Group gives 90 reasons for Jonathan to quit in 2011
A Kaduna-based
civil society organisation, the Civil Rights Congress of Nigeria, has
enumerated 90 reasons why it thinks President Goodluck Jonathan must
not run in the 2011 generals elections.
The group, in a
statement signed by its president, Shehu Sanni, asked Mr Jonathan to
respect and maintain the zoning system of the ruling People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) because his political career has benefited from
zoning.
“Jonathan emerged
as acting president and president as a product of zoning,” stated the
group. The organisation also stated that key political offices in the
country, such as the senate president, speaker of the House of
Representative, secretary to the government of the Federation and vice
president are not occupied “by merit but by zoning.”
It also noted that
professional bodies in the nation, such as the Nigerian Bar
Association, Trade Union Congress, Nigerian Medical Association,
Academic Staff Union of Universities, amongst many others, “share
positions” and “observe zoning.”
Zoning for fair play
When asked if one
of reasons on the list, which states that a “Northerner will not accept
a Southern Nigerian cancelling zoning” is not inciting, Mr Sanni
declared: “The biggest incitement is the cancellation of the zoning
arrangement. If a northern president cancels the zoning system, will
the people of the south agree?,” adding that his clamour for the
respect of zoning, which is a party affair, does not make him partisan.
“Zoning is a party
arrangement, but the president the party is producing is going to be
the president of Nigeria, and nota president of PDP,” he said, “Those
speaking out against zoning today lost their voices when Obasanjo
muzzled out Odili in favour of Umaru.”
On the
constitutionality of the zoning system, the activist questioned why the
new occupant of the office of the vice-president was zoned, and not
picked at random or merit.
“The constitution
did not approve of zoning the vice-presidency, but why are we zoning
the vice presidency and agree to unconstitutionally zone the office?,”
he said. “There is nothing like merit in our electoral politics,
because corrupt people can also contest and win elections. All the
ex-governors and even serving senators undergoing trial in the courts
for corruption have contested and won elections.”
The group had
warned that without zoning, only the Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo can
produce a president because of their numerical strength. Also included
in the list to the president are series of warnings on why the zoning
structure might sustain the unity of the country.
“Zoning came as a
result of the quest for ‘power shift,’ zoning is the answer to
sectional domination, zoning ends ethnic hegemony, zoning enables all
sections to produce a president, zoning ends the tyranny of the
majority,” stated the group.
The group urged Mr
Jonathan to conduct “a free, fair and credible election and hand over
power to a Nigerian of northern extraction whose tenure will end by
2015. And become an international statesman.”
Shehu Sanni, This your NGO is myopic, narrow-minded and sentimentally too bias in its reasons. I think this your civil society group has no point being called a civil society. It should be scrapped. It’s a purposeless organization for it lacks objectivity in its judgement.