eventually ‘won’ the presidential election.
Ekwueme protested this injustice at the venue of the primaries and later allowed the sleeping dog lie. It has now emerged that after the ‘victory’ of Obasanjo, the Ottah farmer had wanted to compensate him for his loss by promising him, the senate presidency seat, which he respectfully turned down despite the impudence on the part of Obasanjo in making such a condescending offer to a man who had been the nation’s number two citizen exactly 10 years earlier.
Obasanjo and his cronies hijacked the PDP and totally destroyed it after eight years in power, and it was the same Ekwueme who had to come to the help of the party by heading the PDP reconciliation committee that did the best it could to bring back to the party’s fold many of those who dumped the party because of Obasanjo’s dictatorial tendencies. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a frontline presidential aspirant in the party for the 2011 election has been a beneficiary of the outcome of the Ekwueme led reconciliation committee. When Atiku wrote to the PDP for the waiver to contest for the party’s ticket, he hinged it on the recommendations of Ekwueme’s committee.
Because of his well known advocacy for rotational presidency , many were surprised when recently the Jonathan/Sambo presidential campaign organization released the list of members of their mobilization committee and Ekwueme’s name were on it. There was a lot of skepticism about the list especially as Ekwueme is not someone that would readily advocate for the jettisoning of zoning as enshrined in the party’s constitution. It soon turned out that his name was smuggled into the list for effect by the camp of Jonathan to show that they have caught a big fish in their desperate attempt to prove that there is no zoning in PDP’s power sharing arrangement. And no fish is bigger than the apostle of zoning and rotational presidency.
Dr. Ekwueme, made eloquent statement on where he stand on the zoning quagmire, when he registered his pressure at a gathering of Leaders of Ndigbo in Owerri, the Imo state capital,recently where they had converged to chart a course for the race ahead of the 2011 elections. Sensing that this gathering, which for all intent and purpose was the true list of who is who in Igbo land that were determined to challenge the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by a fringe Igbo leaders’ group earlier in Enugu, the Enugu state capital, the presidency used state powers to stop them from gaining entrance to Concorde Hotel Owerri, booked several days in advance as the venue of the meeting.
Ekwueme was among Igbo leaders who stood under the sun and held their meeting in defiance of the powers-that-be, determined to rubbish the gentleman’s agreement of the ruling PDP.
Dr. Alex Ekwueme, member of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) council of Elders; Leader of the team assembled by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for pre-election monitoring for the parliamentary election in Zimbabwe in 2000; Leader of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) observer team to the Tanzanian presidential and parliamentary election in 2000; Team leader, 28 member NDI/Carter Centre Sponsored Observer Team to the Liberian Presidential run-off election in 2005 and the man that has done so much for the deepening of democracy in Nigeria, is a hero of democracy to most Nigerians.
Today, zoning has become a contentious issue, especially in the rank and file of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Presently, many pundits are convinced beyond doubt that the PDP, the way we know it, will not be the same ever again, if the party goes against its constitution and allow the principle of zoning to be discarded at its presidential primaries ahead of the 2011 election.
Already, a founding member of PDP, Mallam Adamu Ciroma has warned that majority of PDP faithfuls will dump the party, if President Goodluck Jonathan picks the party’s ticket at the primaries.
But before the present heightened tension, over zoning, the principle has been with us. The constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria: Section 14 sub section (3) states that: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the Federal Character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or any of its agencies.”
The constitution is clear about it: Government should at all times reflect the federal character of the country. It was this principle that the authors of the PDP constitution adopted in section 7(2) (c) of the party’s constitution which states that: “In pursuant of the principles of equity, justice and fairness the party shall adhere to the policy of rotation and zoning of party and public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.”
It also stated in the preamble that the party intends: “to create socio-political conditions conducive to national peace and unity by ensuring fair and equitable distribution of resources and opportunities, to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices among the diverse peoples of our country and evolving powers equitably between the federal, state and local governments in the spirit of federalism.” The PDP constitution clearly stated that the party shall adhere to the principles of rotation and zoning in pursuit of “the principles of equity, justice and fairness.”
Before the present tardiness of the PDP leadership and brouhaha over zoning, one man had foreseen the need to take the federal character principle to the next level by advocating for the creation of six geo-political zones in the country in such a way to reduce potential conflicts. That man was former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, at the constitutional convened by the Late General Sani Abacha administration.
Ekwueme had advocated for the president to be rotated between the six geo-political zones, with six Vice Presidents representing the zones. His proposal was not accepted by the conference but his advocacy for six geo-political zones has been adopted for administrative purposes by federal government and political parties, even though it was not in the constitution.
The former Vice President was so passionate about the need to have a President, with six Vice Presidents, that despite the rejection of his proposal, he wrote a minority report on it. On hindsight many analysts agreed that it was poor judgment on the part of those who convened the conference and the participants over their rejection of that proposal. It has been said that, if the proposal had been adopted and enshrined in the constitution, when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua died, there would have been no noises over making Jonathan his successor, as a Vice president from his (Yar’Adua’s) zone would have automatically mounted the saddle and rule in his place. But none of the leaders then foresaw what wise-man Ekwueme saw and today the country is on the edge of precipice because of zoning.
Aside, his famous proposal at the constitutional conference for a just and equitable power sharing in Nigeria based on the six geopolitical zones which have now come to be accepted as necessary for maintaining a stable Nigerian polity, he was also famous for mobilizing the group of 34 eminent Nigerians who risked their lives to stand up against the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha during the dark days of military rule.
Despite his role in enthroning democracy, he was schemed out of the presidential slot which was zoned to the South in 1999 by the powers-that-be. At the Jos National Convention where the PDP chose its presidential candidate, Ekwueme was head and shoulder above Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in democracy credentials and had the support of most delegates. Expectations were so high that he would pick the ticket. Besides, his closest rival, Obasanjo had failed to fulfill the party’s condition to be in the presidential primaries’ race.
Before the primaries, the party had stated that, the only eligible aspirants would be those aspirants who were able to deliver victories for the party at the ward, local government and governorship elections earlier held. Obasanjo did not meet that requisite condition and thus ab initio have no business contesting the primaries, but the military leaders at the time in collaboration with retired military leaders connived and granted him waiver to contest. Obasanjo ‘won’ the primaries and eventually ‘won’ the presidential election.
Ekwueme protested this injustice at the venue of the primaries and later allowed the sleeping dog lie. It has now emerged that after the ‘victory’ of Obasanjo, the Ottah farmer had wanted to compensate him for his loss by promising him, the senate presidency seat, which he respectfully turned down despite the impudence on the part of Obasanjo in making such a condescending offer to a man who had been the nation’s number two citizen exactly 10 years earlier.
Obasanjo and his cronies hijacked the PDP and totally destroyed it after eight years in power, and it was the same Ekwueme who had to come to the help of the party by heading the PDP reconciliation committee that did the best it could to bring back to the party’s fold many of those who dumped the party because of Obasanjo’s dictatorial tendencies. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a frontline presidential aspirant in the party for the 2011 election has been a beneficiary of the outcome of the Ekwueme led reconciliation committee. When Atiku wrote to the PDP for the waiver to contest for the party’s ticket, he hinged it on the recommendations of Ekwueme’s committee.
Because of his well known advocacy for rotational presidency , many were surprised when recently the Jonathan/Sambo presidential campaign organization released the list of members of their mobilization committee and Ekwueme’s name were on it. There was a lot of skepticism about the list especially as Ekwueme is not someone that would readily advocate for the jettisoning of zoning as enshrined in the party’s constitution. It soon turned out that his name was smuggled into the list for effect by the camp of Jonathan to show that they have caught a big fish in their desperate attempt to prove that there is no zoning in PDP’s power sharing arrangement. And no fish is bigger than the apostle of zoning and rotational presidency.
Dr. Ekwueme, made eloquent statement on where he stand on the zoning quagmire, when he registered his pressure at a gathering of Leaders of Ndigbo in Owerri, the Imo state capital,recently where they had converged to chart a course for the race ahead of the 2011 elections. Sensing that this gathering, which for all intent and purpose was the true list of who is who in Igbo land that were determined to challenge the purported endorsement of President Goodluck Jonathan by a fringe Igbo leaders’ group earlier in Enugu, the Enugu state capital, the presidency used state powers to stop them from gaining entrance to Concorde Hotel Owerri, booked several days in advance as the venue of the meeting.
Ekwueme was among Igbo leaders who stood under the sun and held their meeting in defiance of the powers-that-be, determined to rubbish the gentleman’s agreement of the ruling PDP.
Dr. Alex Ekwueme, member of the Economic Community of West African States’ (ECOWAS) council of Elders; Leader of the team assembled by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for pre-election monitoring for the parliamentary election in Zimbabwe in 2000; Leader of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) observer team to the Tanzanian presidential and parliamentary election in 2000; Team leader, 28 member NDI/Carter Centre Sponsored Observer Team to the Liberian Presidential run-off election in 2005 and the man that has done so much for the deepening of democracy in Nigeria, is a hero of democracy to most Nigerians.
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