Nigeria Content Online

For many citizens
planning to vote the Jonathan/Sambo ticket in the presidential
elections, the issue is not about what the ticket has to offer or due
to any sterling performance. The issue is not whether the ticket is
particularly inclined (or even desirous) of fighting corruption. They
will not be voting for Goodluck Jonathan because he has any clear
vision of how to rebuild infrastructure, revive ailing industries or
restructure the country. They will be voting for one reason: it is the
time of the south. They argue, correctly, that the north has produced
more leaders than other regions without much impact. For these people,
no matter how bereft of ideas and colourless Mr. Jonathan and his dour
deputy may be, they will vote him because it is ‘our turn’. These
people are right. The north has produced more leaders and has been in
power longer than other regions. The governments of Shehu Shagari
(1979-1983), Ibrahim Babangida (1985-1993), Sani Abacha (1993-1998) and
Umaru Yar’adua (2007-2010) are best forgotten. To those not familiar
with the idiosyncrasies of the region, the ‘north’ is one huge mass of
people who have dominated the political space, especially the
presidency, to the near exclusion of other zones. To them, the death of
late Yar’adua and the subsequent ascension of then vice president
Jonathan to the presidency was a ‘divine’ coup and poetic justice of
sorts. The idea of willingly relinquishing the presidency so soon, to
another northerner, is an anathema. No one should question their
rationale or judgement. It is one of the beauties of democracy that
people can vote for any, every, and no reason.

However, beneath
the ‘it is our turn’ justification lies the barely hidden desire to
castrate the north politically. In this calculation, if Mr. Jonathan
wins the election and quits (very unlikely) in 2015, it will then be
the turn of the southeast to produce the next president. This is the
grand vision to politically emasculate the north. But the question is,
which north?

Are they referring
to the north of Ibrahim Babangida, Aliyu Gusau, Atiku Abubakar, Adamu
Ciroma, Barnabas Gemade, Solomon Lar, Bello Mohammed Halliru, Samaila
Sambawa, the Sarakis, Ibrahim Mantu, David Mark, Ahmed Makarfi, Jerry
Gana, Sarki Tafida, Jonathan Zwingina, Mukhtari Shagari etc? By
‘north’, are they referring to the emirs, chiefs and traditional
institutions or the retired military generals and other elite in the
region? If the answers to these posers are yes, then they have missed
the mark.

There is another
north. There is a north that has nothing to do with the usurpation of
political and economic opportunities to the exclusion of other
Nigerians. There is a north that is poor, hungry, illiterate and devoid
of hope. There is a north that is as much a victim as the south of the
corruption and arrogance of these narrow clique of northerners that is
often presented as representing the entire region.

For this north, the various administrations headed by northerners
have not resulted in better lives, education or improved opportunities.
This north does not send its children to school in the United Kingdom,
United States and other locations while local schools are
systematically ruined. This north does not fly to Europe or America
every fortnight for medical checkups or shopping sprees in Dubai. This
north does not keep bank accounts in London, New York, Dubai, South
Africa, Jordan, Beijing and Hong Kong; they own no bank accounts at
all. This north does not allocate all the best positions in the country
to its children, qualified or not. There is a north that simply wants
change. And that is the north coming out to speak. So when we see
millions of people trooping to catch a glimpse of Muhammadu Buhari, the
presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, it is
not because they have anything against Mr. Jonathan. The problem they
have is the emissaries he has sent to woo their votes — the same people
that have systematically impoverished the region and the country.

Northern elite despise Buhari vehemently because they know he will
destroy their power base and end their corruption and nepotism. For
those voting Mr Jonathan just to defeat ‘northern domination’, the
twist is that a Jonathan presidency would actually further enrich and
empower these reviled northern vultures because Mr Jonathan needs them
(or thinks he does). The ultimate irony is that the real key to
eliminating the power base of this corrupt and arrogant northern
political class lies with electing a northerner.