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The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1999) outlined the
qualification for the election as president in section 131
that: A person shall be qualified for the election to the
office of president if:
(a) He is a citizen of Nigeria by birth
(b) He has attained the age of forty years
(c) He is a member of a political party and sponsored by
that political party and
(d) He has been educated up to at least school certificate
level or its equivalent.
But today in the same Nigeria one of the hottest and
currently the most talked about topic is the question and
confusion on whose turn, amongst all the geo- political
zones in the country ,it is to produce the next president of
the most populous rich black nation in the world.
I have since tried everything in my power to find any part
of this constitution where the issue of “power-shift” was
outlined. I had searched the book prudently, thinking that I
had not been too patient enough to go through the green
book. But with my entire search which took longer than
necessary, I never found this recently invented “power
shift”, the current most controversial issue in our
hard-earned democracy and what could be the watershed in our
country’s survival and continuous togetherness.
After going through the constitution and carefully studying
the agitations and claims by a selfish few amongst us-who
are trying to suddenly change the status – that all a person
need be in order to be the president of this great country
is just to be a “citizen of Nigeria by birth”, irrespective
of any of the geo- political zones the person might have
come from. Who really cares anyway?
That is the big question. Who are the people really
clamouring for this change to their geo- political zones
alone or insisting that their party must zone the presidency
to their purported region as if they are so sure that they
will produce the next president or know what would happen
tomorrow, and what exactly are their motives? Yes! This same
old conservative people are closing their ears and mind to
reasoning, forgetting that we all as a federation agreed
with a pledge to work and abide by the laws in this revered
book of ours.
Who are the people fighting to have a president from their
purported zones, when all we need and are yearning for is
“the Nigerian president” irrespective of the region he comes
from. Who are these few self-appointed cliques,
organizations, associations and groups shouting daily in the
media, clamouring for a president from a zone, when God who
gives and takes power is still in control. Who are these
short-sighted men and women who have closed their
understanding to some unchangeable facts on the ground –
about what really makes us a federal nation today.
I am talking about those selfish few amongst us who have
suddenly forgotten that we all fought a civil war to remain
one indivisible nation. Those self-centred few amongst us
who cannot comprehend that bags of corn, millet, yam, onions
and baskets of tomatoes from the north still pass daily to
the south and the other zones, as trade, establishing
friendship amongst the neutral thinking Nigerians who just
go about their daily businesses, not minding who is buying,
a Yoruba, an Igbo or a Hausa.
Who are these visionless men and women amongst us who have
closed their eyes to the sights of palm oil, garri, cassava,
kola, and cocoa as they are transported daily by easy going
Nigerians from the east, south, mid-west and the other geo –
political zones in the country, building courtships and
marriages.
My people, let’s ask ourselves questions like: are these
people clamouring for this shift part of us? Are the other
Nigerians from the other geo-political zones, popularly
referred to as the ‘minorities’, ghosts or aliens from other
planets? I mean what is the fate of that potential qualified
candidate from Wukari, Beriberi, Angas, Fulfulde and that
other one from Ogoni, the one from Itsekeri, Ijaw, Idoma,
Igala, Ibie, Kataf, Birom, Okun, Ebira and the many others?
Are we no longer doing it for God and our country? Or is the
constitution no more that legal book that guides us and part
of what is written and accepted by us as a united federal
country?
Who is it that can truly shift power amongst us, when none
really knows what he will earn tomorrow? Or are some people
trying to play God? Who are these one-sided thinking men and
women amongst us who are refusing to understand that we
shall all have to contend with our lawful rights, guaranteed
to all of us by our maker?
My people, let’s listen to wisdom and understand that we can
never achieve anything through agitations for separation,
power shift or violence. For as rightly stated by Martin
Luther King Jr that “Through violence you may murder the
liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the
truth.” Are those clamouring for a shift really truthful or
could murder the many lies around us today? Those lies that
have left many of our countrymen and women confused and
impoverished and our youths unemployed! Those lies that a
shift in power would bring a better Nigeria when the same
“old captains” would be in charge of the ships, with nothing
new to offer in the turbulent journey they have long taken
us through! Is power shift what we really need now or a
change?
Yes, change that only consistent feature that must take
place in our lives, politically, socially or economically,
whether we like it or not.
My people, have we not daily lived together, traded
together, shared our gains, pains and sorrows together? Have
not Emeka, Bala, Segun, Etim, Amina, Sarah ,Ada and the many
others from all the geo-political zones in our country
attended school together, worked together, ate together
,shared and exchanged ideas and vision of how to carry and
move this great nation forward? Who are those talking about
a president from their zones, when the president we are
asking for is “ a de-tribalised Nigerian President” who
could be an Efik, a Gbagyi, an Idoma, a Kaje, a Nupe, an
Ebira an Okpella or someone relatively unknown from Koma.
True, my people, do we choose and give power, or is that
right still exclusively in the hands of God, our creator,
who makes and chooses all things?
Yes, we need a change – but we must choose this change
wisely. We should be transparent and open to ourselves; to
all Nigerians from whichever zones we find ourselves.
Closing our eyes today might hurt us tomorrow. We should
come together and allow God who has always been in charge of
our destinies to choose a Nigerian President for us. This
Nigerian who will be neutral in his policies and development
plans, that President who will build a bridge or road,
without injecting all the mago mago and wuru wuru that has
characterized virtually all our policies and development
plans.
That President who will have power and love, that president
who will be for every one of us irrespective of tribe, zone,
religion, gender or class; that true Nigerian President who
will be ours and not theirs.
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Published
October 25th, 2010
