Cover Story
Frustrating an Ambition

The North is bent on discountenancing the issues of equity and fairness in the presidential quest of the South east and South south geo-political zones, in order to effect a power shift

By Tony Egbulefu

Governor Peter Odili of Rivers State, Nigeria

SATurday April 1, Governor Abdulkadir Kure of Niger State, who had been the high jump from the people of the South south, over his recent denigration of the zone’s political class made an about face, and apologised for his verbal gaff. Kure did it with penitence in the presence of politicians of consequence from the North. The occasion was the 5th Northern Senators, Forum, a yearly conference of senators of Northern political belt, hosted in Minna, Niger State capital, by the embattled Kure.
Sober, Kure began: “I am indeed, very sorry for any form of grievances my comments may have caused the people of South south, and I deeply regret it. Please forgive me. There are so many competent people of the South south, who are adequately qualified for the presidential job.” Kure’s repentance however did not extend to his fixation on power shift to the North by 2007. “No matter how we play the game, the next president will come from the North,” he reaffirmed.

Symbolic, particularly in the face of the intense exchange of fireworks between Northern politicians and their counterparts from the South south was the presence of Senator John Azuta Mbata, a senator from Rivers State, and an august emissary of Governor Peter Odili, whose mission was to deliver a goodwill message of the Rivers State governor to the Northern political gathering. In his message, Odili expressed gratitude to the northern legislators for their support to the struggles of the peoples of Niger Delta region, which he said, found expression in northern legislators' support in the passing of the Niger Delta Development Commission Bill and on the abrogation of the Onshore-Offshore Dichotomy.
The presence of an Odili delegate and goodwill message to the Kure-hosted northern political forum, reeked with lessons and significance. One, it spoke eloquently that the Rivers state governor bore no hard feelings against Kure, who in his tirade against the South south, singled out Odili for demolition with the edge of his tongue. Again, was that Odili, was ready to embrace the North, for the greater good of democracy and peaceful co-existence. These lessons are however, dogged by a nagging doubt over the readiness of northern political figures to lay aside its fixation on a vague PDP, power rotation agreement, particularly in the face of dire issues of equity, fairness and sense of belonging, which are the pedestals upon which the South east and the South south regions erect their agitations for a northern support for their effort to produce an Obasanjo successor in 2007.
This doubt has heightened in recent time, as politicians from the North speak with an element of finality in their position on power shift to the North. Outside their argument that power had resided in the South in the past eight years, they point to an indistinct agreement, which politicians of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) allegedly entered in 1999, to the effect that power would return to the North at the end of President Obasanjo’s tenure. Vague as this putative agreement seems to be, the North appears to cling unto it with some traces of obsession.
At the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), Kure, who spoke off the cuff, for barely 10 minutes, in his opening address, dug up the agreement issue and named witnesses. His witnesses he said, are President Obasanjo, Chairman PDP board of trustees, Tony Anenih, Deputy Senate President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, Chairman of NSF, Senator Idris Kuta and some PDP governors, whom he said, were part of a meeting sometime ago, in which the president, he said, announced to his audience that power would return to the North by 2007 by reason of the zone's ceding of power to the South in 1999.
And for those who did not know, Kuta, pointed for once that Northern senators fought the anti tenure elongation war more spiritedly because of the region's bid to reclaim power from the south. “In the wake of the defeat of the bill (Constitution Amendment Bill), many parts of the country, organisations and individuals have rushed to claim credit for the very popular action. The statistics of the matter is that of the 52 senators, who opposed the bill, three were from the South south zone, six from the South east and six from the South west. The rest were from the North,” Kuta said.
But perhaps, not enamoured of the subtle blackmail in using the controversial 1999 PDP power rotation agreement as a bargaining chip, Kuta differed with Kure and other Northern politicians on the pillar of the Northern, agitation. Kuta: “Since the Constitution amendment Bill has been laid to rest, Nigerians are entitled to ask, what next? The issue of which zone will produce the next president is now being debated with renewed vigour. During our Sokoto meeting, we politely urged the South to reciprocate the gesture, extended to it by the North in 1999, and to allow the North to produce the president in 2007... Our call was motivated by the desire to enthrone consensus politics in Nigeria, rather than allow unfettered cut-throat competition.” For Kuta therefore, the northern agitation can hardy be hinged on any agreement, but reciprosity.
Despite the agitations of the South east, which has had only one of its own, General Johnson Umunnakwe Ironsi, assume the presidency, merely for six months, before he was assassinated in a Northern military officers-led coup plot in 1966, and that of the South south, which has never had a feel of the presidency despite being the live-wire of Nigeria’s economic being, the North, which has had a political hegemony of Nigeria for about 36 years, appears desperately resolute to discountenance the issues of equity and egalitarian Nigeria, inherent in the agitations of the two zones and pursue a reclaim of power head on.
In pursuit of this, General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) presidential candidate in the 2003 general elections has dusted his armour for another presidential battle in 2007. Ghali Umar Na’abba, former speaker of the House of Representatives, has also joined the race. Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s, Vice President, has since 2002, been working insidiously to take over from his boss. General Buba Marwa and Professor Jerry Gana are also on board. And last week, the ANPP, apart from Buhari, confirmed five others, who have signalled to contest for the party’s presidential ticket. All the ANPP candidates except Pere Ajuwa, are all from the North. These are: Governor Sani Yerima of Zamfara, Alhaji Bashir Tofa, Dr. Dauda Birmah and Alhaji Lema Jibril.
General Ibrahim Babangida, whose ambition has been enmeshed in uncertainties, also seems to have accentuated dress-rehearsals, leading up to his definite joining of Northern fray. Last week, the mercurial retired army general, convened a meeting of his political henchmen in his Minna hilltop mansion. Present at the meeting, described as “strategic,” by one of IBB’s sidekicks, were the former national secretary of the PDP, Venatius Ikem, now co-ordinator of Babangida’s media campaign, former director-general of the Centre for Democratic Studies, Professor Omo Omoruyi, former Minister of Police Affairs, General David Jemibewon, business man and chairman of the collapsed Triax Airline, Arthur Eze and Gbenga Olawepo, former PDP stalwart, now gunning for Kwara government House. A day earlier, IBB had met with the former National Security Adviser, General Aliyu Gusau, former chairman of PDP, Solomon Lar and former minister for Labour and Productivity, Alhaji Musa Gwadabe.
As the North jostles for power information at the disposal of The Source, clearly indicates that if the PDP, in any event, allots its presidency slot to either the South south or South east, the North in a bid to regain the presidency, would decidedly have to rally behind any other political party whose presidency is zoned to the North.
The Source learnt that the reality of such a situation was made all too clear to the President and the PDP apparachik, barely two months ago, when a northern delegate of powerful Northern politicians in the PDP visited Aso Rock with this message for the party’s inner circle. After the meeting with the northern delegation, The Source learnt that the party power brokers, appraised the import of such an ugly reality and almost in one voice, accepted that the party cannot afford to lose the north to any of its rivals. Since then, the power rotation pendulum in the PDP, The Source can reveal, has been swinging more favourably to the North, than to any other zone.
Were it for ANPP, the PDP, The Source was told, would have hardly bated an eyelid in retaining its presidency slot in the south, but the fear of the newly registered Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), which with its high northern content, has not only announced that its presidential candidate would come from the North, but has clearly shown through its body language that it would hand its presidential ticket to the vice president, whom incidentally, Obasanjo and his loyalists in the PDP seem to have sworn to make his presidency quest a pipe dream.
Unless the PDP implements its current thinking of a northern presidential candidate, an intriguing scenario, The Source was told, would emerge in 2007, where all of the respective leaders of the current army of political parties from the North, would unite behind either an ACD northern presidential candidate or that of ANPP, which as it were, would be predictably Atiku or Buhari respectively. Babangida seems to be out of the question. His dilemma till now is the platform on which to launch his ambition. IBB so much desires the PDP, but he has a huge doubt if his friend Obasanjo and the party would favour him with the ticket, even if the party zones its ticket to the North.
Though five presidential candidates have emerged in the ANPP from the north and one in the person of Na’abba in the ACD, inside sources told The Source, that when the chips are down, those of them jostling in the ANPP, would surely ship-out for Buhari, while Na’abba would do so for Atiku.
It was gathered as a matter of fact, that Na’abba was asked to come out and posture by the ACD leaders, so that perspective watchers would not read that the party was just merely assembled by Atiku and for Atiku.
The Northern politicians angling for power shift, have found an unyielding bulwark in Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the socio-political umbrella organisation of the North, which has repeatedly insisted that the North must take power back, by 2007. Also, many, who read the lips of Sunday Awoniyi, ACF chairman and a Kogi-Yoruba, at the Minna Northern Senators, Forum, could discern that handing over power to the North or otherwise, in 2007, has become to Awoniyi, a new standard with which to measure Obasanjo’s sense of what is right. Awoniyi: "At this point, I wish to make an appeal to those here and beyond, who are close to President Obasanjo or who have his ears. I plead with you, have a heart, and help him to do only those things that will help restore his image, which at present, is badly damaged, nationally and internationally.... I know of no Nigerian leader, who is so obsessed with his place in history as Obasanjo. He has cultivated very carefully his image of a great black leader and a great reformer over the years. And he has been lucky, always reaping where others had sown.”
And for Mallam Aliu Hayatu, ACF publicity secretary, the South has had its turn, it is now for the North. Hayatu: “Our consistent position has been that the presidency has been in the South for eight years. We see no reason to change our position.” According to Hayatu, “even Obasanjo cannot dispute this that at the end of his tenure, power should return to the North.”
There is however, no doubt that the North would meet tough-customers in the South east and South south. Both zones, besides angling for the position of the presidency respectively in 2007, seem ready, more than ever before, to cooperate as brethren and a united entity to cross swords with the North. In this battle, the South east and the South south seem also to have found fraternity in the South west zone, especially since December 19, 2005, when the Southern Forum was formed in Enugu. The Forum formed at the behest of the 17 governors in the zone, its national legislators, opinion leaders and traditional rulers, resolved right upon its formation at the venue, that the presidency must either shift to South east or South south by 2007.
On Monday, July 3, in a world press conference held in Lagos, the Southern Forum (SF) reaffirmed that its 2005 Enugu resolve on 2007 presidency, was “sacrosanct and non-negotiable.” But it noted with disgust, the voices of desperation, emanating from the North. In its press statement, read by the SF secretary, Dr. Dejo Raimi, the Forum observed that “there has been an upsurge in the clamour of some people in the North for political power to return to that part of the country as if it is their birthright to control this nation politically in perpetuity.” Northern politicians, the SF said, have “continued to behave as if Nigeria is theirs to rule forever.” The SF said it rejected “this Northern posture,” which it observed, “is not admissible in a true federation,” and reaffirmed its position “that political power must devolve among the national component units.” Not just between the North and the South divide.
Regarding the shadowy power rotation pact, the SF said, it was a matter of opinion, “as to whether such pact was indeed made in 1999.” The Forum however, averred that the candidacy of Barnabas Gemade as well as that of Abubakar Rimi against that of Obasanjo in the 2003 PDP primaries effectively consigned such a pact, to an existence only in nullity, if indeed it ever existed. “If indeed, such an agreement existed, it will be interesting to know why some Northern politicians, contested election in 2003, knowing fully well that by doing so, the North had abrogated such agreement,” SF observed.

The Forum further hinged its high-ground of argument on the presidency rotation on the fact that the North in the sense of a monolithic entity, has held power for over 36 years out of the 46 years of Nigeria’s nationhood to the chagrin of other zones. As the Forum observed, “the North had ruled this country for 36 years, since independence, the presidency should in 2007, go either to the South south zone, which had never produced a president, or to the South east, which produced Ironsi, who ruled this country for six months only in 1966.” For those who fear that disunity might be an issue between the South east and South south in their quest to forge an understanding against the Northern ambition, Raimi, observed that “history was made in the country on December 19, 2005, when for the first time, the South east and South south, came together to reject injustice. I can tell you that the Southern part of Nigeria is much more united than the Northern part. The Middle Belt wants its independence from the North and no one is asking for such in the South.”
To further bolster the 2005 Enugu resolve, Southern politicians, met in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, penultimate week, where they reiterated that no Southerner should agree to be a running mate to a Northerner. The implication of such they said, would be a sentencing of the zones to number two. Besides the SF, the Southern Senators Forum (SSF) equal finds the Northern arguement for power shift nuseating. Ahead of its two day summit, held Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital last week amd billed to shore up arguement and support for a Southern president in 2007, the South Senator's Forum on Tuesday 4, in Abuja, took the issue of a power shift agreement to the cleaners. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the chairman of the summit's planning committee in a press conference in Abuja, stated categorically, that a so called agreement reached by a few politicians, cannot be foisted on the entire nation. Moreso, Ekweremadu said, he had serious doubts if any of such agreement ever existed in the first place. Ekweremadu: "It is still doubtful whether that decision was taken, because nobody has produced the minutes of that meeting. If anybody has the document, where that decision was taken, I want it to be published with signatories. As a lawyer, I believe that agreement should be kept, but that agreement must be valid. It must be a legal agreement." According to Ekweremadu, "let us see the agreements and look at the signatories and see the terms. That is the important thing."
If by any means, any of such agreement exists, Ekweremadu averred that "it was based on injustice," injustice to the South east and South south people, he said. If it was not so, Ekweremadu asked to know the representatives of the two zones in the agreement. "Who represented the South east in that meeting? Who represented the South south in that meeting? Assuming it was by state, who represented Enugu State?" So if Generals met and decided to favour one of their own, are you saying that, is binding on me?," he asked rhetorically.
Unlike its Northern Senators Forum counterpart, which said at its meeting, that it deliberately did not invite the former heads of state and presidents from the region, Ekweremadu rued that the South south and the South east have no opportunity for such a privilege in the first place. "Of course, we don't have former heads of State, we don't have former presidents in the South, so, there is nobody to invite. It is a sign of our backwardness in terms of power equation in Nigeria. If you look at the statistics, we are no doubt very much down the ladder," Ekweremadu said. Besides collective actions, the South east and the South south have also been pursuing separate sensitisation agenda on their 2007 resolve.
In the wake of the collapse of the Obasanjo tenure elongation gambit in May 16, the South south Peoples Assembly (SSPA), met and issued a communique, reiterating the position of the zone to produce Obasanjo’s successor. This became necessary in view of a curious campaign by Northern politicians, that the South south by reason of its governors and national legislators, support for the aborted tenure elongation project, has lost the moral right to produce Obasanjo’s successor to the North, which on the contrary, fought the third term game heavily. But by paradox, the linch-pin of the entire tenure elongation scheme was evidently Senator Mantu, Deputy Senate President, from Plateau State, North central. Yet within the senate and the House of Representatives, many Northern national legislators, sailed in the same boat with Mantu. And among the governors, Abdullahi Adamu, Saminu Turaki, Buka Abba Ibrahim, Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi of Nasarawa, Jigawa, Yobe, Borno and Kaduna States, worked and campaigned for Obasanjo to go on ad infinitum.
As Governor Kure assailed the South south zone, carpeting it as “underdog” and bereft of politicians of consequence, the SSPA again came in handy in defence of the region and called the Kure bluff. At individual level, politicians and diverse tendencies in the zone, have continued to heighten the South south campaign. The South east, peopled by the Igbos, has not been relenting either. Last month, Professor Joe Irukwu, the chairman of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, led a delegation of Igbo leaders to Aso Rock, where they impressed on the President, the need to support the Igbos to produce his successor.
And late last month, pursuant to the presidency quest of the zone, Ndigbo organised a political summit in Owerri, Imo State capital, labelled “Ahamefula,” with the theme, “Ndigbo, the future and presidency, 2007”. It attracted a vast roll call of meaningful sons and daughters of Igbo land. And in one voice, Odimegwu Ojukwu, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, Governor Achike Udenwa, former Chief of Staff, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, leader of Action Alliance and presidential aspirant, Rochas Okorocha, Pat Utomi of Lagos Business School, former Health Minister Professor ABC Nwosu Dr. Joe Nwodo, and former governor of the old Anambra State, Christian Onoh, spoke with one voice, that 2007 was Ndigbo’s date with destiny. In unequivocal terms, the Igbo leaders in their communique, pronounced that stigma shall dog any Igbo son that goes for running mate.
But an issue in the South east, South south quest even as espoused by Kure in sacarsm, is who bears the armour from the two zones, an armour bearer that fits with an eminent political and administrative pedigree, track record and impressive character portrait. Among Ndigbo of the South east, Rochas Okorocha, business man and philanthropist, Governors Achike Udenwa, Orji Kalu and Sam Egwu of Imo, Abia and Ebonyi states, have signalled interest to succeed Obasanjo. In the South south, Rear Admiral Mike Akhigbe (rtd), Albert Horsfall, Reverend Chris Okotie, Governors Victor Attah and Odili of Akwa Ibom and Rivers States, and Utomi of the Restoration Group Ajuwa are also gearing to succeed the President.
But the North has through the utterances of its politicians, dismissed this cast as feather weights. And besides this characterisation and the touted power alternating agreement between the North and South, Northern politicians are currently steeped in the sensitisation of its people to pay no heed to South south and South east aspirants. To actualise this, the Northern region, particularly its political class, seems to have struck a unity of purpose in the anti-south sentiment. This unity of purpose is amplified by the current frenzy of crack-mending efforts within the rank of northern political class, primmed at snatching the highly prized power first from the contending South east and South south.
Defective as the blanket perception of Southern aspirants by the North is, it is instructive that both the South east and the South south have in the cast of their present presidential aspirants, many achievers per excellence. While Utomi stands out as a respectable and reknowned technocrat and intellectual in the contemporary Nigeria, Odili is easily noticed as the best achiever among the governors, beginning from welfarist policies, infrastructure and monuments. And though from the South south, Odili and Utomi, are highly favoured across zonal boundaries by those who desire quality leadership. In the South east, they exude an overflow of appeal. For instance, Several Ohanaeze chieftains and South east political leaders and leaders of thought have pointedly stated in no unclear terms that the candidacy of Odili is automatically a candidacy of one of their own.
Yet, some politicians seem resolved to strewn Odili’s path to the presidency with thorns. And more than every other candidate from both the South east or the South south, the Northern pericsope as well as that of even his South south compatriots seemmore to be on Odili. This has found expression in what has come to be a sustained media fusillade on the Rivers State governor from politicians and shadowy groups and persons. And from the visible among his own, Professor Tam David West, former Petroleum Minister, and a Rivers State indigene has mounted his tent with the Northern power bloc, to shoot down the Odili candidacy. Aside West, a handful of mainly nameless detractors within the South south zone, have found a past-time in re-echoing the voices from the enemy territory against one of their own.