Ohanaeze to northern elders; Power must return to South

The Igbo apex socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has chided the Northern Elders Forum for kicking against zoning the presidency ahead of the 2023 election.

The group said the opposition of the Northern elders to zoning was because it is the turn of the South East geopolitical zone to produce the President.

NEF, in a communiqué signed by a former Vice-Chancellor of the Plateau State University, Prof Doknan Shenni, titled, “2023 Presidency: Northern Elders kick against Zoning” among other issues, stated that the 2023 presidential contest should be left open to every region of the country for the best candidate to emerge.

But reacting to the position of NEF in statement titled, “The zoning shenanigans in Nigeria”, Ohanaeze described as unfortunate and most surprising that NEF would collectively act the “fifth Roman emperor, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who fiddled while Rome was on fire”.

Ohanaeze, in the statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, and made available to The PUNCH on Sunday, said despite NEF observation of the unprecedented insecurity, poverty, large number of internally displaced persons, among other issues confronting the nation, members still went ahead to oppose zoning to the South.

Ogbonnia stated, “It is, therefore, very strange that the elders, instead of seeking solution to the problems they have so identified, are busy strategising on how to destroy the vital values that have helped to lubricate a precarious balance in the country.

“In 1994, some Nigerian patriots conceived an article of faith and principle of rotation of power that guarantees equity and inclusiveness for all the diverse components of the country. Thus, Nigeria was structured into six geopolitical zones namely; South South, South East, South West, North West, North Central and the North East.

“It was also agreed that political offices will be zoned or distributed among the zones in such a way that every zone will have a sense of belonging. Furthermore, the Presidency in Nigeria will rotate among the zones to promote peace, unity and progress.

“The NEF is aware that Nigeria has religiously followed the rotation and zoning principle since 1999 with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (South West) as the elected President of Nigeria. Obasanjo, in keeping with the rotation principle, handed over to former President Umaru Yar’Adua( North West) in 2007.

“With the death of Yar’Adua, a Southerner, specifically the South South, in the person of Dr Goodluck Jonathan was elected as President. Jonathan also handed over to a Northerner, President Muhammadu Buhari, whose second tenure of four years will end in 2023. By the rotation and zoning principle that has been in operation in Nigeria, it is only fair that the presidency be zoned to the South, specifically the South East region.

“It remains the moral duty of elders to guide the society on the path of truth and honour. When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”