Rotational Presidency and Power Shift as an Instrument of National Integration in Nigeria
CHAPTER ONE
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Efforts have been made by many Nigerian leaders and scholars to find lasting solution to the various problems bedeviling Nigerian politics. These efforts are yet to yield satisfactory results. This project is undertaken as a result of a patriotic concern for the ailing political stability in Nigeria. The aims of this research include the following:
- To examine how political power at the centre was concentrated on the North and how such monopolization of power has contributed to our political instability and disunity.
- To examine the effect of rotational presidency in consolidating Nigeria national unity
- To examine the relationship between rotational presidency and credibility of candidate
- To examine the impact of rotational agreement on national unity
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
At the heart of the search for a solution to what Ayoade (1998, p 106) describes as ‘representational equity’ in Nigeria is the preference of the political elite for power sharing. Although this preference has underlined the series of federal innovations in Nigeria since independence, it has often been couched in the language of federalism. It is the crisis that followed the annulment of the 12 June 1993 presidential election that eventually removed the veil from this preference. The introduction of the notions of ‘power shift’ and ‘zoning with rotation’ became important organising principles of politics in the Fourth Republic. While a lot has been written about federal character as a form of affirmative action in Nigeria, and its role in the electoral process has been recognised (Horowitz 1985), the notion of zoning, with an inherent principle of rotating public office, has not received serious intellectual attention. This is partly because the six geopolitical zones of North West, North East, North Central, South West, South-South and South East, which function as the framework for the allocation of the highest office in the land are not entrenched in the Constitution. Neither is the principle of rotation. Yet the use of federal character to provide the incentive for cross ethnic mobilisation of votes and the resultant reward of moderate behaviour explicit in the 1979 and 1999 constitutions has been successful, largely due to the accompanying zoning and rotation principle. The practice of ‘zoning with rotation’ came into its own in the democratic process in the Fourth Republic. Its salience was, however, challenged in the build-up to the 2011 general elections following the death of President Umar Musa Yar’Adua. This article revisits the relationships among federalism, power-sharing and electoral systems as complementary frameworks of democratic governance. It examines the context, meaning and use of the ‘zoning with rotation principle’ as an important element of the democratic process in Nigeria and explores how it has functioned since the return to democratic rule in 1999, paying attention to the challenges it encountered as a result of the death of President Yar’Adua, a northerner, and his replacement by Goodluck Jonathan, a southerner. It teases out the implications of the way in which the conflict over zoning was resolved for electoral competition and democracy in Nigeria and argues that zoning as an informal institution of power sharing effectively de-escalated the conflict that attended the annulled presidential election in 1993 and provided an effective framework for electoral competition afterwards. The zoning with rotation principle has, however, become problematic as a long-term principle of politics because it constrains the notions of free political competition and uncertain outcomes that are central to democracy. The article suggests that the Nigerian case shows the important uses and limits of federalism with power sharing as a framework for political competition in a divided society.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to evaluate the efficacy of rotational presidency and power shift as an instrument of national integration in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information for the study rotational presidency and power shift as an instrument of national integration in Nigeria. 200 members of selected political parties in Abuja was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the respondents were analyzed in tabular form with simple percentage for easy understanding.
A total of 133(one hundred and thirty three) questionnaires were distributed and 133 questionnaires were returned.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the efficacy of rotational presidency and power shift as an instrument of national integration.
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges power rotation and power shift in National integration.
Summary
In view of the ongoing matter, this study does not condemn in totality the concept of power shift, but it has only argued that it cannot solve the socio-economic problems of Nigeria. At least, if it attains nothing, it shows that the so-called Nigerian radicals and human right activists are nothing other than tribal cabals and sectional jingoists. In essence, the solution to Nigeria’s socio-economic and political problems should be searched for in other areas and not in power shift. Like Jeja (2000), observed; the role of the post-colonial state in Nigeria has been drastically affected and conditioned essentially three major factors; its colonial origin, excessive factionalism amongst the multi-ethic, multi-religious and regionally segmented elite and prolonged military authoritarian rule, and (democratic dictatorship). These defines the pattern and the character as well as the essence of its role in the capitalist development process in state civil society relations, in international relations, and in the dynamics of resources utilization and accumulation in the Nigerian political economy.
Conclusion
Nigeria has adopted a complex power-sharing arrangement in which elements of power sharing straddle federalism and electoral systems in order to guarantee broad representation, cross regional collaboration in the appeal for votes and, particularly, to ensure that all segments of society feel they have guaranteed access to the number one position in government. This framework could be defined as federal character and zoning with rotation. While power-sharing principles have evolved since the 1960s, the federal character principle was introduced in 1979 and the zoning with rotation principle emerged out of the post-12 June 1993 presidential election annulment negotiations. The power-sharing arrangement was essentially responsible for stability in Nigeria in spite of the poor conduct of electoral administration between 1999 and 2007. It was, however, upset by the death of President Yar’Adua and the interest of Goodluck Jonathan, his vice-president, in standing for the presidency before a president from the North had completed two four-year terms, as set out by the power-sharing principle. The fact that the PDP presidential primary and the presidential election did not end in grave political polarisation shows that the power-sharing arrangement is flexible enough to blunt the sharp North South divide, reflecting the capacity of the Nigerian system to manage electoral competition. This has been made possible partly by the creativity of politicians, the long experience of cross ethnic and cross regional interaction promoted by the federal framework, as reflected in party organisation and the electoral formula and the zoning with rotation principle that has liberalised access to the office of president by means of ‘power shift’. Previous state reorganisation, as Suberu (2010) has observed, has transformed the arenas that groups and parties can dominate as springboards to power, thereby promoting greater proportionality in the relationship between ethnic group size and electoral strength. The national spread required by the electoral formula has also promoted the inter-ethnic alignments and coalitions that facilitated moderate behaviour in the conflict over the entrance of Goodluck Jonathan to the presidential race. This was shown in the constant effort to adjust the zoning arrangements and in the voting pattern revealed by the results of the 2011 presidential election. However, the debates and controversies that dogged the choice of candidate and the violence that greeted his victory show that the power sharing zoning with rotation principle remains a problematic formula in the effort to transform democracy into a system of limited or provisional victories.
Recommendation
The researcher recommends that only a comprehensive democratic culture with all its intricacies that can take Nigeria closer to the emergence of stable, meaningful, purposeful and beneficial polity. If this is not attained, there would hardly be any need for an ideology such as power sharing or power shift. But if it is the rotational presidency that could bring the necessary platform for entrenching democratic culture in Nigeria with her pluralistic structure, it could be adopted and entrenched into the country’s constitution. Such an arrangement should also state the modalities for its operation, either on two zone basis or on six zones as well as it would oscillate. This is necessary because the method adopted by the south west should not be repeated by other zones before power could shift them. This includes blackmail and even ethnic militia which is damaging. This is because the effects of the 1993 destructions of public utilities in the name of call for power shift is still within our hearts/minds till date.
References
- Adisa, T, H Ibrahim & L Usigbe. 2010a. ‘Consensus: North Picks Atiku’. Nigerian Tribune, 23 November.
- Adisa, T, M Okey, S Idowu, L Usigbe & N Alao. 2011b. ‘2011: Abuja Stands still for Jonathan’. Nigerian Tribune, 9 September. Ado-Kurawa, I. 2005. Nigerian Politics and National Political Reform Conference. Kano: Tellettes Publishing House
- Akinbajo, I. 2010. ‘PDP Confronts Zoning Arrangement’. Next, 16 May.
- Agbaje, A. 1998. ‘The Ideology of Power-sharing: An Analysis of Content, Context and Intent’. In K Amuwo, A Agbaje, R Suberu & G Herault (eds). Federalism and Political Restructuring in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum Books.
- Agbo, A. 2010. ‘The Plot Against Jonathan: Yar’Adua’s Kitchen Cabinet Consolidates the Plot to Frustrate Jonathan and Strengthen Their Hold on Power Ahead of the 2011 Elections’. Tell 10, 15 March.
- Aiyede, E R. 2005. ‘Leadership and the Pro-Democracy Movement in Nigeria’. In O Adebayo, A Agbaje, A Hussaina & C Obi (eds). Beyond the State: Nigeria’s Search for Positive Leadership. Ibadan: Ibadan University Press.
- Ajero, C. 2010. ‘The Zoning Debate’. Newswatch, 30 May. Ayoade, J A A. 1998. ‘The Federal Character Principle and the Search for National Integration’. In K Amuwo, A Agbaje, R Suberu and G Herault (eds). Federalism and Political Restructuring in Nigeria. Ibadan: Spectrum Books.
