2023: Any Prospect for North-Central Presidential Aspirants?
By Muhammed Belgore
AREWA AGENDA – This was not one of the easiest articles for me to write. Not only have I now metamorphosed into a freedom fighter of sort, having felt hitherto that I am no Nigerian with a sentimental bias or affection for his geo political zone.
I am now here actually driving without any handbrake as I canvass for a zonal consideration that favours the North Central when the two political parties of repute in Nigeria–the ones not just making up the numbers–the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) decide anytime from now, to choose who clinches the party’s most coveted Presidential ticket.
I have always seen myself as a Nigerian and just that. One who is hardly stirred by regional agitations and rather always leans towards putting people who have the capacity to deliver, in office.
In my mind it has never been about where someone is from but rather what qualities they possess and what they can do to better the life of every Nigerian. This is why I find myself in really strange waters here, why have I decided to swim in it? Because Nigeria is actually a strange country.
To fight for equal rights and social justice in the Nigerian context is not just to agree that we are all one, it is to agree that we have within the system of the whole, different parts, circles within circles, and defining discrepancies that must be respected and brought to the fore for consideration in any national argument.
That we should respect our differences and therefore fight not to be forgotten within the euphoria of national patriotism. So that nobody will be marginalised. Because when you don’t give a breed attention, it faces the danger of extinction.
This is a shout for the North Central. By someone from the North Central. But there would not be sneering words of remark or comment by this writer on a voice that is shouting on behalf of the South East, another marginalized zone. Or any other zone for that matter.
The South East is in particular, another zone that has never produced a President since 1999. This is why this writer feels no iota of guilt of bias for the motive of these words. It’s how we actually should all see things if we don’t want to be relegated to the background. One Nigeria, but inside that one are different interests that must be respected.
I recall saying once to my colleagues at work, that, in actual fact. So that this zoning thing can be properly effective and cut across all the 6 zones equitably, maybe we should even have it in our constitution just like the Federal Character principle in Chapter II of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
I must have had these thoughts in sympathetic expression for my Igbo brothers and sisters from the South East. But has my own zone even produced a President?
It is easy however to make the grave mistake of putting these regional considerations above more important specifications like capacity and competence. Yes, it should first and foremost be about capacity.
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The antagonists of the zoning formula will want to argue that what it does is overshadow the much more crucial prerequisite of capacity, but is it not a complete fallacy to say that we cannot find adequate number of men of timber and caterpillar in any one of the (6) zones to fill political offices?
It surely can’t be true that any of the (6) geo political zones is so bereft of accomplished individuals that can perform if given the chance to lead the country.
Let us look at the North Central in recent times, we have had the likes of the General Yakubu Gowon, an immortal soldier in Nigeria’s fight for Unity; the incorruptible Major General Tunde Idiagbon and other scions of the military era General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abubakar Abdulsalam amongst others.
Still flogging the issue of men with pedigree, the North Central has also produced (4) four out of the (14) Senate Presidents. That is to say the leaders of the legislative arm of government. These men are Sen. (Dr.) Iyorchia Ayu, Sen. Ameh Ebute, Sen. David Mark, who happens to be the longest serving Senate President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in history and the ever charismatic, charming, Sen. (Dr) Bukola Saraki whom I intend to come back to in this article.
Now for contemporary campaigns, we have former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki in PDP and Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello in the APC. These duo are at the forefront of the North Central representation for both parties and they are both eminently qualified to captain the Nigerian Ship to glorious waters.
On Sen. (Dr.) Bukola Saraki, to state his antecedents but briefly, just look at the stability and pragmatism of tge 8th Senate. In fact, the the vibrancy of the legislative arm during his tenure remsin unrivalled. The Senate has now become a frail rubber stamp of the Executive arm.
As Governor of Kwara State, Saraki drove agricultural reforms for the purpose of diversifying the economy of the state.
One of his key legacies was bringing white farmers from Zimbabwe to the state and offering them a chance to farm. The Shonga Farms programme was a consequence of such ingenuity.
As for Governor Yahaya Bello. He has made earnest strides in governance. He does not seem to enjoy a consistent favorable mention in the media but would upon attentive scrutiny be found to actually have made radically positive changes in Kogi State, especially, in the areas of Security, Education, Health, Power, Agriculture and Roads. In the area of power specifically, the rural electrification projects speak for themselves. There are Installation of transformers in various local governments in Lokoja, Okene and Igala community.
There is also the completion of electrification of Isanlu GRA, in Yagba East and some communities in Adavi Eba, amongst others.
In Sen. Saraki and Governor Yahaya Bello, the North Central, have two eminent aspirants with intimidating credentials, that qualify the region to produce Nigeria’s next president.
But Nigeria’s murky political water, which is already shark-infested, is quite dynamic and unpredictable. As such, only a Nostradamus with a crystal ball can foretell the outing of GYB and the scion of the Saraki dynasty.
First, in the PDP and ruling party’s shadow polls, due for next month. And then, in the epic presidential election, holding in February, next year.
Muhammed Belgore writes from Abuja
