ATIKU'S CONSENSUS CHOICE IS AREWA-AGENDA DRIVEN, NOT ZONAL CONCERNS!

Icheoku says former Anambra State Governor Chukwuemeka Ezeife properly and rightly articulated the underpinning reason behind the Mallam Adamu Ciroma's Northern Elders Forum (NEF) choice of Abuabakar Atiku as their nothern consensus presidential candidate. The former governor correctly distinguished the north's crave for 'regional hegemony' as opposed to zoning as the guiding factor that trusted Atiku Abubakar on the stage as the north's consensus candidate. 

According to the traditionalist former governor, who prides himself with his signature goatee, the NEF by choosing Atiku Abubakar as their consensus candidate, proved themselves to be the real anti-zoning partisans in Nigeria. Chukwuemeka Ezeife posited that if the underlying principle behind zoning is to ensure that every zone within Nigeria's six-zonal political arrangement gets a shot at certain offices in the country such as the presidency; it naturally should follow therefore that the same zone that produced the late former president Umaru Yar'Adua should also produce the consensus candidate. Each zone by practice is entitled to a two-term of four years each in office and the late president's zone should have been allowed to complete their total term of eight years with a second term before taking it elsewhere or the present Atiku's northeast zone. But if the logic of eight years is to be strictly adhered to, then it means that Nigeria still owes the northwest the nearly two years late President Umaru Yar'Adua was incapacitated including the period President Jonathan was acting president as well as his present completion of late Umaru YarAdua first term of office. 

The former governor argued that since a supposedly existing 'zonal agreement' was the basis for  the NEF agitation and their riason d`tre for insistence that the north should produce the next president, it therefore follows that the Forum should have insisted that the very zone which produced the deceased former president, whose demise in office led to the present zonal restiveness in the polity, should have been allowed to fill out their zonal vacancy and not otherwise. The settling of the NEF on Atiku as consensus candidate principally negates the foundational argument of zoning and therefore operates to tactically defeat any moral grounds that may have existed to otherwise back their position. Their Atiku's choice is a self-inflicted injury as well as a self-defeating move which essentially rubbished their very argument that zoning should be respected. 

According to Ezeife's logic, which Icheoku considers very far-reaching and sound, these supposed disciples of zoning, the Northern Elders Forum, totally veered off course and completely overreached themselves by subverting their own zonal argument with their choice of Atiku. They disregarded the entitled zone, the northwest, and went to a completely different zone, the northeast, to pick their so called "zonal consensus candidate". In the process they deployed selective amnesia and forgot their prior motivating argument of 'zoning' and instead settled for an 'Arewa regional candidate' paraded as north's consensus candidate? Icheoku asks but whose zone is it anyway to produce a replacement presidential candidate of late Umaru Yar'Adua who should be serving his second term if not his northwest;  but now a northeastern Atiku Abubakar is being forced on the entire north including the deprived northwest as the north's consensus candidate. Icheoku would prefer Atiku is correctly and properly referenced for what he truly is and represents - 'The Northern Elders Forum's Preferred Presidential Candidate;' and not the present north's consensus candidate. 

The term 'Northern Consensus Candidate' is very self arrogating of the NEF and quite insulting for the rest of the diverse peoples of the northern region of Nigeria, whose input were never solicited nor sought for by the nine wise and near senile northern elders; who factually speaking do not even represent the entire north:- not the respective nineteen states nor the hundreds of tribal affinities in the north. Icheoku asks Mallam Adamu Ciroma to tell the north who made him a northern leader or organizer in chief or using biblical connotation, 'who made Ciroma a judge over the north?' Who in Mallam Adamu Ciroma's Northern Elders Forum represented the divergent northern Nigeria nationalities including Hausa, Fulani, Gwari, Tiv, Junkun, Igalla, Igbira, Yoruba, Birom, Kanuri, Chamba, Idoma, Nupe, Kamberi, Margi, Mumuye, Warkum etc and they were only nine elderly men in the forum? The forum definitely was not representative of the north or its peoples; and therefore their decision settling down for Atiku as a consensus candidate might as well be interpreted as not binding on the north, being not the north's. 

The NEF was very arrogant in appointing and constituting themselves as the sole northern representatives in making decision as to a northern consensus candidate; and expecting their decision to be binding on the entire peoples of northern Nigeria. A more people orientated forum would have sought authority from the governors or emirs of the north,  the true representatives of the north; who would have appointed them and given them terms of reference to work with. But no, as far as Mallam Adamu Ciroma was concerned, the north constitutes of a bunch of almajiris and he is their wise man, to will tell them who their consensus candidate should be. Anyway, Icheoku has no dog in the fight and the mallams could as well have brought forth a goat as their consensus candidate for all we care; but the good news is that Atiku Abubakar is only their northern consensus candidate and not Nigeria's consensus candidate. It is also worth a mention that Mallam Adamu Ciroma successfully and deftly solved the Babangida problem by cleverly scheming him out of contention through a mock consensus and for this Icheoku remains eternally grateful. 

Peradventure, an Arewa regional agenda most importantly drove Mallam Adamu Ciroma's forum into making the Atiku decision, since the mere fact of his choice is zoning-defeating by itself without more. The choice of Atiku cannot be any other thing but a power struggle by a fast-fading northern elders group bent on forestalling a real integration of Nigeria through a minority presidency; using the ruse of a zonal imperative and need to maintain the gentleman's zoning agreement of the PDP. According to Ezeife, 'Atiku's choice is a definition of a non-belief in zoning and rotation principle. The Ciroma committee displayed crass ignorance and a disdainful disregard for the principles of zoning which they were agitating for.' Icheoku agrees completely and aligns itself with the conclusion Ezeife reached as being a derivative of a logical clear thought. If the motive of the NEF was truly to find a replacement for the northwest and late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, a northwesterner or even a member of the late president's family would have been the most appropriate choice; but certainly not Atiku, who is from an entirely different northeastern zone. Say for the sake of discussion that Atiku magically wins the primaries and goes on to win the election, Icheoku asks, will he be serving his northeastern zone's term or filling out northwest's remainder second term. If his zone's term, would it mean that he will serve for eight years of two four year terms; and if not would it mean that northwest has lost their right to the remainder of their second term bringing their total to full eight years; or that the northeast would then serve twelve years - four on behalf of northwest and then their own two terms of four years each? 

Like one commentator Tunde Falola asked, is Atiku Abubakar really the best the North has to offer, his huge baggage of negative perception considered. May be once again the 'goodluck' following President Goodluck Jonathan has thrown the lesser of two formidable opponents for him to cake-walk over. The primaries have been scheduled and very soon Nigerians will know who their next president would be since PDP is still the party to beat in Nigeria. One thing Icheoku would like to solicit of President Jonathan is to also like Atiku did, pledge to accept the outcome of the primaries and not to in anyway try to circumvent or thwart it but abide by the result. So come January 1st, when the PDP goes to their convention to chose a presidential candidate, would they settle for a candidate who touts the entire country as his constituency or one who was chosen for them by nine old and probably senile men with no real political relevance other than that they once served Nigeria in somewhat minimal capacities. The jury is still out and its verdict securely tucked in the womb of time, a very short time indeed within the beginning of the new year 2011 when the decision will be made as to who flies the flag. Only then would Icheoku and the rest of the curious world know what really drives an average Nigerian PDP delegate - hope for the future or their private pockets.