Sky Blue:

Did you actually read what GEJ said? Why not inform yourself instead of brazenly espousing opinions seemimngly tainted by a dash of ignorance or just a tentative unwillingness to actually seek out the truth? GEJ did not outrightly claim zoning was not part of PDP policy, he simply explained the policy better and his explanation made perfect sense. Please try to absorb and then dispute the following points. Zoning is not a Nigerian policy and PDP is not Nigeria. If zoning was a PDP policy why were touts like Peter Odilli and co not banned from contesting at the PDP primaries during the run up to the last elections? Did the party all of a sudden forget about zoning especially when you consider that Peter Odilli was at a point a running favourite? How can a party zone positions it has not yet won? The explanation given by Jonathan with regards to the zoning policy of the PDP in which he stated that positions won by the party were zoned after presidency and vice presidency was won makes perfect sense especially when you look at the past evidences. If zoning was a PDP policy then is it between North and South of six geopolitical zones? If it is between six geopolitical zones as you argue then why is IBB planning on running when he is not from the North West? Would he not be breaking the "zoning rules" of the party then? I just don't get it, is it because GEJ is not from one of the big three ethnic groups or what? The ethnic chauvinism one sees on nairaland can be quite disgusting.

A sitting president who constitutionally got to that position when his boss died cannot even be allowed to run for primaries in his party when people from all regions ran in the same primaries of the same party in the last elections? Why all the fear, really, why?

9ijaMan:

Perhaps you need to go back a few years to educate yourself better. Did PDP hold any primary election in 2007? If the party did, who were the contestants? Did Odili contest in the primaries? How can Jonathan's explanation make any sense when he is also a beneficiary of the zoning formula? Have the elections been held when the residency was zoned to the north and South-South took the VP slot, ?

GEJ has only taken a look at the zoning issue entrenched in PDP constitution and decided to explain it in a manner that suits his ambition. Why would you chose to assume that Jonathan's explanation is the best when majority of the party members affirm that zoning is part of PDP?

These questions are begging for sincere unbiased answers and not the type of cockeyed explanation GEJ is trying to peddle.

Deep Sight:

@ Folem -

Can you respond specifically to these points in the OP, THANKS -

2. Zoning disenfranchises the people and steals the liberty of democratic political choice - Why should the people not be free to choose exactly who they wish - regardless of where he comes from? Let us suppose that the generality of Nigerians do in fact want Goodluck Jonathan as their President. Would it not amount to a robbery of that Political will to insist that he cannot be presented to the populace for a free and democratic choice on account of his state of origin? Indeed that will be absolutely and totally undemocratic. Let's look at MKO Abiola in 1993 - a candidate that was popular across the length and breadth of Nigeria regardless of his ethnicity and religion. Let us imagine a situation where that sort of candidate is denied the oppurtunity to present himself before the people at that particular time of his popularity - would that not be a robbery of the people's democratic liberty? For this reason, Zoning is inherently undemocratic - there is NO democracy anywhere in the world that prohibits persons fom contesting office based on their ethnicity. It is not useful to state that they may do so at a later date, for heaven knows whether such a person would still be alive at that later date! Besides, if we want Barack Obama NOW, why must we be denied him and told to wait for four or eight years before we have him? That wait could make or ruin our nation, you know.


You can argue also that term limits (which applies to only the executive in Nigeria)  as well as the concept of electoral college (in the U.S  where a President may be elected without winning  the popular vote) disenfranchises the people and steals the liberty of democratic political choice . Some state governors in the U.S have no term limits and some state legislatures have term limits. Zoning is a way to placate contending forces in the Nigerian political space. There are scores of political parties in Nigeria and if Jonathan loses the ticket of PDP, there are many parties willing to field him as their candidate to test his popularity at the General polls. Your example of Abiola and 1993 election is poor because that was the biggest charade ever in Nigeria with parties formed by the people proscribed and parties were created by the Military and the primaries were subsequently annulled before the June 12 election itself was also annulled and the hitherto banned politicians were then unbanned.




3. Zoning is subversive of the natural order of succession. Now this one you have to look at very carefully and sincerely. If you have a system based on Zoning and Rotation then the President and Vice-President will always be North/South or South/North. Now in either event, in the event of the death, resignation, incapacity or impeachment of the Head, the natural order is that the deputy will step in. This is standard legal practice globally. Now that deputy will not be from that same zone, based on the zoning principle. He will be from another Zone. This will create a perpetual problem and contradiction because the zone of the predecessor will always insist that the deputy stands down for a kins man of the departed leader. That makes no sense whatsoever and will lead to political turmoil of the sort experienced during Yaradua's illness. The only way that such can logically be avoided is the recognition by all parties that leadership should NOT be determined by zoning. I hope you see the point clearly: the zoning principle is internally contradictory for the simple reason that it will produce deputies who cannot step into their Masters shoes since they are not from the same zone!

The Zoning system is not perfect and is just a party affair i.e PDP but the office of Senate President and speaker of the House do not suffer from the scenario painted above.  We have had Enwerem/ Okadigbo in the senate as well as Buhari/ Naabah also Etteh/ Bankole in the House. I think if zoning becomes constitutional then the zones will be better protected especially w.r.t impeachments.