Rotational presidency, governorship best for Nigeria

Unwritten codes of peace and unity should become written in the hearts of all reasonable stakeholders in Nigeria.

The presidential candidacy should be structured in such a way that the North-South rotational presidency is adopted by all lovers of peace and unity.

I heard El-Rufai and many others spoke firmly on this in 2022 in support of the South taking over from Buhari.

The principle of rotation was what Tinubu summarised as Emi lo kan in Abeokuta in 2022 before the APC primary, which means “it is my turn” because it was the turn of the South.

We might then begin to implement internal rotation within the three geopolitical zones in the North and the three geopolitical zones in the South.

In other words, whenever it is the turn of the North, Northern candidates should emerge from any of the three zones: Northcentral, Northeast or Northwest.

The same principle must apply to the South. That is, when it is the turn of the South to produce the president, the candidate should come from the Southwest, Southsouth or Southeast.

However, today my focus is on governorship candidates in the 36 states of Nigeria. All the states in Nigeria have three senatorial districts.

I must commend the National Assembly and all intelligent, peace-loving and patriotic Nigerians who contributed to the law on the equitable distribution of senatorial districts, which aligns with one of the principles of good governance that I spent three years researching during my PhD studies from 2010 to the first quarter of 2014.

That is why we have 36 states with 108 senators; when one senator from Abuja is added, it makes 109. That is one of the most equitable arrangements in Nigeria.

For example, Ogun State, which is my state, has Ogun Central, Ogun East and Ogun West. I have listed the senatorial districts in my state in order of population.

It is therefore unreasonable for anyone from a senatorial district to seek the governorship back-to-back.

Therefore, from now on, this is how political parties in Nigeria should run their affairs: Ogun Central, followed by Ogun East and then Ogun West. All political parties should reasonably adopt such a peaceful system that promotes unity.

The same applies in Lagos. Sanwo-Olu is from Lagos Central, Hamzat is from Lagos West, while Ambode came from Lagos East.

In Ogun State, for example, Bisi Onabanjo was an elected governor from Ogun East. After him, the next elected governor was from Ogun Central, Chief Olusegun Osoba.

After Osoba, Otunba Gbenga Daniel became governor from Ogun East, and after that, the office returned to Ogun Central simply because the PDP and PPN could not come together to produce a governor from Ogun West in 2011.

Another problem at the time was that OGD was in the PDP but supported the PPN because Obasanjo did not agree with him.

It became clear later that Obasanjo would have supported Gboyega Isiaka if they had all remained in the PDP and managed the crisis wisely.

The votes of Gboyega Isiaka, when added to those of General Tunji Olurin (Rtd), were higher than those of Amosun in 2011.

So, Ogun West could not unite to produce one candidate when it was their turn. It was unfortunate because GNI, a First Class graduate of Ife and a calm Chartered Accountant, was supported by many, even though he was the PPN candidate.

The inability of Ogun West to produce a united candidate then led to Ogun Central reclaiming the position.

Still, the rotational scheme played out and appeared to alternate between Ogun Central and Ogun East. God is not partial, and He knows how to arrange things.

After Amosun’s tenure, efforts were made to see the possibility of producing the next governor from Ogun West, but the method used by Amosun was wrong, as he was in the APC but supported and funded an APM candidate who narrowly lost to the APC in 2019, with Asiwaju and Prof. Osinbajo playing major roles in checkmating Amosun on election day.

The same thing happened to GNI when OGD supported him outside his political party, the PDP. Dapo Abiodun emerged after the turn of Ogun Central in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023 for a second term, which ends in May 2027.

The most reasonable, equitable and intelligent thing for all political parties to do is not to produce any candidate from Ogun East ahead of the 2027 election. That is the best thing to do. Yes, Ogun Central qualifies, and the ADC has already produced Biodun Collins from Ogun Central.

Assuming the APC was not the ruling party and a strong candidate like Solomon Adeola, popularly known as YAYI, did not emerge from Ogun West, the chances of Ogun Central producing the next governor would have been very high because it aligns with the two-way rotation that has been ongoing. However, a three-way rotation is the most reasonable arrangement.

Hence, in Ogun State, the most unreasonable thing to do at this time would be for any political party to consider an Ogun East governorship candidate after Dapo Abiodun’s eight-year tenure. It does not conform to logic at all.

Some people argue that rotation is not good and that it is an attempt to deny an intelligent candidate from a particular senatorial district.

I disagree with this view because intelligent, experienced, educated men and women of good character can also be identified in whichever district the rotation favours.

Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti must continue to follow this reasonable rotational system in the Southwest.

The Southsouth states of Edo, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers must adopt the same method.

The Southeast states of Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo must do the same.

The Northcentral states of Kogi, Kwara, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Niger must also do the same. Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Taraba should adopt the same approach in the North East. Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara must follow the same principle in the North West.

Nigeria, as a country, must wholeheartedly embrace this principle for the sake of unity. The G5 Governors, led by Wike, strongly advocated this position in 2022.

May God bless our country and our respective states with reasonable, intelligent, patriotic and selfless leaders who will govern for the greater good of the greatest number of people and indeed for all citizens.

If you agree with this article, send me an email and indicate the number of points, from 1 to 28, with which you agree.

• Dr. Adeoye, a good governance advocate, lawyer, chartered accountant, arbitrator, and tax and fiscal policy expert, can be reached via [email protected].