Assistant Editor, Dapo Falade, writes on the issues thrown up by agitations in some quarters on the principle of zoning in Akwa Ibom State, particularly as it affects the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead the 2015 gubernatorial election in the state.WHILE the 1999 Nigerian Constitution does not create room for it in the nation's political lexicon, zoning arrangement, which was a sort of political necessity, brought about by the intrigues that threw up the present democratic experience in 1998, had become a recurring issue in the polity. From the federal level to most of the states across the country, the zoning phenomenon had become the deciding factor in choosing who become what in the political process. Actually, it proved to be the Achilles heels of some of the otherwise potential candidates for most of the elective offices across the land.The controversial zoning arrangement has been impacting negatively more on the electoral fortunes of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as most of its political gladiators kissed the canvass in their bids for one elective political office or the other, particularly as manifested in the last April elections. As far back as 2003, zoning became a source of discord between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. Preparatory to the general election of that year, the then vice-president had constitutionally sought to contest the presidency, even when there was an unwritten agreement that the post should be retained in the South-West. Speculations were rife that Obasanjo practically went on all four, begging Atiku before he could eventually secure his second term ticket on the platform of the PDP.The zoning controversy reared its head again in the build-up to the last April presidential election as the Northern Political Leaders Forum (NPLF), led by Mallam Adamu Ciroma, standing on the principle of zoning, adopted the same Atiku as its northern presidential candidate to thwart the ambition of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan. The argument then was that the presidency had been zoned to the North and as such it should be retained in the zone in the spirit of the arrangement. Alas, Jonathan went ahead to roundly defeat Atiku at the PDP presidential primary held at Abuja.As it obtained in most of the states across the country, some political analysts were of the strong view that the immediate past governor of Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, did not lost out to the then main opposition party in the state in the gubernatorial election, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Indeed, the consensus, albeit retrospectively, was that Alao-Akala lost out to the intrigues that characterised the PDP gubernatorial primary in the state as opinion were divided on who should fly the party's ticket. While the former governor eventually emerged as the standard-bearer, it was very clear that he was presiding over a divided party in the state as some of its chieftains were hell-bent on ensuring that he, being an Ogbomoso man, should not go for a second term but allow an Ibadan man to be become the next governor. As it turned out, the divisive tendency in the Oyo PDP, largely caused by the zoning arrangement, caused the party its loss in the subsequent gubernatorial election to the ACN.Also at the federal level, the zone controversy proved to be the waterloo of the South-West in the seventh House of Representatives, leaving it with no substantial office in the lower chamber of the National Assembly. Capitalising on the indecision of the South-West to produce a consensus candidate, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal defied the PDP zoning arrangement to emerge as the Speaker, a position that had been conceded to the zone in the spirit of zoning. One can say that Tambuwal is a free man as he is yet to attract any sanction from the PDP leadership for his apparent 'sin'.The controversy generated by the PDP zoning arrangement is rearing its ugly head in the oil-rich Akwa Ibom State where some prominent party chieftains have begun jostling to take over from the incumbent governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, even as the next election is still some three years away. Barely seven months into the life of his second term administration, the issue of who will take over from the governor has taken the front burner in political discourses in and outside the state. Shortly after the election, there have been intrigues, permutations and political maneuverings on who the next governor would be or where he would come from, with the focus being the ruling party in the state.While the ACN is still in court challenging the April electoral victory of Akpabio, the major pre-occupation of the ruling party in the state is who takes over from the governor at the expiration of his two-term tenure in 2015. As things stand, the major players in the PDP in the state are sharply divided over what should be the criteria for picking Akpabio's successor ahead the 2015 election. In fact, though it is being claimed in some quarters, particularly among the contending two senatorial districts that there was on ground a zoning agreement, informed sources told Nigerian Tribune that the party leadership in the state is more concerned with producing another person who can sustain and consolidate on the achievements recorded by the Akpabio administration.The agitation for power shift has been more intense in Eket Senatorial District as the argument is that since the creation of the state, no indigene of the zone has held the top job. But there doesn't seem to be a consensus within the zone on where the power should be shifted to. While the Orons claim to be the third of a tripod making up the state (the others, Ibibio and Annang) and which is yet to ascend the governorship, the people of Eket and Ikot Abasi, also making up the senatorial district, are of the view that power shift should not be on the basis of ethnicity but on the senatorial district.While the zoning crusaders were reported to have said that zoning was enshrined in the PDP Constitution and that the party would zone the position to the appropriate zone at the right time, on the other hand, however, the forces against zoning in the state, particularly the Uyo Senatorial District Elders Council, are of the opinion that the PDP had never used zoning as a yardstick to pick its gubernatorial candidate since the inception of democratic experiment in the state in 1991. Tracing the history of electoral contest in the state, the council claimed that the late Governor Akpan Isemin contested against candidates from the three senatorial districts, and that it was only after his emergence that other positions were zoned to the three districts.The council also contended that former Governor Victor Attah contested against aspirants from the three senatorial districts in the state who were screened and cleared by the party for the gubernatorial election, both in 1999 and 2003. It further averred that, that there was no zoning arrangement in the state was underscored by the fact that the incumbent governor, Akpabio, won his tickets in 2006 and 2011 after having contested against aspirants from the three senatorial districts who were duly cleared by the PDP leadership in the state. If Akpabio, in the 2006 PDP gubernatorial primary, contested against 57 other aspirants spread across the state, including his present deputy, Nsima Ekere who is from Eket, the question then is, if there was a clear cut policy on power shift or zoning, why was the race open to all'Lending his voice to the zoning controversy, Mr Mboho, an Uyo-based public affairs analyst, in a statement he made available to Nigerian Tribune, said that in Akwa Ibom State, there has never been a clear policy on zoning as the gubernatorial election has always been free-for-all. Stating that the idea of zoning was deliberately predicated on the need to ensure equitable representation and rotation of party and elective offices, he opined that the state, at this point in its history, needs somebody who has the experience, exposure and pedigree to continue from where Akpabio would stop, irrespective of such person's ethnic background.As it happened in some other states in the last elections, other political parties are waiting in the wings and may capitalise on any slip by the PDP and turn the table against the party in 2015. As suggested by some analysts, the focus of the party should be in tandem with the desire of Akwa Ibom people for a leader in the mould of Akpabio to emerge in 2015. Such a leader would not see himself as representing an ethnic group but will see the whole state as his constituency in terms of development projects and appointments. The apparent consensus in Akwa Ibom State is for the political space to be opened up for the emergence of the best man or woman for the top job who will pursue the development of the state with an unrivalled passion.
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