By Ike Abonyi
“Power is no blessing in itself, except when it is used to protect the innocent”. – Jonathan Swift.
Going by available empirical evidence, it may be safe to say that consecutive Northern political leaders have done a great disservice to the region as they have collectively and severally failed to protect the innocent and the downtrodden in their midst. The consequences of such neglect are the bandit’s activities now ravaging the region and making it impossible for the leaders to sleep with both eyes closed.
The geopolitical North has held the highest political position in this country for about 46 of the 64 years of our nationhood with very little impact on the lives of the larger population in the region. It’s not a good testimonial for the Northern elites that in every city of this country the largest number of beggars are from the region. What it clearly shows is that there has not been any deliberate effort to address the issue of poverty in the region by successive leaders.
And still notwithstanding the little or no impact on the ordinary people of their area, the quest for power by their leaders remains unquenchable. Senator Shehu Sani’s alarm that the region is already plotting to dethrone Bola Ahmad Tinubu should not be seen as a hoax.
The longest the North had stayed without topmost political power in this country since independence was only the eight years era of Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007 and it was because they had held office continuously for nearly 20 years from the second republic of Alhaji Shehu Shagari to Generals Muhammed Buhari through to Ibrahim Babangida, to Sani Abacha and Abdulsami Abubakar, disregarding the short intervention of Chief Ernest Shonekan’s vegetable era in the teeth of Sani Abacha.
Soon after Obasanjo in 2007, they regained power but providence denied them further when Umaru Yar Adua died in office in 2010 bringing in Goodluck Jonathan through the doctrine of necessity. But not long after they quickly conspired and threw Jonathan away in 2015 for their own Muhammedu Buhari. Even people of Jonathan’s political party, the PDP then preferred regional loyalty to the party as they settled for an opposition All Progressive Congress, APC, a group hurriedly assembled to grab power.
The ‘Emilekon'(my turn) that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu popularized in 2023 started in 2015 when Northerners of all political affiliations ganged up against Jonathan saying it was their turn that he was trying to steal. When the PDP attempted through a Northerner, Atiku Abubukar to regain their position in 2019 trying to cash in on the poor performance of General Buhari’s first term they met a brick wall.
Eight years later in 2023, the North, still afraid of losing power, the out-going President Buhari and the leadership of his party under Abdullahi Adamu combined with the then Senate President Ahmad Ibrahim Lawan and attempted to install another Northerner in breach of the zoning which they blatantly fought and benefited from. But they were outsmarted by the Jagaban who came with his irresistible inducement to some of their greedy leaders. Just one year into Jagaban’s four- or eight-year projection, the North is already groaning and scheming for a return to power.
A lot of them cannot imagine themselves in such a non-power situation for four or eight years. Hence the resonating mission to dethrone Tinubu at all costs. Luckily for them, Tinubu’s shambolic regime has also helped to fuel their inordinate ambition. In trying to improve on Buhari’s awful era as he promised, Tinubu has even outperformed him in all ramifications. Buhari’s nepotism is child’s play to Tinubu’s and Buhari’s docile and lamblike economic strategy had less biting effect on the people than his. Buhari’s corruption policy was more modest and sedated unlike Tinubu’s which is immodest and flaunting as if telling the people ‘you can do nothing’. But the big question is, should power return to the North under any circumstance without domiciling in the South for eight years? The blunt answer is No, for peace and stability in the polity. So how can the North meet its desire of dethroning a noticeable recalcitrant and underwhelming Tinubu in 2027?
This week, I will be donating this space to offer ‘pro-bono publico’ (free of charge services for the public good) on how Tinubu can be ousted democratically.
The quickest way for the North to dethrone Tinubu is to first seek the change for the public good, not for ‘we are marginalized or we are not happy’. That will not fly because North has been the architect of marginalization in the country and heaven did not fall or to say it’s our turn because it’s not yet your turn. Even to argue that Tinubu’s government is corrupt and inept cannot go far because the North provided worse corrupt and most disgusting inept leadership. They can’t even stand on the religious ground because they have had their way with Muslim -Muslim tickets.
Nigerians will listen if the North comes from the angle of a paradigm shift, an exemplar of leadership for entirely something new for the country.
They must downplay religious, ethnic, regional and party interests and go for something entirely virgin that can set this country on the path of greatness. If they anchor their desire on these pragmatic and unsentimental points, Nigerians of other regions may join them for the praises. The North if they want to maintain their political leadership in the country and sincerely desire peace and stability should go for what is just and equitable. If North ruled for 46 years, West for 13 years and South South for 5 years, should North be hungrier for power, when a critical segment of the entity, one of the tripods upon which the political foundation of this country was laid remains conspicuously missing?
The direct implication of these points is that the likes of Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Kwakwaso, Nasir El Rufai, and other Northerners nursing ambition in 2027 must cause their Presidential aspirations to disappear or be made inconspicuous. Not to do that is to line up a red-carpet reception for Tinubu’s second term on a platter.
I think it’s time the geopolitical North began to review their political power acquisition policies and to begin to disabuse their minds about the so-called ‘number is power in a democracy’ because knowing how to get to Lagos from Abuja is not the same as having the transport fare that can take you to Lagos from Abuja. If Niger state produced two Heads of Government for a combined period of nearly ten years and poverty is still endemic in the state, if Katsina state has produced two Presidents and a Vice (Chief of staff Supreme Headquarters) and remains among the three poorest states in the country and If as old as the Sokoto Caliphate which existed many years before Dubai, is still among the four poorest states in Nigeria even after producing a President for four years and as seat of the Caliphate, time has come for the region’s leadership to ask themselves some fundamental questions about the use of religion for development. Dubai an Islamic wonder city was a desert years after the Sokoto Caliphate existed.
If the North is the next wealth of the nation as copiously heralded during the electioneering by the Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 poll, Peter Obi and yet the region is the poverty capital of the World, is it not time to stop and ask ourselves the pertinent questions. What does political power mean?
Political power is meant to be used for the betterment of society, the protection of citizens’ rights, and the promotion of the common good. It involves holding public office or influencing decision-making processes to shape policies, laws, and governance. In real terms, political power should be exercised essentially to serve the public interest! Uphold justice and equality! Protect individual rights and freedoms! Promote economic development and social welfare! Maintain peace and stability! Represent the voices of constituents
To what extent can Northern leaders beat their chest and say that they met 30% of these requirements of political power? Rather most of them could be classified in the area of abuse and misuse of power for personal gain, special interests, or harmful agendas, leading to corruption, oppression, and social injustices. The geopolitical North must learn not to build their political power at the expense of their ethics and what is right and just.
I therefore like to end this conversation by leaving Northern leaders with this admonition from India’s social activist and researcher, Srilatha Batliwala “If we want to create permanent change in power structures – or dismantle them completely – we can succeed only by revealing and bringing down the hidden and invisible forces that are holding them” The North should reveal and bring down those invisible forces holding them down by understanding the implications of clasping power without touching the lives of the majority poor in their midst. God help us.
- ABONYI is a columnist, former Group Political Editor, Thisday, former Deputy Managing Director of New Telegraph, and Media Consultant who lives in Abuja. (First published in New Telegraph on July 25, 2024).
