Agitations are rising. More than ever before, many Nigerians are debating the necessity or otherwise of rotating the position of president from one part of the country to the other. These agitations have created a division between our Northern governors and their Southern counterparts . Whereas Southern Governors are insisting that the next president in 2023 must come from the South in the interest of justice, fairness and equity, their Northern colleagues are kicking against it, saying that such a call is not only unconstitutional but undemocratic.
While this writer agrees that there are some genuine reasons for the agitations, he does not believe that mere rotation of the Presidency can guarantee good governance in the country.
Without doubt, one of the major reasons for the calls for rotational presidency is the concentration of powers in the hands of the President. The President is like an emperor or monarch, who is in control of virtually everything. He is in charge of allocation of resources. He does not only have a hand in the appointment of those in executive positions, but also the heads of the judiciary. He even influences the election of heads of the legislature.
It is the belief of many agitators that in exercising these powers, the President practises nepotism. He appoints people to “principal, sensitive or juicy” offices without obeying the principle of Federal character as enshrined in Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution under: Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy.
Section 14(3) of the directive says, “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 groups or other sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies ”
Have our presidents been complying with this provision? Unfortunately there is not much the citizens can do to make the President to do the right thing, largely because the Constitution did not make it enforceable. Section 6(6c) of the same Constitution makes a provision to ensure that violation of this principle by the President cannot be questioned in Court.
The section says, “The judicial powers vested in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this Section Shall not, except as otherwise provided by this Constitution, extend to any issue or question as to whether any act or omission by any authority or person or as to whether any law or any judicial decision is in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy set out in Chapter II of the Constitution.”
Perhaps, the most important reason for the calls for rotational presidency is the poverty of our political class. Most of our political leaders are generally selfish. They ignore the fact that the primary purpose of their presence in government is to ensure the security and welfare of the people they govern, as clearly stated in Chapter II, Section 14(2b) of the 1999 Constitution. They behave as if they are in politics not for the people but for themselves. This has resulted in a situation where those in power engage in privatisation of the state, leading to primitive accumulation for themselves and their families, while the rest of the people wallow in material poverty.
It is also the belief in some quarters that the President will locate projects in his own part of the country while ignoring other parts. It is argued that most of our political leaders tend to favour their areas of origin in deciding where to locate major projects. In their attempts to satisfy their regional and ethnic divisiveness, they jettison economic considerations in determining the right place for project location. This has been evident in many cases.
There are cries of marginalisation by people from parts of the country whose indigenes have not been privileged to be at the helm of affairs under civil rule.
From the perspective of this writer, rotational presidency without considering the competency of the leaders cannot cure these ills and guarantee good governance.
Rotational Presidency has the tendency to stir up ethnic, religious and regional sentiments, thus promoting disunity and regional or sectional loyalty.
Rotational presidency may not promote patriotism among citizens. It is very likely to empower only the political class while the larger population remain marginalised. This can be seen from the trend of leadership we have had since our political independence in 1960.
Despite the fact that the North has produced most of the nation’s leaders since then , majority of its citizens are the poorest and most marginalised in the country. One of the outcomes of this state of affairs is the high level of insecurity in this part of the country today.
Although Chief Olusegun Obasanjo ruled the country for about 10 years (both as a military head of state and civilian president), the South-West, where he hails from, did not enjoy any special benefits from his long stay in power. In fact, he fought against the then Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, by stopping local government allocation from the Federation account to the state since, according to him, Tinubu violated the constitution by creating local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state.
Goodluck Jonathan ruled for about six years, but he did not develop his region of origin, the South-South.
This writer believes that what Nigerians deserve is good leadership, a leader who loves to work for the people. It does not matter where the leader comes from. For many members of our generation, the best national leader the nation ever had is the late General Murtala Muhammed, who ruled for only 200 days. We were all proud to be called Nigerians during the short period of his tenure. We did not want to know where he came from.
Rotational presidency without consideration of competence and without enforcement of Chapter II cannot guarantee good governance in the country.
OGBAMOSA is a legal practitioner and communications consultant
