El-Rufai wants zoning dropped for competence – TheNigerialawyer

Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai has made a case for the
abandonment of zoning arrangements for political offices as
currently obtainable in the country.

He said the arrangements needed to be de-emphasised and
ultimately abandoned in favour of competence.

Some key political offices at the federal and state levels,
particularly governorship and Presidency, are rotated among the
various ethnic groups or zones.

Although an informal arrangement, the position of the President
currently rotates between the North and the South.

With President Muhammadu Buhari from the North serving his
second and his last term as allowed by the constitution, there are
already talks about the South producing the next President in
2023.

But El-Rufai said Nigeria could not afford to continue on the
same path of zoning positions based on regions of origin.

The governor made his position known in a prologue titled,
‘Defeating a Determined Incumbent – The Nigerian Experience’, which
he contributed to a book –Power of Possibilities and Politics of
Change in Nigeria – written by the Director-General of the
Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman.

He described the zoning of political offices as a barrier to
political equality.

The governor, who highlighted the factors he said contributed to
electoral success of the All Progressives Congress in the 2015
presidential election, also proposed a new funding model for
parties as a major way of curtailing the excesses of political
godfathers.

He argued that the present method of funding parties was
“opaque”.

He said, “Even with our success in the 2015 elections, there is
room for improvement. Barriers to political equality, such as our
seemingly entrenched though informal rule for zoning candidacies
according to regions of origin, need to be de-emphasised and
ultimately abandoned in favour of an emphasis on qualification,
competence and character.

“The financing of parties, candidates and campaigns remains
opaque.

“Many African countries are marked by savage inequalities, and a
handful of individuals have the wherewithal to hold the process
hostage.

“We must work towards funding parties via capped and fully
disclosed donations and annual dues payable by every registered
party member.”

The governor also made a case for improved judicial processes
and promotion of the rule of law.

These, he said, were imperative for politicians to stop
resorting to self-help by instigating violence and engaging in
“ethnic and religious mobilisation”.

El-Rufai said the experience of the APC in 2015 showed that it
was possible to defeat a determined and well-resourced incumbent
under certain conditions.

He said while the personalities of the contestants and the
character of the political parties matter, the 2015 experience
further showed that four conditions were the irreducible minimums
for creating a stronger and more accountable democratic order.

He listed the conditions to include, “A unified opposition
preferably merged into a single and well-structured political party
well ahead of the next election cycle, and with transparent
processes and progressive policies.

“A presidential candidate widely seen as credible and reformist
to provide a sharp contrast to incumbents usually fattened by years
of lazy, incompetent and corrupt rule.

“Honest elections that guarantee that votes count, using a
mixture of competent electoral commission leadership and,
crucially, deploying technologies for voter verification that
drastically reduces electoral fraud.

“Credible elections are enemies of voter apathy. They enhance
democratic legitimacy and citizen participation.

“Continuous engagement of the international community,
particularly in the leading stable democracies as well as in
multilateral institutions, to supply a crucial external fillip to
the electoral process.”

In the foreword he wrote for the same book, President Muhammadu
Buhari said he and his party had the popular support of
Nigerians.

He said, “There is no doubt that we have the popular support of
Nigerians.

“I have seen this myself when I went around the 36 states and
the FCT during the campaigns.

“The turnout of people and messages of goodwill across the
country were what no individual, party or government could organise
or buy.

“They were purely demonstrations of confidence in our
administration and its political platform, the All Progressives
Congress, the product of the merger.

“The multitude that trooped out to see me and hear me were
reassuring that Nigeria, despite its cultural diversities, is
united on the imperative of change.

“Our duty as leaders is to ensure that we keep this nation
united, build a better future for the citizens and the coming
generation.”

Reiterating how previous administrations of the Peoples
Democratic Party allegedly squandered the nation’s resources and
opportunities, Buhari said his administration had been able to
reverse the downward slide in a short period of time under more
challenging circumstances.

He added, “I feel that without coming together, we would not
have been able to achieve this feat and Nigeria will be the worse
for it.

“We remain the only hope of the country in terms of charting a
politically stable and economically prosperous future for our
people.

“I will, therefore, encourage us to continue leading this
country effectively, now that Nigerians have entrusted us with a
mandate once again to chart the course for the future of our
beloved nation.”

A member of Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party,
Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, disagrees with el-Rufai, saying although
zoning was not part of the constitution, it was not safe for it to
be dropped now.

He said the tradition which was established during the time of
the defunct National Party of Nigeria was meant to ensure no part
of the country was alienated. He added that competence should be
placed higher than zoning but stressed that Nigeria still needed to
adhere to zoning now because of its important role it was still
playing in the nation’s affair.

Oyedokun said, “If we could find a way of strictly implementing
zoning in the true spirit of it, i will say i want it. But do we
sincerely implement it? If you zone a position to a particular
area, people from other areas are not supposed to come out to
contest but that is not the case.

“To me, the kind of country we have, being heterogeneous in
nature, in term of religious and ethnicity, I think for now, we
should adhere strictly to zoning. What he said is right under
normal circumstances but as it is now, Nigeria cannot afford to
jettison zoning now.”

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