ZONING AND THE NIGERIAN STYLE OF POLITICS

The preamble to the Constitution states:

We the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

Having firmly and solemnly resolve, to live in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God, dedicated to the promotion of inter-African solidarity, world peace, international co-operation and understanding

And to provide for a Constitution for the purpose of promoting the good government and welfare of all persons in our country, on the principles of freedom, equality and justice, and for the purpose of consolidating the unity of our people

Do hereby make, enact and give to ourselves the following Constitution:-

Chapter 1, Part 1 Section 1 (1) continues as follows: That this Constitution is supreme and its provisions shall have binding force on the authorities and persons through out the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Read together, the preamble and Section 1 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) lays the foundation upon which the entire constitution  is built. We as a people have chosen among others to:
1. Live in unity and harmony
2. Live as one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign nation under God

The purpose of the Constitution is also to
Promote the good government and welfare of all persons in our country on the principles of

i.  Freedom
ii.  Equality
iii. Justice
iv.  Consolidating the unity of our people

ZONING AND THE NIGERIAN STYLE OF POLITICS - political horsetrading 

In Nigeria, we often hear Politics being described as horsetrading (horse trading). What is horsetrading all about? Wikipedia gives a simple explanation of what horsetrading means which we adopt as follows: Due to the difficulties in evaluating the merits of a horse offered for sale, the sale of horses offered great opportunities for dishonesty, leading to the use of the term horse trading...to refer to complex bargaining or other transactions... (emphasis mine).

If politics is horse trading, it goes to say that politics offers a great opportunity for dishonesty due to the difficulty in evaluating the merits of the candidate on offer.

The introduction of zoning in the political lexicon of Nigeria predates 1999. It was there when Tafawa Balewa (North) and Nnamdi Azikiwe (East)  were the Prime Minister and President respectively. It was there when Shehu Shagari (North) and Alex Ekwueme (East) held sway. It was also there with Obasanjo (West) and Atiku (North) presidency, Yar'Adua (North) and Jonathan (South), Jonathan (South) and Sambo (North) and now Buhari (North) and Osinbajo (West). It was actually done in order to put into effect the spirit and letter of the Constitution that is, freedom, equality and justice. The politicians adopted it in order to make sure that power did not lie at any particular time with only a section of the country. Thus under Obasanjo's government, the President was from the West, the Vise-President from the North, the Senate Presidents were all from the East and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, from the West. The Judiciary already had a system of hierarchy and succession. 

The purpose of zoning was therefore first and foremost to engender freedom, equality and justice. It created balance. 

Zoning is often an internal arrangement of the political parties and has nothing to do with the Constitution of Nigeria as amended. It is a manner of sharing the principal offices of government to ensure that the members of the different zones making up the polity are given a fair representation in government.

Why is Zoning of the Office of the President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria so Important?

It is important because Nigerians are very suspicious of each other. Our chequered history has been that of mutual suspicion and distrust. The Country not being one with a homogenous language, the different nations making up the country can best be described as strange bed fellows. With power being strongest at the centre (the Executive be it State of Federal), zoning therefore became a tool to check tyrany and nepotism. The presdent forinstance has immense powers as conferred by the 1999 Constitution as amended.

At Nigeria's independence, the Northern Region gained more seats in parliament than both Eastern and Western regions combined—this would cement Northern dominance in Nigerian politics for years to come. Resentment amongst southern politicians precipitated into political chaos in the country. Obafemi Awolowo, Premier of Western Region, was accused of attempting to overthrow the government. This followed a period of conflict between the AG regional government and the central government. In spite of the flimsiness of the evidence presented by the government's prosecutors, he was convicted. With incarceration of Awolowo, Samuel Akintola took over as the Premier of Western Region. Because Akintola was an ally of Ahmadu Bello, the undisputed strong man of Nigeria, Akintola was criticized as being a tool of the North.^[6] As premier of the West, Akintola presided over the most chaotic era in Western Region—one which earned it the nickname "the Wild-Wild West". However, as late as Thursday, January 13, 1966, Balewa had announced that the federal government was not going to intervene in the West.^[7] However, the very next day, Akintola, premier of the West met with his ally Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, premier of the North and party boss of NPC party to which Balewa belonged.^[8] At the same time a top-level security conference in Lagos was taking place which was attended by most of the country's senior army officiers. All of this activity created rumors that the Balewa government would be forced to crack down on lawlessness in the West using military might.^[9]
(Source: Wikipedia)

Chapter VI  of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides for the establishment of the Executive arm of the government, eligibility of persons seeking to be the President of Nigeria and other provisions.

Section 130 (1) says there shall be for the Federation a President.
Section 130 (2) says that the President shall be the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander -in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation.

The powers of the President are enormous. For instance, the President nominates the Ministers - S. 147; the President can delegate the business of the government to the Vice-president or Ministers - S. 148;  the president can appoint anyone as Special Adviser - S.151 and by S. 153, can appoint anyone as the chairman and members of certain Federal bodies. While some of these appointments are subject to confirmation by the National Assembly, some are not.

Given the enormous powers conferred on the Office of the President, it also becomes imperative that nepotism is avoided. A good means of ensuring this is by zoning.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://punchng.com/nepotism-buharis-govt-worst-nigerias-history-junaid-mohammed/&ved=2ahUKEwidv8CNu7zlAhXGQhUIHXiHCZMQFjAAegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3bTnZgVrlEJhOBlTe4Dvgs

Does zoning sacrifice competence especially with regards to the office of the Chief Executive - President or Governor?

In a way, it can be said that it does. It can also be said that it does not. It does to the extent that competent hands may be disqualified if the office is  not zoned to their region even when they apparently have the track record to be the best person for the job. On the flip side, it can also be argued that with Zoning, it narrows down the competition to the best hands in a particular region while the others wait for their turn.

Should we therefore continue the practice of zoning by the political parties?

This writer is of the humble opinion that as a people, we are not yet matured as to drop the feelings of mutual suspicion and distrust. We still are made to fill out our State of Origin even if you neither was born in that State nor grew up in that State. State of Origin is the State or geographical root of one's fore fathers. It does not matter that you or your parents are not even known in the State. To join the military or obtain an Internstional Passport, we are still required to get a letter of identification from our Local Government Area and it does not matter that the candidate has never ever been to the village all his/her life. In The few years leading up to the 1960 independence of Nigeria, State of Origin did not matter much. We had Northerners contesting and winning elections in the East, Easterners contesting and winning elections in the West and so across the country. The civil war practically destroyed that in replaced it with the already mentioned feeling of suspicion and distrust.

These notwithstanding, zoning is still for now,  a practical option in order to ensure that every nationality making up the big picture that is Nigeria is given a sense of belonging. Without zoning, some so called minorities will never have a chance to take on the number one job in government simply because they are too few to make an impact in an election were the majority carries the vote.

Chike A. Obi, ESQ