Written by Taiwo Adisa and Dare Adekanmbi
Monday, 07 June 2010
FORMER president of Nigeria and chairman, Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olusegun Obasanjo , on Sunday, said the South-West geopolitical zone would dictate national direction in next year’s presidential election.
Obasanjo made the remarks at the civic reception organised for Senator Jubril Martins-Kuye, at Abusi Edumare Academy, Ijebu-Igbo, Ogun State, on his recent appointment as the Minister of Commerce and Industry.
According to the former president, “the South-West has always given the national political direction and this will not change. The PDP in the zone will sit down, brainstorm and come out with a position in respect of a presidential candidate in 2011. And when the time comes, I know you will follow your leaders. They have never dictated a wrong direction for you.”
While acknowledging that the party had crises to resolve at the zonal and the national levels, he expressed the optimism that they would be overcome and the party would come out strong and formidable.
In his own speech at the event, former governor of Oyo State, Dr. Omololu Olunloyo, said the PDP should give President Goodluck Jonathan the ticket to run in 2011, adding that the zoning arrangement in the PDP’s constitution was not in consonance with the country’s constitution.
The PDP chieftain stressed that what is good for the party might not be good for the nation, urging members to allow President Jonathan continue to rule the nation beyond 2011.
Said Olunloyo: “Our party, PDP, has a rule in its constitution, but which is not in the country’s constitution. What is good for the PDP may not be good for the country. Our party will take a decision that will not jeopardise the interest of the nation.”
“Jonathan is not using Yar’Adua’s ticket. It is his (Jonathan’s). He was deputy governor in Bayelsa and later governor, vice-president, acting and now president. The PDP should allow him to continue in office.
“Chieftains of the party should ensure that what PDP is made to tailor its steps towards the good of the country and not the wish of the party.
“There is a big problem before the PDP and by extension, Nigeria. Only elders and chieftains of the party like Chief Obasanjo and others can help us tackle the problem. The country must not be allowed to drift to precipice.”
Corroborating Olunloyo, Senator Lekan Mustapha added his voice for the discarding of the zoning formula as he declared that what the party had in 1999 was not zoning but power shift arrangement.
The Ogun-East senator explained that then, power shift policy was adopted as a child of necessity in the face of the prevailing political circumstances in the country at that time.
“Power shifted to the South-West then, when Chief Obasanjo became president. Now, any of the zones is entitled to take a shot at the presidency,” he said.
Meanwhile, Bauchi State governor and son-in-law to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, Mallam Isa Yuguda, declared at the weekend that zoning arrangement for elective positions is unconstitutional, just as he added that only God makes leaders.
The governor, who spoke with newsmen in Abuja, said that though politicians often referred to a gentleman’s agreement, the constitution does not recognise such an agreement.
“As I said, God has already made His own leader and the constitution has provided for people to contest election. The constitution has not provided for zoning and if there is a gentleman’s agreement in parties where zoning is agreed, it’s not constitutional as far as I’m concerned and if they want to adhere to it, so be it.
“But I believe that leadership is from the Almighty, zoning or no zoning. Supposing I have not defected to the PDP, you will not ask me that question because ANPP has no issue of zoning.
“If it so happens that PDP says they want zoning and other parties do not want zoning, then let us go by what the constitution says. But if it’s a gentleman’s agreement and some people have agreed to do it, then so be it. But it’s not constitutional. And I must add that God, in the books of wisdom, says let the best among you rule.
“He didn’t say black or white, Hausa or Fulani or Yoruba or Itsekiri. He said let the best among you rule. He didn’t say Christian or Muslim. He said let the most equitable among you rule. So, that is the kind of leader Nigeria should be looking for, not this kind of thing we are talking about.”
He also said since it was only God that made leaders, anyone who challenged President Jonathan was challenging God.
According to him, God deemed it fit to call the late President Umaru Yar’Adua home at the time he did, adding that once Jonathan had assumed office, it became clear that he was God’s choice.
The governor said most Nigerians opposed those in leadership positions as a result of the pull-him-down syndrome.
“This pull-him-down syndrome in our country has to stop and we have to appreciate that leadership is from God. It is God that gives leadership and once He gives that leadership, if you say you are daring that leadership, it means you are daring God. Any person that says he’s daring Jonathan today as President of Nigeria is daring God because it is God who put him in that seat.
“He took away Yar’Adua to make him (Jonathan) president. So, if you dare him, you are daring God.
And if you say you are daring Isa Yuguda because he defected from a party, defeated that same party and he won with overwhelming majority vote and he defeated a sitting governor on a Senate seat by installing his Special Adviser (SA) because I took my SA and said he should run and the same SA today is the Minister of Federal Capital Territory. He was my SA for five years. So, if you say you are daring my seat, you are daring God because I didn’t put myself there. I got that popularity rating from God,” he said.
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