10 hours ago
8 ARTICLE AD
By Emmanuel Oloniruha
A former Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Alhaji Idi Farouk, has called on Nigerians advocating power rotation between the North and the South to jettison the idea, describing it as undemocratic.
Farouk made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja while reacting to moves by some people to ensure that the presidency returns to the north in 2027.
The House of Representatives had earlier rejected a bill seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution to provide for a single term of six for the offices of the president, governors and local chairmen.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP-Imo) and 33 others, also sought rotation of the office of the president between the north and the south, and the governorship among the three senatorial districts in each state.
The 34 lawmakers have, however, resolved to reintroduce the bill, insisting that the decision on the floor of the house would not put an end to the agitation to ensure the actualisation of their move.
But, to Farouk, the decision on where a party’s candidate should emerge from remains the sole responsibility of the party, based on its election-winning strategies.
“I am not an advocate of any particular place where the president should come from, whether to the north or the south.
“I have never even believed in it. Where a presidential candidate will come from is strictly at the discretion of the party; the party takes the decision, not the general public, including the electorate.
“I want to recall that this rotation idea came from the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), that after (former President) Shehu Shagari, it was going to the south.
“But could it have been like that in the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) or Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP)? No. It was the decision of the party.
“The NPN, in wanting to win, said they were a national party and they wanted to win more souls, that after the election, if the president came from the north, after his tenure, the next one should go to the south.
“That was why Chief Adisa Akinloye and Alex Ekweme were warming up,’’ he said.
Farouk said that the idea of power rotation would only work in a country with a one-party system, not in Nigeria with a multi-party system and different ethnic groups.
