Groups Disagree On Fundamental National QuestionsINCREASINGLY, Nigeria is drifting apart. Political and opinion leaders from the geopolitical zones are finding it very convenient to use the occasion of present challenges to dig up primordial differences and realities, which, over time, had been driven underground in the interest of national unity.Fundamental issues that were once delicate and handled with circumspection are talked about with reckless abandon, while the country totters, politically and economically.It is not as if there hadn't been disagreements among the zones and peoples, no; they had always been there. But with years of mutual understanding, lobbying and massaging of ego, the country managed to attain 50 years of nationhood, falling and rising in the process. Even after the bitterness of a Civil War, constitutional crises and economic downtowns, the country continued to be strong.But of late, relationships are declining and the centre seems to be crumbling. Of course, the obsession for political power is central to this development because with that, people assume economic muscle for themselves and their zones.Political power under the military was not an issue put on the table to be debated. Soldiers plotted their way onto partisan leadership and they did what they liked with it. But since 1999, the people are able to plan, enlist in political parties and win power. However, there appears to be a lot of impatience. So many people are desperate over power as if the country is about to fold up, thus doing a lot to weaken the integrity of the structures that had been in place.First, it was a big drama in December 2009, when the late President Umaru Yar'Adua had to travel abroad for medical attention. A simple procedure of sending a letter to the National Assembly, as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution, to explain the whereabouts of the President and to transfer powers to the Vice President for the period his principal would be away was disregarded by some power-thirsty groups around the State House.Yar'Adua, a humble man by every standard, allegedly drafted a letter meant to explain his situation to the National assembly, but some jokers diverted it and put the country on the path to chaos. That action caused the polity a great deal of headache, as the country was thrown into coma until the legislature contrived a 'doctrine of necessity' in March 2010, to rescue the polity from further aimless drift.It also took the concerted effort of well-meaning Nigerians, who came together under the umbrella of the 'Save Nigeria Group' to drum it in the ears of those who did not mean well for the country that the Constitution should be respected.Still, when Yar'Adua was brought in by February of 2010, it was as if the rest of the country did not matter, as the 'cabal' displayed raw power and its arrogance. The 'cabal' came in the night and operated in a manner that suggested the presidency was their heritage, whereas, Yar'Adua was a man loved by all.Besides, March 2010 saw another drama, as the then Federal Executive Council (FEC) prevaricated unduly over a matter that could have been resolved without much stress for the government and the people. Good enough, the country survived all that.And when 2011 became another reality, the same struggle for power resumed fully; and when Jonathan resisted attempts to shove him aside, to allow the North continue the good job that Yar'Adua could not complete, there were threats and plots in some northern quarters to ensure that he did not join the race.These episodes brought out in bold relief the desperation for power, in clear disregard for the survival of the country. And one thing was clear in all this: some persons were scared stiff that the presidency would change hands and they did not hide it. They did not want to handover power when the North had not done eight years after the Southwest did that from 1999 to 2007. The fears were real, but the manner of expressing them seemed very crude because it upset the polity.The Seed Of The DivideTHE point is that 2011 and the Jonathan factor further drove the wedge into the separate agendas of members of the political class. As the northern political elders, led by Adamu Ciroma, a former minister and governor of the Central Bank cried foul, that the presidency should be left for the North; Edwin Clark, a former minister of information and other leaders from the South, insisted that Jonathan could not be shoved aside because he was qualified to run for the office of president.The debate became largely that of the leadership of the North versus South in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the two sides drawing supports from other segments in their zones. The PDP was able to manage the situation, but not the anger and bitterness it engendered.One good factor that helped in the management of that crisis was the cohesion that existed in the camp of the PDP governors; they acted with maturity and some kind of nationalism to save the day for Jonathan.Special credit goes to the northern PDP governors, who did not listen to the sentiments by the northern leadership to rock the boat. They deserve the accolade because it is not possible for all of them to be hoodwinked by their party or the presidency. They must have seen something good in working together and staying with Jonathan.It was not good news, therefore, when recently the Governors' Forum began to show cracks over fundamental issues. It is more disturbing when such differences are not reached after a transparent debate based on empirical reasons, but dissimilarities arising from a North-South divide. That could amplify the signals across the polity; that all is indeed not well with the federation.The Forum had agreed to support the amendment of the Constitution to allow states have their own Police, only for the Northern Governors to back out. Since then, attempts by the Forum to convene and address that single issue have not produced good result. They are unable to form a quorum, as if some governors are avoiding a face-to-face encounter.As if that were not enough, further remarks by some governors on critical national issues give more reason to worry. Since the Boko Haram security challenges, the impression created by northern leaders is that poverty in the North is responsible for the insurgency.They have graduated the argument to suggest that the revenue sharing formula, which allows for oil producing states to earn 13 percent derivation, is responsible for the poverty in the North. Now, they say the onshore/off dichotomy debate, which was rested several years ago in support of littoral states, should be revisited. They want the law passed by the National Assembly to be reviewed and/or expunged.Rattling The SabreORDINARILY, the Governors' Forum had reached a position on the revenue sharing formula, whereby they argued that the Federal Government does not deserve the huge amount it collects, since it is the states that have more responsibilities. They had also proposed to demand a review of the responsibilities given to the Federal Government in the Exclusive Legislative List. They want devolution of responsibilities and functions, which could translate into more money coming to the states.While questioning the constitutionality of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), the states had reached consensus on why it should not be the preserve of the Federal Government to create such fund on behalf of the states.However, that matter had not been resolved before Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State echoed feelings from the North that revenue sharing among the tiers of government should no longer take into consideration oil exploration and production activities taking place offshore.The argument has since left the realm of the political class and has found room among the intelligentsia. Junaid Mohammed, northern politician and medical doctor, rallied northern academics and businessmen in March, ostensibly to look at the security situation in the North and proffer solution. But he has abandoned that process to become a virulent critic of the Jonathan administration.And last week, while commenting on the onshore/offshore debate, Junaid said the legislature, which passed the law, was misguided and that the law must be reversed.His words: 'They (the said legislators) are merely representing their own selfish greed in bringing out that law the way they did. And little wonder most of those who participated in the supreme act of treachery are now either out of the National Assembly; in fact, many of them are out of politics for life. All I care is that that issue is far from being settled.'All I care is that that issue is far from being settled. Nothing in the current Nigeria can be settled because we are a transitional country, as everything about our economy, about our security and about our politics is far from being settled and I am sure we are likely to go back to the drawing board, to start all over again on so many issues, especially the issue of the revenue allocation formula because the issue of the onshore/offshore dichotomy is ultra vires.'This trend of argument from the North sounds ludicrous and lazy in the ears of stakeholders in the South. Persons from the Niger Delta show signs of discomfort that some leaders in the North have resorted to economic blackmail over matters that seem plain and empirical.Stressing that the northern agitators would not win the argument and the war, the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), noted that by their utterances and actions, the Northern Governors' Forum and other leaders had decided to re-open the resource ownership, control and management question that was albeit only in comatose.Blaming the reported poverty in the North on the failure of past and present leaderships from the in area in both military and civilian toga, the Council said:'Nothing better represents a distortion of living facts that are so evident in history than the above positions (on allocation formula and onshore/offshore issue). We hold that this view could only have been concocted from dysfunctional mindsets. This is the type of thinking, which continues to originate from the souls of some decrepit northern leaders.'To us, this explains why they have misgoverned and run down the country, its institutions and economy. It also explains why they insist on retaining an unbalanced federal structure with the plethora of decrees they call Constitution and laws, which they forced upon the country in their rampaging expeditions of military coups.'While regional meetings are going on all over the country, it appears that both sides of the divide are gearing up for the unforeseen, even as some groups are scared of opening up the polity to a national debate, where some of these issues could be argued and corrected.The fears, though, are that as 2015 draws closer, more divisions will come up and the Nigerian polity could be the worse for it.
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