FAILURE TO RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA EQUITABLY OR AVARICE OF SOUTH EAST DELEGATES RESPONSIBLE FOR THE LATEST DRAMA AT THE JUST CONCLUDED P.D.P CONVENTION?
By Val ‘Frakas Mo’Fire’ Amadi.
The recent Nigeria’s People’s Democratic Party (P.D.P) convention held in Abuja, Nigeria and the events leading up to it was nothing short of dramatic display of the same old ‘pay for play’, ‘in the dollar we trust’ kind of politics of the past that most Nigerian politicians (at least in the open) claimed to have shifted or wanting a total shift from. Peter Obi, the former Anambra State Governor and P.D.P’ 2019 Vice Presidential ticket holder behind Atiku Abubakar (former Nigeria’s Vice President during Obasanjo’s regime) was basically ‘played out’ as an aspirant as he realized that most of the delegates whose votes he was counting on to secure the P.D.P presidential nomination were already heavily bought out/over and heavily compromised by his bigger spending fellow aspirants. It was noted that Atiku Abubakar paid at least $20,000 per delegate, with Nyesom Wike (Rivers State Governor) paying about $15,000 per delegate and Dr Bukola Saraki (Former Senate President and former Kwara State Governor) paying as much as $10,000 per deleagate. It was a “dollar rain” of a convention.
Peter Obi, having earned the reputation of not loving the “pay for play” brand of politics, pulled out of the contest only a few days before the convention and is now the presidential flagbearer of the Labor Party with millions of Nigeria’s Youth firmly alligned with him. The youth love him and identify more with him than the other politicians whom they see as very corrupt and mostly responsible for the terrible condition of the country.
Not holding brief for them, but the 2022 Nigeria’s South East Geo-Political Zone’s delegates went into the recent Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) convention mathematically defeated already by the sheer fact that the system was rigged against them from the begining and that could most likely have impacted on their decision to vote for candidates of their choice outside of their S.E Geo-Political zone. There have been several accusations that their decisions were born mostly out of Financial/selfish interest than ideological interest, especially at s period when most of Nigeria believe it’s the turn of the S.E to produce the next president of Nigeria.
There were supposedly some gentlemanly agreements put in place by both major parties, the All Progressives Congress (A.P.C) and the P.D.P to zone their presidential ticlets to the South East in order to help give them a sense of belonging since the South East is the only Nigeria’s Geo political zone yet to produce a president. References were made to 1999 when all major political parties zoned their parties’ tickets to the South West in order to appease the Yorubas who fealt aggrieved with the annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential elections that produced Chief M.K.O Abiola as president. Chief Abiola later died in jail after being imprisoned by the then Nigeria’s military junta for declaring himself president after the elections.
The country and its politicians felt that it was necessary to repeat the same gesture with the South Easterners as a show of fairness and equity and to help quell the current agitation for a separate homeland of Biafra. It was first agreed that the major parties should zone their presidential tickets to the South and then micro-zoned to the South East but along the line, the politicians from both parties abandoned the understanding and declared the presidential contest free for all. This was seen as an afront to the average South Easterner and also as yet another display of the “promise and fail” attitude of the average Nigeria’s corrupt politician. It’s been rumored that the National Working Committees and the Zoning Committees of both parties were paid big dollar figures by the likes of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar, Nyesom Wike, Ahmed Lawan and a few others to abandon the idea of zoning the presidential tickets of both parties to the South and micro-zoning to the South East
Yes, the South East (S.E) of Nigeria’s P.D.P delegates didn’t all get it right by voting more for aspirants from other Geo-Political zones than for the aspirants from their own zone. But did they really have the numbers to win? Was the system ever designed for them to win if they were to vote strictly on the lines of Geo-Political zones??
If we really really really really want to change the landscape, we must seek to push for a restructuring bill that redresses the injustice of numbers against the South, especially the South East. While it’s sad and deplorable that 80 of 95 S.E delegates voted for aspirants from other geopolitical zones for mostly financial considerations, it is also deplorable that other Nigerian politicians would be hiding behind this fact and numbers and delusional display by S.E PDP delegates as a smokescreen that seeks to defer the real debate of restructuring and thereby continuing the systemic injustice against the South East.
Nigeria must restructure to give all zones equal representation. S.E only has 5 states and that means less number of governors, senators, house of reps members, local government Areas, etc than other regions who have 6 states and even 7 states. The Cabal that runs Nigeria selfishly designed it that way while other Southerners either slept or had their representatives’ palms greesed so they could keep quiet to the injustices meted against their people.
It’s not an accident but by design that the entire Southern Nigeria has less number of LGA’s than its Northern counterpart. Some nother states like like Kano have about 44 LGAs. Lots of time, they’ll bring the usual dead on arrival argument that it is so because they have a larger pooulation up north than down south and so they require more LGAs. It’s about balancing geopolitical numbers and equity and not about using skewed/screwed up census numbers recorded without international observers monitoring its authenticity to justify holding other sister zones down.
If any bill that seeks to approach restructuring in a way that seeks equity for the Southern part of Nigeria were to ever be introduced in the NASS (National Assembly) and voted for along the North-South line, it’s guaranteed to fail because, by design, the North has a higher number of representation in the NASS than the South. It would therefore take sheer and super-human form of understanding and niceness for Northern reps to ever vote with their southern counterparts in favor of any bills at the NASS that seeks equity for the south.
Val Frakas Mo’Fire Amadi is the Publisher of We4WeREPORTS.com, a music & Film Producer, a Biochemist, BioMedical Researcher, a Social consciousness crusader and an Activist for Social Justice, freedom & Equality. He leads the #DemMustWaka & #TheyAllGottaGo Movement.
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