Zoning as a bigger issue
"Zoning" in Nigeria refers to the ruling political party's agreement about sharing power between northerners and southerners. But, as Solomonsydelle writes in Nigerian Curiosity, in reality, it's more than that.THE ZONING FIASCO CONTINUES TO UNFOLD
Nigeria's ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), decided to adopt zoning as a policy. As such, the party agreed that Presidential power would rotate between the north and the south of the country. With former President Yar'Adua's death, the PDP was rocked by tension with northern members insisting that the zoning agreement be observed and many southern members advocating that then-Vice president and now-President, Goodluck Jonathan be allowed to run for the presidency even though he is a southerner. Although many, including the United States government, insisted that this zoning matter was a PDP and not a national matter, the reality is that zoning has permeated the fabric of Nigerian society. It is encouraging a divisiveness along tribal lines that serves to weaken and not strengthen the Nigerian union…
But the more talk of zoning there was, the more resistance there was in the public, particularly in the southern part of the country. In a survey released by NOI Polls, 66% said they were against zoning as the primary factor of selecting a President…
Four northern presidential aspirants, a former Vice president that was implicated in a US corruption case, Atiku, former military dictator Buhari, current Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki and Babangida, revealed that they would concede from the contest if a consensus candidate is selected amongst them...
As political figures continue to trade jabs and make moves and counter moves in the zoning/tribal saga, the only loser at the end of the day are Nigerian citizens… One can only hope that Nigeria, which has survived several an upheaval, will manage to power through whatever else is to come out of the zoning fiasco...
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Labels: Nigeria, political culture, politics
posted by Ken Wedding @ 5:56 AM
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