Senate ace David Mark has endorsed the death of democracy in Nigeria when he opined that 'rotational presidency’ would be given front seat in their by-now constitutional amendment. This opinion raised by David Mark is the shallowest mindset since after democracy-paled monarchy into bygone era thinking many years ago.
His rotational ideology is an abhorrence that’s not worth the while tolerating in contemporary democracy. Heaven forbids! But in the aftermath that they succeeded in masturbating democracy and sexing up rotational presidency into our Federated constitution, they should tarry its take off date till 2020. All present officeholders should be made exempt from enjoying the rotational nonsense that PDP has planned to impose upon us. In advanced countries and all forward-thinking domain, lawmakers and leaders exempt themselves from laws they help make for posterity sake. David Mark and his PDP brass should make their mistakes on the side of genuine democratic constitution for Nigeria - the kind that wouldn’t derail asunder in shortest possible time. If there’s any sense of purpose in Yar´adua shifting all core developmental issues and projects to 2020, there’s even a better reason to postpone the take off date of rotational presidency should it rear its ugly head into our general constitution by and by.
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To start with, rotation is mismatching to democracy. Democracy is all about making the best right befitting choice amid contending individual would-be officeholders: to restrict that choosing to a particular area of the country to satisfy cabal interest of the moment, is to corrupt the noble concept of democratic free choice. To notoriously compromise the goodness of mass civil rule for PDP´s shortsighted aim for now and bear the brunt later would be to short-change the future of Nigeria and its citizens.
Since PDP started toying with their rotational behaviour party-wide, I’ve maintained the 'ISEP' posture. ISEP means: 'it’s someone else’s problem.' I had always thought that the PDP might rotate whatever they choose to, within their party participation. They may even go 'swinger' rotating their wives amongst themselves as they please. That’s their cup of tea. The single thought of trespassing and transporting their rotational presidency mistake from their PDP party constitution to our Federal Statute Book should be a serious concern to all. Most of the senators now spoiling for constitutional change were rigged into office. It’s anyone’s wonder how illegally constituted bunch of representatives would have the modest temerity to live aboveboard and right the wrongs that has trended for too long in Nigeria.
The intrigue to smuggle rotational presidency from PDP´s primitive constitutional manifesto to a Nigeria-wide constitution is the most laughable scandal of all times. In this time and age worldwide when people are fed up with democracy and sees it as tool for big corporations cum businesspeople and corrupt politicians, our senate should be mindful not to embed rotational presidency into our country’s general Article of Faith. Rotational presidency will deepen the already sectional, ethnic, religious and social warfare that has been racing our country to the bottom since independence. Any country that’s looking forward to uniting her scattering citizens from sectional and religious bad-mindedness and strife will shy away from regionally sectionalising its democracy or political space via rotation. An all-comer democracy at all levels and at all time is what Nigeria should strive for and uphold at this station of our democratic life as a country.
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There’s a thorough political apathy already roaming the Nigerian political landscape and to rotate the presidency however to a particular region would escalate that lacklustre. Nigerians would be denied that parade of variety choices of contenders that gave you the lust to want to vote on Election Day for a candidate after your mind. Imagine that rotational system made it through our constitutional amendment and as a follow up, rotated to Northern part of Nigeria - and all of a sudden, we have only Muslim candidates contesting the presidency; do you think that Christian Nigerians would ever cast any vote? How do you convince Biafra believer from Eastern Nigeria to vote in an all Muslim or Northern candidacy? This proposition could as well be seen the other way round with an all-Christians only as contender in an election year rotated to southern Nigeria - this way, you would only have succeeded in killing democracy by regional rotation as being planned by David Mark. The north would refuse to vote in any invent where you stampede Nigeria presidential contest with an all-southern candidates. Southern Nigerians would do likewise in the preponderance of northern rotated presidential candidacy. The death of democracy is as sure as egg is egg in Nigeria if senate refuses to back off from their bent to smuggle rotational presidency from PDP’s party code of conduct into our Federal constitution.
It’s no secret that there’s no love lost or coherence between differing ethnicities, regions and religionists amid Nigeria’s people. We see it every day on Nigerian Internet blogosphere and even more so in real life, daily. Most northerners and southerners loathed one another with wicked passion and rotation of our democracy would increase that bitter divide. A 'come one, come all' like as it is presently should suffice instead of regional rotation. Rotation is the kind of mediocre that’d present political greenhorns and do-things like president Yar´adua. Modesty forbids that rotation throws up president Yar´adua as the only presidential candidate in 2011 as being planed by PDP! A horror scenario!
Nigerians would go ape in anger and seriously apathetic to voting in elections when there’s no varying candidate who represents their roaming interests. Rotation fuels that lack of variety of choosing, that might lead to the death of democracy in Nigeria when rotational presidency finally comes to town.
Rotational presidency in David Mark and his journeymen’s parochialism is the surest one-way street to choose president Yar´adua as their PDP presidential next of kin in 2011 and thereafter, the rigging process contracted to Maurice Iwu for perfection. In return as thank-you to lawmakers, president Yar´adua would ask all congresspeople to return with automatic ticket come 2011. To rotate the next president northward constitutionally, would imply a shortlist that closes the door to southerners and a shortcut for the PDP to do as they wish with their 60-year regime of political dis-engineering beginning from 2011.
Senator David Mark has as well mouthed that creation of state would be core in their constitutional engineering/dis-engineering that’s ongoing right now. His interest in this matter is his crave to calve a new state to his honour or if you like his dishonour from his present Benue state. A new state where David Mark and his bunch would be the new kings. Rotational presidency is a hard sell in a world where people are now calling for more transparency in democracy. In a civil mass rule, there should be massive, plenteous and varying candidates to choose from and with rotation, it becomes impossible. To hell with rotational presidency!
S. Njokede writes from The European Union
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