‘God is Using Jonathan to Resolve Zoning’

Mathew Iduoriyekenwen

— Mathew Iduoriyekenwen, two-time member of the Edo State House of Assembly and the immediate past commissioner on the board of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)
By Walid Ogunseri, Benin City
Most notable figures in the Northern part of the country are still insisting that the presidency remain zoned to the North, that President Goodluck Jonathan should just conduct elections and go home? What is your take on this?
First and foremost, I want to say that I am a member of the People’s Democratic Party of Nigeria and I will not say that the zoning pattern in PDP is sacrosanct as it relates to North, South division. I know for instance that in 1999, people from every part of the country contested the primaries with former President Obasanjo, even in 2003, all the contestants did not come from the South geo-political zone of the country. But come to look at the country as it is today, I want to commend some persons who have come out clearly to speak not as Northerners or Southerners but as pure nationalists by standing on the path of truth. I respect people like Professor Jerry Gana, the Akume (George) and the group. I read about their meetings in the North, who believe that President Jonathan and Yar’Adua had a joint ticket in PDP which ultimately, if everything had gone well will terminate like after two terms in office to enable them achieve whatever programmes they have for the country, and as it were, destiny or whatever you call it has now brought Jonathan to be president of this country. Now that he is president of this country, it is only proper for right thinking Nigerians, not only to support but to also back him so that there is a guaranteed continuity in the administration of the country. You would realise that the Federal Government is putting in so much effort to ensure that basic electoral promises are met. The government has for instance engaged the issue of power frontally, which is a very, very critical aspect of the economy if the Nigerian economy must grow and the government is putting in place different committees to ensure that they are able to achieve adequate power generation and distribution in the country at the said date. Now, when that is achieved, you now also ensure that that achievement is not just realised, but should also be sustained and that it becomes imperative for Jonathan to seek election to carry on with the programmes that he is just starting. For goodness sake, one year is just not enough for him to achieve anything. If you have somebody else coming into the scene to take charge and the person brings an entirely new agenda, we will find ourselves in a situation where we like to take 10 steps forward and 20 steps backward and the country will never move forward. I sincerely believe and I join those Nigerians that are rooting for Jonathan’s continuity. Nobody is against zoning of positions in Nigeria. My own understanding of zoning means that if the president comes from the southern geo political zone, the vice president should come from the North and you distribute the offices, which is in line with the constitution of the country. What people are calling zoning to my own understanding, is like a rotation of power, power rotate from the south, it goes to the North. That is not zoning. Zoning means the spread of offices. I do not support, in view of our current position in Nigeria today, I do not support rotation of offices, especially office of Mr. President. The reason is very, very clear, the man (Jonathan) has marshalled out plans and policies to move the country forward and make the country make progress, and then you are now saying because the man is from the geo-political zone which should not produce the president of the country because some people, a cabal, feels they must decide who becomes the president, then the man (Jonathan) should not run. I think it is not right. I think that God is using the Jonathan’s case permanently to solve the problem of power shift to end rotation in this country. I believe that God is trying to also use it to make Nigeria become a country where everyone of us, irrespective of where we are from can aspire to the highest offices of this country. We all say America's Barrack Obama came from nowhere, he is not a black American. Some people traced his roots to Kenya, but Americans believe in him because of the quality the man (Obama) has, and the man went into a presidential race in the country and Americans saw the quality in the man and allowed him to take charge of the mantle of leadership in the country. You can see that America has made more progress since Obama became president. I think that Nigeria has come of age where people, where offices, especially that of the president should no longer be given to people based on section of the country where you are from. For goodness sake, if a Yoruba man becomes president today, you say after that the next person to become president should be an Igbo and he should rule for eight years, it’s not fair. Nigeria has gone beyond that.
Presently, Nigerians are yearning for credible elections which have always eluded us. If President Jonathan joins the race, do you think he will conduct a free and fair election?
With all the restructuring we are seeing, I have absolute confidence in the electoral system as we are seeing today. I believe that the principle of one man, one vote will be realised and I do not think that Jonathan would want to use the power of incumbency to foist himself on Nigerians when Nigerians do not want him. At the same time, I do not think that the blackmail of a cabal in this country, who think they must be the one to decide who becomes president will work this time around. I do not think that Jonathan will muscle INEC and from the credentials of the man recently appointed the National Chairman of INEC, I think it is setting the stage for elections where the voice of the people will be reflected at the polls.
Since notable personalities like former military president, Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar, former vice president have signified interest to contest the 2011 presidential elections, what are the chances of President Jonathan?
No law in this country prevents anybody from aspiring to be president of this country. Babangida (IBB) is free to contest, but the question is, does he have the capacity to deliver for Nigeria? The man (IBB) had been president of this country for eight years before- whether through military coup or whatever. He occupied that office at the time there were no checks and balances, no legislature, the judiciary was more or less an arm of the executive because it was a military regime. I want to say categorically that nobody will stop him (Jonathan) from contesting election, nobody can stop him. Nigerians now know better, and if you ask me, my honest opinion is that I would tell our former president (IBB) to remain the statesmen that he is and allow those, the younger people who are in tune with governance all over the world, good governance all over the world to take over the mantle of leadership of this country. I don’t believe that Babangida has anything to offer this country anymore. Babangida is almost 70 years of age, he was about 44 years or so when he became the Military Head of State. That was the peak of his life, that was the time the man could reason properly. If you look at the world leaders today, look at Barack Obama, look at Sarkozy in France, these are young people and they are moving their countries forward.
Talking about the 2011 presidential election, how do you garner support for President Jonathan when Edo PDP is still factionalised?
(Cuts in) well, what I want to tell you for sure and this I would remind you after the elections is that Edo State is a PDP State. Most of the people you see in AC today that are making AC tick are people who left the PDP to join the Action Congress. Now most of our members that went to AC, they have gone there and they have found out that there is nothing there, that AC has nothing to offer them. Many of our people are already making plans to come back home because PDP is their home. PDP is at home here and Edo State is purely PDP State. Besides that, when we visited the National Chairman of the party (Nwodo) to congratulate him on his recent appointment as Chairman of People’s Democratic Party and to also intimate him of the challenges of the party in the state, especially the non- democratic attitude of the governor (Oshiomhole) of Edo State, a man who came through the process of the rule of law, who has suddenly become undemocratic, who has become autocratic and who has taken the form of an absolute ruler, a man who will force members, chairmen of councils whether you like it or not, the only way you can get your allocation from us, you have to leave your party and cross to AC. And you see members of PDP, PDP Council Chairmen, in other for them to survive and get their councils running, they had to join AC.