2023: Need to rotate office of the President

 Fresh Editorial

By Nigerian Academic Excellence Magazine

A Constitution or any political arrangement must accommodate the emotions and sentiments of those it is designed to serve if its usefulness is to survive the test of time, hence the constitution of a country need not contain all the details regarding the structure and governing principles. The constitution of a country, only need to contain the fundamental principles that outline the purpose, structure, and limits of the country.

In other words,  the constitution of a country provides a foundation upon which the country operates.

According to section 14(3) of the Constitution “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 need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in government or in any of its agencies”. 

Due to the fact that  the composition of the government of the Federation begins with the composition of the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, application of the provisions of sections 14 and 15 of the Constitution must begin with the office of the President. 

The idea of “power shift” or “power-rotation” is essential because it will help promote true unity, harmony, equity, justice and equality among the citizens.

Clearly, the arrangement by some political parties to rotate the presidency between the South and North underscores the existence of a thorny national issue..

The PDP is yet to recover from the backlash it suffered when it failed to maintain the important arrangement for power rotation, in the prelude to the presidential election of 2015. The party lost that election following the withdrawal of support from the North, which felt the presidential candidacy of the party should have come from that region. 

Recently, Governors from Southern Nigeria had through a communiqué issued after their meeting in Lagos, among other things reiterated the need for the zone to produce the next president of the country come 2023. 

The makers of Nigerian constitution understood the implications of the country being a multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-ethnic country, which led to the  introduction of “Federal Character” principle to lessen acrimony, friction, fear of domination, create and give a sense of belonging to all parts of Nigeria thereby engendering genuine cooperation, unity and progress.

In addition, the high-heterogeneous nature of Nigeria makes power-shift a necessity; as it  is aimed at addressing the problems of instability, marginalisation and domination by one segment or region over others. 

As it stands, the two options for Nigeria are to either consolidate power-rotation and ensure  spread to all zones in an equitable manner or restructure the country with a view to giving greater autonomy to the regions or the geo-political zones, which make up the federation.

 If Nigerian politicians and their advisers destroy the presidential-power-rotation concept, they might have succeeded in destroying unity, peace and stability in the country.

 A nation can design a democratic structure that accommodates its realities. There is no universal structure of democracy, what is universal about democracy are the basic principles that govern it.

The way the Americans elect their President is not the same way the British elect or select their Prime Minister. 

Rotational Presidency is the appropriate leadership structure for Nigeria, based on ethnological realities.

Without doubt, what Nigeria needs is power-shift in 2023 to the three geo-political zones in the South of Nigeria on grounds of equity and justice, and later in 2031, it will be back to the north.

We are convinced that rotational presidency will resolve most of the political problems in the country and in addition, ward off clamour for secession.