Amid the battle against Covid-19 and wanton unrest in different corners of the country, one subject matter that has remained within the corridors and roundtables of national discourse is 2023.
You ask, what is so special about 2023? Is that the year when our power supply stops suffering from epilepsy or we are to anticipate a naira equalling a dollar in 2023?
2023 is overwhelmingly anticipated because it will be an election year. Since 2020 debates regarding President Muhammadu Buhari’s possible successor have been here and there as some prominent names continue to make the news as likely candidates.
Names like the the National Leader of the APC, Bola Tinunbu, the current Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo and even the former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar have been mentioned after his son alluded to a possible 2023 contest.
Underneath what some have called the shenanigans on the journey towards 2023, while it is not impossible to have both, it almost feels like Nigerians are torn between zoning or competency.
Months ago Mamman Daura’s interview with the BBC got unprecedented attention because he said the next election cycle for the office of the president should not be based on zoning but competence.
Although, his comments were not well recieved in various quarters where they believe it is time for certain tribes to occupy the center. According to Mr.Daura who also happens to be the nephew of the President, the zoning formula which had been adopted since 1999 in the election of the country’s leader, has failed. How I wish he was asked to explain better on what he meant by failure but I digress.
The truth is, this opinion is at worst a popular opinion within Nigeria’s political space or at best a broken record, as many citizens feel using ethnicity to determine our leaders limits the wealth of our choices. One must also say that this paradigm is strongly opposed by some who perceive that Mamman Daura could have made such utterance in convenience because the current president comes from his part of the country and therefore declaring it free to all gives them the chance to have another go.
In a very interesting twist and turn of events, a repeat of the Mamman Daura epistle has recently been heard in the stronghold of the main opposition, the Peoples Democratic party (PDP) to the amazement of all who thought it was certain that the party was going to zone it’s ticket to the South.
While the party has argued it wants to have a level playing field for all regions of the country, there are those who feel this new stance has thrown a lot of presidential ambitions into the mud.
Some concerned citizens have warned that equity should not be sacrificed on the altar of parochialism since it was the rotation sentiment that produced the present incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari.
In all fairness, one could say they have a point that cannot be dismissed as it would be unfair to shift the goalpost to fit certain narratives even though the party lost in 2019.
As the country’s democracy continues to mature, especially now that we have our 21st year democracy day celebration not too far away, some would have rather opined that certain conversations be jettisoned.
If everyone born in Nigeria is a Nigerian, why are we so facinated about his or her ethnic roots? How does that help unite us as a people at a time when there are huge ethnic and religious gullies created by comments that have awoken a few ghosts that appease the oracles of division and discord.
should we not rather center strength in ensuring political parties provide a transparent and level playing field for Nigerians from all coners of the nation in such a way that any qualified individual has the capacity to aspire to any office unimpeded?
One must also ask if only two parties exist in Nigeria or have the people forgotten that in the end, we have to participate in any election exercise before any leader can be chosen from anywhere.
What happened to taking our power to other parties or platforms that align with our interests and values?
In the words of late Dora Akunyili, “we are good people from this great nation” while competency should be the first quality we should consider for leadership, every Nigerian deserves a fair shot at every opportunity including the seat of the president.