Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 2015: Power won’t return to the South again – Northern leaders

I think Prof Ango Abdullahi, the professor I once respected so highly
has run out of ideas, maybe (permit me to say) he is going senile;
otherwise he ought to know that the idea or argument of a monolithic
north can only exist now in the figment of the imagination of selfish,
self-centered and obviously muddle-headed politicians. As far as I am
concerned the so-called north, even without the middle-belt where I
belong, can never be together again. It is crystal clear that the
so-called elders and politicians have completely lost the confidence
and respect of the young generation as a result of selfish and inept
leadership. Like they failed in the adoption of Atiku in 2011
election, the failure this time will be more woeful if they think of
rotation instead of merit-based leadership, which is what Nigeria
badly needs.
May God help Nigeria.

A. D, Akoh
UNIOSUN

On 19/07/2013, Anunoby, Ogugua <AnunobyO@lincolnu.edu> wrote:
> Well said SO.
> Abdullahi's position on the return of Nigeria's presidency to what he calls
> the "north" is disgraceful. His arrogance is deleterious. Who are the
> "north" and why is he so sure that he whil he is happy to speak for
> the"north", that the "north" is happy for him to speat for her? One would
> usually expect an academic and former university vice chancellor to be a
> fierce advocate of merit driven useful outcomes and  constructive
> peeformance from political choices. What seems to be the case here is a
> misguided preference for divisive, primordial, and unconstructve  politics
> that has dragged Nigeria back rather than move her forward. Does Abdullahi
> know that Nigeria ranked higer than South Korea and malaysi among others in
> every development ranking that there was not too long ago? Is he concerned
> about this?  Abdullahi must know that he is expected to know that his
> advocacy for the presidency coming from any part of the country should be
> for better than "it is their turn" reason. He must know that quota
> presidents like quota vice chancellors have always failed the country and
> their institutions respectively. Does he not know that the quota system as
> it is practised in Nigera, has successfully ensured that there is little or
> no responsibility and accountability in public affairs and service?  He
> knows that more and better is expected of him given that he is one of the
> few Nigerians who have had practically endless opportunities to reaped a lot
> more than they have sowed. He should be making a powerful case each time he
> chooses to comment on presidential succession for Nigeria to elect the best
> person into that most important office of state. I have had conversations
> with people who were students and faculty when he was a university vice
> chancellor. Not one of them is surprised by the damage he continues to do to
> Nigeria. They mostly remember his years as some of the most regressive, what
> they call their great university, must have had. Is there anyone who
> believes that Abdullahi gets his car fixed by an automobile mechanic from
> the "north" rather than the best value automobile mechanic he cn afford? If
> he had a health problem, would his preference of a physician be one from the
> "north" or the best that he can have? Why would he not apply the same
> standard to Nigeria's presidency? Is it because politics for some priviieged
> Nigerians is a business more than anything else?
> Abdullahi and others like him from all parts of Nigeria may have to tell
> their fellow citizens what is more important to them- a president from their
> part of Nigeria or a president that will fix Nigeria and get her to work for
> the greatest number of citizens. Everyone knows that such a president could
> come from any part of Nigeria. What is needed is an equal opportunity, merit
> based selection and election process that will produce such a president.
> Abdullahi's prescription is unlikely to help this to happen. It delays it.
>
> oa
> ________________________________
> From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Segun Ogungbemi
> [seguno2013@gmail.com]
> Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2013 10:08 PM
> To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - 2015: Power won't return to the
> South again – Northern leaders
>
> Let me ask Prof. Ango Abdullahi: is the north homogenous? Is democracy based
> on rotation? If it does, it is no more democracy. I am from the north and it
> is not true that the north can boast of holding to power at the centre as
> stated by Prof. Abdullahi. I am sure he cannot make a categorical assertion
> that the middle belt will join the bandwagon of the so called north in the
> next election. The present crop of leadership is not as united unlike the
> time of Sir Ahmadu Bello the first premier of the defunct northern region.
> Things have changed as a result of education and poor leadership among the
> present leaders of the so called northern leaders. They are leaders in my
> view who are seeking relevance in the next election to enrich themselves.
> The Boko Haram insurgency in the north whether it is politically or
> religiously motivated has smeared the image of oneness of the north. It is
> shameful that northers are killing themselves and destroying government
> institutions, private and individual property. The killing of 42 students in
> Yobe is a tragedy that the leadership of the north has not properly
> addressed.
>  The educational backwardness of the north as it is known today is not the
> kind that anyone can be proud of. You don't have to have a northerner as
> president to make life better for all northerners. Any Nigerian who becomes
> president of the country can do that. Let the leadership of the north since
> 1966-2013 show the scorecards of their achievements. For 38 years the north
> had ruled this country and nothing to show for it, particularly in the
> north. What have the masses gained from the period they had ruled the
> country?
> I think that should be what Ango ought to be concerned about and not that
> the north will hold on to power come 2015 as long as they want on the basis
> of their numerical voting power.
> Obasanjo was in power for 11 years altogether as military head of state and
> civilian president of Nigeria. Were the Yoruba better off than when Yar'Adua
> was President of Nigeria? The Yoruba will tell you that they were worse off
> under the leadership of their kinsman.
> Northern leadership should look for something that can unite the country
> together. I am not suggesting that Jonathan should continue after 2015. That
> is left for the electorate to decide. All that is needed for him,  if he
> wants to contest the election as president come 2015 is to show his
> scorecards of achievements. If Nigerians are convinced by his performance it
> will show at the polls.
> Nigerians should rise and reject PDP cancerous rotational arrangement. It is
> not democracy. It is anti genuine democracy. Let the best candidate win and
> not the money bags. Democracy is not meant for the few to loot the treasury
> of the State but for good governance to reduce human suffering and poverty.
> As long as Ango and his so called few northerners sit to plan the form of
> oligarchy-democracy that will deny majority to make their choice based on
> the candidate's track records Nigeria will not be united.
> Prof. Segun Ogungbemi.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Jul 19, 2013, at 1:58 AM, Toyin Falola
> <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu<mailto:toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> To: <mailto:Ekitipanupo@yahoogroups.com>
> Ekitipanupo@yahoogroups.com<mailto:Ekitipanupo@yahoogroups.com>From:
> <mailto:waleadeoye90@yahoo.com>
> waleadeoye90@yahoo.com<mailto:waleadeoye90@yahoo.com>Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013
> 19:06:56 +0000Subject: [EKITIPANUPO] 2015: Power won't return to the South
> again – Northern leaders
> Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
> From: abiodun KOMOLAFE
> <<mailto:ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk>ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk<mailto:ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk>>
> Sender: <mailto:OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>
> OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com<mailto:OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>
> Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 18:09:04 +0100 (BST)
> To: <mailto:naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com>
> naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com<mailto:naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com><<mailto:naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com>naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com<mailto:naijaobserver@yahoogroups.com>>;
> <mailto:nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>
> nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com><<mailto:nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigerianworldforum@yahoogroups.com>>;
> Naija
> Elections<<mailto:naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com>naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com<mailto:naijapolitics@yahoogroups.com>>;
> Omo
> Oodua<<mailto:omoodua@yahoogroups.com>omoodua@yahoogroups.com<mailto:omoodua@yahoogroups.com>>;
> yoruba
> NATION<<mailto:yorubanation@yahoogroups.com>yorubanation@yahoogroups.com<mailto:yorubanation@yahoogroups.com>>;
> <mailto:nigeriaroundtable@yahoogroups.com>
> nigeriaroundtable@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigeriaroundtable@yahoogroups.com><<mailto:nigeriaroundtable@yahoogroups.com>nigeriaroundtable@yahoogroups.com<mailto:nigeriaroundtable@yahoogroups.com>>
> ReplyTo: <mailto:OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>
> OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com<mailto:OmoOdua@yahoogroups.com>
> Subject: [OmoOdua] 2015: Power won't return to the South again – Northern
> leaders
>
>
> 2015: Power won't return to the South again – Northern leaders
> <http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/2015-power-wont-return-to-the-south-again-northern-leaders/#comments>
> <http://sunnewsonline.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Arewa-house.jpg>
>
> … Say Jonathan should forget second term
>
> From NOAH EBIJE, Kaduna
>
> Apparently taking their final stand on 2015, six northern groups, including
> Northern Elders' Forum (NEF), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF)  and Northern
> Union (NU) yesterday said the region would not vote for President Goodluck
> Jonathan if he decides to re-contest.
>
> The other groups are Arewa Reawakening Forum (ARF), Arewa Research and
> Development Project (ARDP) and  Code Group (CG). Addressing journalists
> yesterday in Kaduna on the State of the Nation, spokesman of NEF, Prof Ango
> Abdullahi, who  spoke for all the groups, noted that the decision not to
> vote for Jonathan was due to disregard for rotatory presidency between the
> North and South under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) after the
> death of President Umar  Yar'Adua.
>
> Prof Abdullahi, who was the Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU),
> Zaria, said the region would no longer allow power to slip off its hands
> from  the next election, regretting that the North was betrayed by those who
> signed the rotational agreement for power shift.
>
> He mentioned former president Olusegun Obasanjo and President Jonathan as
> the arrow-heads that refused to obey the rotational and zoning agreements,
> stressing that once power returns to the North in 2015, it will remain there
> as long as the people want.
>
> His words: "We are now saying that since there is no consideration on
> morality and so on, the North is going to insist that the Presidency will
> come to the region whether on the basis of rotation or on the basis of
> voting power, and we have the voting power to make sure that power comes
> back to the North.
>
> "It is not correct to say that North is not as assertive as people think on
> 2015 presidency, you know here in the North, we have certain traditions that
> are sometimes misread as wickedness. The fact that we don't come out
> shouting in abusive language and so on, does not mean that we don't have
> deep-rooted concern for ourselves. This is not true.
>
> "All of us here are members of the ACF, and if you look at other parts of
> the country that are making noise, they are small enclaves, perhaps, may not
> be bigger than Kaduna State. Looking at  the history of diversity and our
> style of governance, make us to behave slightly different from the others.
>
> "But I want to make it absolutely clear to you that ACF and all these other
> groups that have emerged in the recent past, we are all talking about the
> same thing. We are committed to northern interest, there is no question
> about it. If you haven't heard the succession clearly loud enough, that the
> North is determined and it insisted and it be insisted and firm that the
> leadership of the country will rotate to North in 2015, I am making that
> very clear to you on behalf of all of us, ACF in front because they have
> been the oldest group, the Middle Belt group had been very active and strong
> and all of us are likely to have this very firm common agenda.
>
> "It is not that the North is hungry and power-blind, no, it will be argued
> on the basis of  the national arguments that are on ground today, the North
> on the basis of one man, one vote can keep power indefinitely in the present
> Nigerian state. If it is democracy on the basis of one man one vote, the
> demography shows that the North can keep power for as long as it wants
> because it will always win elections, but on the basis of usual sacrifices
> that Northerners do make in the cause of the life history of this country,
> some of us who participated in the constitutional conferences from 1987 up
> to the last one, political reform conference.
>
> "Accepted that every part of this country should feel part of the
> leadership, and this is the basis of acceptance of rotation of power between
> the North and the South which was what happened in the constitution
> conference I attended, many of us attended. This is the basis of the
> rotation between the North and the South, there was no question of
> geo-political zones. The geo-political zones were latter introduction.
>
> "The argument at that time by the government in power was that the rotation
> was too much to put in the constitution, but it should be something that the
> party can put in its constitution. The agreement was that the President
> should do four years and rotate it to another zone for another four years.
> But when it was time to rotate, the then President Obasanjo begged the North
> to allow him do eight years before the power could shift to the North.
>
> "All of us were present, we all agreed with him. He was the first person to
> sign the agreement, not knowing that he had  third term agenda in mind.
> Jonathan who  was then the deputy governor, representing the Governor of
> Bayelsa State, was in that meeting, and he signed as  number 37, you can
> find the document.
> "So, you see that we agreed that the south should have eight years, and then
> the North should have eight. Eventually, when Obasanjo having seen a lacuna
> somewhere, he tried to abandon the zoning as well as the constitution to
> seek for  Third term, and of course, eventually it failed.
>
> "He thought, with due respect, that we will allow him without resistance to
> hand-pick a successor, he handpicked my younger brother, Umar Musa Yar'Adua,
> o kay, the condition has been satisfied, we had a northerner as president
> and so on.  But Umar fell ill, and he died two and half years into his first
> tenure. So, it will make a lot of sense to accept the constitution of the
> Federal Republic of Nigeria which says that for whatever reason if the
> President is not there, the Vice President will take over power. This was
> why Jonathan being his Vice President, took over the Presidency.
>
> "We thought that on moral ground at the end of that four years, the North
> should take over. If it didn't have eight years because of the transition,
> at least, it should have six years. but they said no, no, and I don't want
> to go into how this no translated into yes because it might be the fault of
> northerners as far as I am concerned to have allowed this.
>
> "They allowed it, but it was their turn, and Jonathan came in, and I thought
> that on moral ground, he should have given the North the chance. But some of
> them that signed the agreement publicly denied it.  Obasanjo said he did not
> know about rotation, Jonathan himself said he did not know about rotation
> despite all the facts. Go to Chief Audu Ogbeh, he will give you the full
> story that this thing happened. The issue is that recently, we are now
> hearing from one of the governors, that there is a secret arrangement to
> allow Jonathan have another four years. It was revealed by the Governor of
> Niger State, Muazu Babangida Aliyu.
>
> "It makes you think that how can leaders be transparent if they cannot
> honour simple agreement whether written or unwritten. This is the hallmark
> of decent leadership, believe and honour agreement. So, first, there was an
> agreement for this kind of rotation, and there is immorality in the movement
> of people not to really hand over this time to us," Prof. Abdullahi said.
>
>
>
> abiodun KOMOLAFE, AMNIM,
> 020, Okenisa Street,
> PO Box 153,
> Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State.
>
> Tel:- +234 803 361 4419
>        +234 809 861 4418
>
> Alternative E-mail: <mailto:ijebuijesa@gmail.com>
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--
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Associate Professor of Drama & Critical Theory
&
Ag. Dean, Faculty of Culture
College of Humanities & Culture
Osun State University
Ikire Campus
Nigeria
Email: amehakoh@yahoo.co.uk, ojodumi39@gmail.com, a.akoh@uniosun.edu.ng
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