The murky waters of zoning: What Nigerians think

 

Zoning is not a  new vocabulary in the political landscape of Nigeria. Political pundits would recall that the word originated with the advent of the Peoples Democratic Party who thought the ideology of zoning will help to stabilize the Nigerian policy.

Perhaps the founding fathers of the party originally meant well for the country. But in recent times the extent that the word has been used to scheme out certain groups of people from occupying certain offices in the country has made the word to become a bitter pill for some people who feel cheated and marginalized through zoning. Little wonder why the stakeholders meeting recently convened in the state under the auspices of Uyo senatorial District Youth Forum almost degenerated into fisticuffs when some apostles of zoning dared to air their view openly in support of zoning the 2015 governorship office to the Eket senatorial District. This forms the crux of this piece, where the Rendezvous sought the views of Nigerians on this subject and their views are here presented. 

Politician 1; zoning is the best thing that has happened to this country in a very long time. You can recall that when other parties were ruling this country in the first and second republic. Then, when it was free for everyone to contest for any political office in the country, the level of bigotry which led to political killing was very high. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in their wisdom introduced zoning and rotation of power into the political system of the country in the hope that it will make the system less competitive, thereby reducing the level of killing and backstabbing in the   country. Though zoning is not expressly mentioned in the constitution, it principles are enshrined in another concept in the constitution known as federal character principle which is in section 13 (3) and (4) which states that “the composition of the Government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity”..

Politician 2; zoning and rotation of power are the dominant strategies employed by political jobbers in peddling their preferred candidates and expect to conscript other people to join their camp. Zoning and rotation of power is a political strategy akin to the divide-and-rule policy of the colonial masters. It is a way of selling cheap political points like religion, ethnicity and parochial interests. The concepts of zoning encourage mediocres to occupy offices they would never have been made to occupy if people from other zones and ethnic groups were allowed to seek the votes of the masses to occupy such offices. There are people who ordinarily would never have been able to win elections but for zoning. That is why I say that zoning should be done away with in Nigerian politics.

Clergyman; there is no place in the Bible that I know which talk about zoning into any office. But as a man of God, I believe in the concept of equality and fair play. If all the component units in the society have agreed that there should be zoning and rotation of power, then it should be practiced. But if all the component units have not agreed, then it should not be practiced. What I think the government and the political empires, which is INEC , should do is  to put in place a level playing field for everyone to tell the electorate what they have  to offer, if the masses like their policies, then they could be voted for. In this way, best candidates will be given the chance to serve the people.

Businessman; politics in Nigeria is business. Most politicians go into politics with the mindset of going into business. When I invest my money into any business venture, I always want to make good returns for my investment. In the same way anybody who stakes his money and sometimes his integrity to sponsor a person into political office would naturally want to make something out of that political investment. This is the reason why people project novices and people without any leadership quality and use zoning to impose such a person on the masses knowing that these novices will have no option but to cow-tow and follow their political god-fathers blindly. These political godfathers on the other hand prefer to invest in these novices knowing that they will be loyal followers and remit whatever amount they had agreed to remit from the allocation until the scale drop from their eyes and they think of standing on their own and become godfathers themselves, situation that may not go down well with the said godfathers who may switch their support to the next hand-picked novice in the name of zoning and rotation of power.

The Academia; I think zoning has created more problem in Nigeria than it has actually solved. Take the university system for example, sometimes because of wanting to following the principle of zoning, a person who may not be the best among the lecturers would be made to be the vice chancellor just because he/she is from a particular region or zone. In the same way, political offices in the country are filled with people who may not be most qualified. For instance, you will always hear the argument that because the governor of the state is a from a particular zone in the state, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly must come from another Senatorial District,   irrespective of the fact that someone from the same Senatorial District with the governor may have the best experience required to lead the house. In Akwa Ibom State today, the polity is heated up because some politicians are in support of zoning while some others do not support the zoning principle. Some think that political offices should be free for all qualified individuals, giving the masses the right to chose who they want to represent them.  But some politicians who stand to benefit if their preferred candidate becomes the governor or senator or house member as the case may be are ready to do anything to make sure that their candidate eventually clinches the said position. This situation has created more problems in the polity then it has solved any.   

Youth Leader: As far as the youths are concerned, we are tired of that zoning rubbish. Why do some politicians think they can sit and impose their stooges on the people? This time around, come 2015, the youths are ready for them. Even if it means taking up arms against them in order to allow the wish of the people (the masses) prevail, we are ready, and some of them may lose their lives if they don’t desist from trying to force a bad candidate on the people against their wishes. Why are they so particular about zoning now? When has there ever been zoning in the strict sense as they want it this time? When victor Attah contested for governorship, both during the first term and second term, did people from other Senatorial District not contest with him? Or when Godswill Akpabio contested both terms, were there no people from other Senatorial Districts who contested with him?

Why must this one be different? I still remember during the last senatorial election in the state, that a senatorial aspirant gave N100, 000 to each delegate and they still voted against him. That would not have happened if other aspirants were zoned out of the race. Let 2015 be the same.

Let everybody who has ambition to vie for any position be given the level playing field to operate and let the masses chose for themselves who they want. But if those who have eaten their own still want to impose their stooge on the people, I assure you that 2015 will be bloodier than they are ready to accept. There will be enough bloodshed if that is the only way to let the will of the people to prevail.