The British strategy of conquering and dominating Africa sprang from the doctrine of divide and rule. After conquering the area of the Niger, today called Nigeria, they initially administered the Northern and Southern protectorates differently. They made sure that they instilled in these protectorates the sense that they are different people who must compete as rivals for the survival of their different entities, rather than cooperate. They sowed this spirit of mutual suspicion between the two protectorates yet insisted they should be under one central government because this will be cheaper for them to govern.
On realising that the Northern protectorate is more amenable to their rule vis-a-vis the more sophisticated South, they further divided the South into East and West, to weaken them and their political strength in relation to the North. They used same tactic by instilling in the East and West the sense that they were different people who must compete as rivals for the survival of their different entities, rather than cooperate. At independence, you had one undivided North, despite their diversity in ethnicity and religion, while you had two regions in the South, despite the less diverse nature of their people and religion. River Niger divided the South into two, while the combined effects of two major rivers, River Niger and River Benue, flowing from different sides of the North, which had the capacity to divide the North into four, could not divide the North. Unity is by choice not by nature. The North rode on this unity amongst them to take over the reins of powers of Nigeria from 1960, till date, whether civilian or military. The secret is simple, cohesion among themselves and collaboration with any half of the South.
From 1960 to 1966, they were in charge, through cohesion among themselves and collaboration with the East. The West was shut out. The second republic took similar pattern, the North took charge with the East, the West was shut out. June 12th changed the narrative. The third Republic was aborted because the military rulers then were taken unawares. An unexpected Westerner, MKO Abiola, whom they couldn’t pocket, and whom they did not orchestrate his victory, suddenly emerged on the political scene and would be President. No, he should be shut down and he was. But you cannot abort a child that is already born. Nigerians, both North and South, have already advanced beyond the myopic lenses of their leaders who wanted to continue the legacy of divide and rule, inherited from Britain, to continue fostering their incompetence on all Nigerians. They want the best from wherever the leader may come from. To ensure that the injustice of June 12th was remedied and that no section should lay hold eternally to the no 1 position, the birth of the fourth republic was predicted on the gentleman’s agreement between politicians of North and South to shift and rotate the post of the President and other major posts between North and South.
This position is reflected in the Constitution of the major political parties. The only surviving major political party that existed from 1999 till date, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, built the party on the foundation of the resolution by party leaders “to conform with the principles of power shift and power sharing by rotating key political offices amongst the diverse peoples of the country”. The party vowed in Section 7(3)(c) of its Constitution to adhere “to the policy of the rotation and zoning of Party and Public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness”. It was on this trajectory that the APC borrowed a leaf and mandated its National Working Committee, subject to the approval of the National Executive Committee, in Article 20(v), to make Rules and Regulations for the nomination of candidates for primary elections and “All such Rules, Regulations and Guidelines shall take into consideration and uphold the principle of Federal Character, gender balance, geo-political spread and rotation of offices, to as much as possible ensure balance within the constituency covered”.
APC defeated the PDP in the presidential election of 2019 majorly on the principle of rotation and power shift. Nigerians were convinced that it was the turn of the North to produce the President and this was effected by the North and the West. As the regime of the incumbent President Buhari from the North approaches an end, there’s now the need for realignment of forces to produce the next President. The Southern Governors know, without mincing words, that the objective of shifting the post of the President to the South will be impossible to achieve without a handshake across the Niger. This is one of the reasons that gave rise to the Lagos meeting of the Southern Governors on 5th July, 2021. In their communique, after the meeting, the Forum reiterated its commitment to the politics of equity, fairness and unanimously agreed that the presidency of Nigeria be rotated between Southern and Northern Nigeria and resolved that the next president of Nigeria should emerge from the Southern Region. This position accords with the constitutional provisions of the major political parties and as such very fit and proper. It is exciting that their request was based on politics of equity and fairness which is what Nigeria desperately needs to overcome its numerous challenges.
The Governors must be reminded that the mere pronouncement of intent to grab the position of the President does not translate to its actualization. There must be a plan and a strategy. The most prominent being that they must honour the natural justice of equity which demands that “he that must plead equity must first of all do equity”. If they are demanding the Presidency from the North on the basis of equity, they must first of all do equity among themselves. Equity is equality. The whole idea of the South seeking the position is to avoid the perception of domination by the North. It will be a betrayal of equity to bring it to the South and use the post to foster the domination of one Geo-Political Zone in the South over another in the South.
The South West has had the President for 8 years and the Vice President for 6 years. The South South has had the President for almost 6 years. The South East has not had the post of the President or the Vice since the inception of the fourth republic in 1999. If the South must do equity among themselves, they must be prepared to cede the position of the President to the South East. If they don’t, they should accept the fact that their aspiration to the post on the basis of equity is merely hypocritical. They must realise that they cannot guarantee any Zone not breaking ranks if the Zone feels cheated in the process. If the post is not ceded to the South East by the Southern Governors, it implies that the South East will not produce the President or the Vice for the next 8 more years, which may be unacceptable to them, because no Southern Presidential Candidate can pick another Southern Vice Presidential Candidate for any election. This means that any arrangement that will cede the Vice President to them, in the absence of the President from the Southern Governors, may be tempting to them. The surest way to frustrate this dream of the Southern Governors will be to reject the call to equity amongst the Southern Geo-Political Zones.
The lowest ebb of the communique of the Southern Governors is their resolution “that if for any reason security institutions need to undertake an operation in any State, the Chief Security Officer of the State must be duly informed”. This is completely out of order. In a federalist state, there are federal crimes and state crimes. The Federal Government cannot and should not seek the consent or consultation of any Governor before acting against any crime or criminal, especially those that commit federal crimes, unless in its wisdom, such consent or consultation may be necessary for the speedy accomplishment of the mission. The reason people are advocating for state police is not that the Constitution did not make provision for the Governors to give orders to the Commissioners of Police in their States but because the Constitution made the compliance with such orders subject to the consent of the Federal Government, essentially making the Governors toothless bulldogs in security matters. It is preposterous for the Governors to turn around to ask that the Federal Government should carry out its security functions in the States, subject to the consent of the Governors. The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and should not and cannot be made to seek the consent of any lower powers in the issue of security, unless he so chooses. The couching of the resolution that the “Chief Security Officer of the State must be duly informed” is ill-advised. Who can vouch for all the Governors in Nigeria that some of them are not complicit in the commission of some crimes in their States, especially election and corruption related crimes. How can the Federal Government effectively checkmate them, when they are complicit, if the Federal Government has to first of all inform or seek their consent. It will be very honourable for the Governors to acknowledge this error and withdraw it immediately.
The choice of Lagos as permanent headquarters for the summit is also not advisable. Lagos is on the extreme boundary of Nigeria, with Republic of Benin on the West, Atlantic Ocean on the South and land borders with only one State, Ogun. It has become the commercial nerve centre of the country with little tolerance to the distortion of its commercial life by the intruding and interrupting sirens and obstructions of traffic occasioned by regular hosting of 17 Governors of the South with all their aides and security apparatus. Institutions seek for a more central place for their meetings which will afford little disruptions to the lifestyle of the hosting community. Asaba, Delta State, was the first to host this summit and still remains the best place to cite the secretariat. It is central to all the States of the South with political affinity to the South West, Mid West and cultural affinity to the South East. It is located in the South South and shares boundaries with all the Geo-Political Zones in the South. It’s an evolving State with sufficient land and space to accommodate the 17 States of Southern Nigeria with little distortion to the lives and economy of the host communities.