Sir: After sixty – five years of independence and more than two decades of Fourth Republic, the time seems auspicious for the country to start addressing some of its national questions. Since independence, of the complex knotty national question that regularly befuddles the country is the presidency, and its succession between the north and south.
Notwithstanding the amalgamation of 1914, Nigeria is a nation of two hemispheres north and the south, and each side has inalienable right to the presidency as the highest position in the country. Whereas the constitution guarantees tenure-ship of four years of two terms, meaning eight years, for an incumbent president, north or south, but till date there is no constitutional provision to guarantee an uninterrupted eight years for the occupant of the presidency seat, north or south.
Fox example, President Bola Tinubu is in his first four years of a constitutional eight years, a southerner; yet the coast is not clear whether APC his party will clear him for a second term of four years. As there is nothing in either the party or the constitution that barred prospective contestants for the presidency in 2027, some northerners are already jostling up and warming for the 2027 presidential contest against the incumbent who also is entitled to another second term tenure of four years as stipulated by the constitution.
There are already series of political hullabaloos and manoeuvrings if only to wary the spirit of other contestants. Some political pundits are already dancing themselves lame even before the real dance starts. All these are happening because the principle of rotation either at party level or at constitutional level has never been vouched.
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What we need in Nigeria is a truly united federation based on equity, fairness and justice and the principle of rotational presidency between the north and south as entrenched in the constitution is one of the surest ways to achieve this. The rotational principle if entrenched in the constitution and the party constitution, will act as a check on the greed and desperation of political gladiators who are ready to go any length if only to win election at all cost.
Politics seems to be a profession that scoffs at fairness probably because of the innumerable opportunities that abound; yet no good politics can take place or abound in an atmosphere of chaos and lack of clarity of intents and purposes.
It is absurd to see members of APC, the ruling party already gathering for purpose of uniting against the president his entitlement to another four years of a second term notwithstanding. The presidency will just be two years old in May and already, the heat of political realignments for 2027 even in a APC ruling party is already deadly.
This has the tendency to cause detraction to the president whose mind should be at rest to concentrate on governance based on political party manifesto. The president deserves a good rest of mind to pursue his programme. Usually, if this rotational principle is put in place constitutionally, incumbent president will be saved the trouble of lack of peace of mind to pursue his programmes for the nation.
Rotational presidency has many benefits such as giving the incumbent the stability of mind to address issues of governance appropriately and head long; giving him time to marshal his programmes and how best to implement and execute them for the benefit of the electorate. Stability of tenure means he can undertake and achieve many things for the country in eight years. Except defeated by opposition as in 2015, the incumbent has confidence to finish his tenure and implement his party’s manifestoes to the letter.
Aside being a recipe for peace, stability and probable progress for the nation, it would have solved one of the most knotty national questions since independence.