The admonition by northern traditional rulers, against politicians in the country not to drag monarchs into politics, because such move will be detrimental to the nation, is timely, though belated and tepid, if not hypocritical. The dubious, even if lucrative, peculiarly Nigerian industry, created around political ambitions by self-seeking, self-appointed leaders angling for power for certain persons, ethnic groups or regions is fast becoming an epidemic of sorts. Traditional rulers ought to be wise and profound men, able to sift the fad from the enduring and able to offer views with such premium as would distinguish their voices from the rabble. The nation is currently in the throes of every man-made disaster and Nigerians certainly have to worry about individuals and organizations who have been laying claim to the presidency even while the incumbent is yet to complete his term of office. This divisive clamor and inflammation of primordial sentiments is unpatriotic and unacceptable. The descent into ethnic and regional passions by self-serving persons should have no place in Nigeria.
Rising from their meeting last Friday, the Arewa monarchs, under the leadership of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar (III), observed that: “some interest groups are putting undue pressure on traditional rulers to be partisan to the detriment of their position as fathers to all.” They also lamented that “some interest groups are using religion and ethnicity to bring about divisions within the society to the detriment of the development of the nation. Some divisive elements from within and outside the North are causing animosity and distrust amongst the different communities in the North thereby weakening the hitherto strong bond of unity that existed in the region before and during the First Republic, noted the final communique which was signed by the Emir of Birnin Bwari, Alhaji Zubair Jibril Maigwari (II).
The warning by the Arewa monarchs is an apt reminder that Nigeria neither needs nor deserves political contractors, be they from the North-east, North-west or North-central, South-east, South-south and South-west, whose interpretation of national priority is to inflame the polity with shameful sycophantic gratification to the corridors of power. The disturbing trend started in earnest with the President’s Ijaw kinsmen who once boasted that if Jonathan was not allowed to continue in office come 2015, the peace in the Niger-Delta and the country for that matter would not be guaranteed. In one insensitive streak of ignorance, the leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force, Asari Dokubo even said, “Jonathan has an uninterrupted eight years of two terms to be president according to the Nigerian Constitution.”
On the heels of that outburst, a gathering of self-acclaimed Southern leaders in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, also called on Jonathan to contest the 2015 election. The fraudulent design of the platform loudly proclaimed as South East/South-South Traditional Leaders Forum was confirmed by the very visible participation of Governor Seriake Dickson and the generous hospitality availed the guests. The conclave was further unduly and embarrassingly elevated by Jonathan himself who hosted a private session. There are many issues of national import that may engage patriots from South-east and South-south of Nigeria and more so for the traditional rulers of the areas. It was, therefore, an embarrassment that it is the unannounced, and by his own serial insistence, yet to be considered, second term election of the President that engaged such gathering. That meeting fits the shameful pattern of elite impunity in which meetings are goaded and rented crowds are requisitioned to agitate and influence political direction. This perverted kind of politics is uncomplimentary to the status and level of access of these leaders.
Ostensibly in response, five organizations from the north, namely: Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Arewa Re-awakening Forum (ARF), Northern Union, Code Group (CG) and Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP) met in Kaduna and warned that the presidency must return to the North in 2015. In a joint press conference, the groups said there was a pact, (unknown to the Nigerian constitution), that power should be rotated between the North and the South. Prof. Ango Abdullahi, NEF Secretary, warned that if the rotational principle was not respected, the north would claim the presidency and keep power indefinitely on the basis of one man, one vote since the north, according to them, has a larger chunk of the country’s population.
These irresponsible claims and counter-claims by self-aggrandizing, rent-seekers, without any legitimate mandate of the people may be dismissed as the mere exercise of democratic rights by individuals and associations. But this has always been the trodden path to huge national crisis which consequence in the past had kept the country badly divided. From these groups, whether of inherited, assumed or elected leadership, Nigeria demands a higher level of responsibility. The state of the nation requires that they bestow nobility on issues on their agenda. Nigerian traditional rulers lend themselves to ridicule and compound the present miserable perception of their roles when they descend from their otherwise lofty stools into the murky waters of partisan politics. Many examples abound in recent history of the rascality of elite groups of civilians, royalty or even military men being the tinderbox of destabilization.
To the self-acclaimed leaders, the following pertinent questions are just appropriate: who made them leaders of Northern/Southern Nigeria? Can they truly claim a mandate of the people to speak on their behalf? Are these self-appointed leaders unaware of the danger to all citizens from daylight kidnapping to brazen murders; and citizens living in fear? Wouldn’t meetings on these be a more edifying higher calling than partisan politicking? If they truly cherish the interest of any part of Nigeria as they openly claim, they ought to be pre-occupied with problems of the area. Today, Nigeria, especially the North is ravaged by insecurity, youth unemployment and high illiteracy. These should concern all well-meaning individuals and organizations. The so-called leaders should be told in clear terms that Nigeria needs a leader from the East, West, North or South who sees Nigeria as his or her constituency, not any part of it. The whole country pays the price for bad and inept leadership, whether from the north or south!
However, the point must be clearly made that there is no section of Nigeria that has a veto over the rest of the country. The threat of imposition of leadership by any group is therefore irresponsible and condemnable. It is not only reprehensible, divisive and disruptive, it is meant to railroad Nigerians to a destructive predetermined agenda. It is the right of Nigerians to decide who should rule them at any point in time. The 1999 Constitution as amended being the extant basic law of the country is very clear on the procedure for the election of the president and the corresponding tenure. So the question of who becomes the president of Nigeria is a matter well within the powers of the Nigerian people and not self-serving individuals or organizations.
