A historical review of Nigerian leaders was made. The paper thinks that a particular section or’ up from a specific geo-political area has benefited much more than others.
It suggests that for harmony and peaceful co-existence of the nation, leadership must be proportionally zoned or rotated among the various groups or sections of the country.
Introduction
Nigeria is characterised by a conglomerate of many ethnic, linguistic, socio-cultural and religious groups. In modern political analysis, these are nations independently because of the attributes or characteristics such groups possess. (Appadorai, 1975).
These characteristics are common history, sharing a common culture, and language, and living in a particular territory.
This shows the heterogeneity and complexity of the country in terms of her people, culture, religion, live resources, varied interests and innumerable demands.
Pre-Objectives
This makes governance or ministration difficult and complex too. Yet, there must be the governor leader who directs, controls, commands or leads the governed to achieve the pre-determined goals and objectives of the state.
Such leaders may be appointed, and nominated but are elected in democratic states which Nigeria currently claims to be.
The critical question is, how do such leaders emerge in a complex, heterogeneous nation like Nigeria so that a particular group or section will not feel marginalized or discriminated? This is the central focus of the paper.
Objective
The objective of this paper is to delve into history and use the past to predict and prescribe for the future in Nigeria. The paper aims to suggest ways of enhancing the unity and peaceful co-existence of Nigeria as a political entity through harmonious selection and succession of her political leadership.
This will reduce the current cries of victimisation, alienation and marginalisation by some units of the federation.
Historical Review of past Nigerian leaders
The fear of minority domination by the majority was first raised in Nigeria by the appointment of Sir Henry Willink in 1957 to study the minority problem and recommend ways of dealing with it effectively.
Influenced by the view of the major political leaders in Nigeria, the Commission did not recommend the creation of more states for fears of no viability and indirect introduction of a unitary system.
Every ethnic group or section wants to be recognised in Nigeria. Every one of them wants the leader to come from them.
Focus on Pre-independence
They wanted and demanded their separated regions during the period before independence;’ even though the major political parties controlled the regions and then insisted that no new unit should be created unless its resource men and finance were sufficient to make it self-supporting (Awa,1976).
During the period above, there were regional-based political parties and leaders.
Immediately after independence in 1960, it became imperative to have a national leader. The parliamentary system operated in Nigeria’s first republic, which provided for an executive.
Leadership Success
The Prime Minister and the President), was a subtle compromise between the Hausa/Fulani group on one side and the Igbos on the other while the Yoruba was in the main opposition.
Since then, leadership success at the centre has become ethnically biased and very competitive. The table below shows the leader’s succession trend between October 1st, 1960 and Nigeria got independence to date.
It should also be emphasised here that of all the military leaders, only Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo who replaced Gen.
Assassination
Murtala Mohammed after the latter’s assassination on February 13th, 1976 and Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar who succeeded Sanni Abacha on June 9th, 1998 were by appointment. All other military heads of State ascended there through coups either bloody or palace.
The table above reveals that out of the forty-five (45) years of Nigeria’s existence after independence, the ‘North’ has ruled the country for thirty-five years! The question is is this fair and equitable?
The South/South Zone has never tasted the leadership of the country. Would the leadership imbalance augur well for a stable and united Nigeria?
The Current Trend
Political leadership is not restricted only to the Presidency but to other topmost officials namely the Vice-President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Federal Ministers.
There are mild attempts to correct the imbalance and marginalization of certain groups. Among these include the introduction of the quota system, the Federal Character and zoning both geographical and religious.
Focus on the Political System
These devices are aimed at reducing the feeling of disenchantment or alienation from the political system (Olatunji and Adedok1992).
They are also strategies to give Nigerians a sense of belonging to the political system and restore a sense of confidence in the political arena.
Section 14, Sub-section 2(a) of the 1999 Constitution declares that “the security welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government” while Section 14 specifically states that:
The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need for remote national unity.
Focus on National Loyalty
It is also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies.
Furthermore, as part of the political compromise between the North and the South, between the Muslims and Christians, it is a convention that if the President comes from the North, the Vice must come from the South.
If the President is a Muslim, the Vice must be a Christian But are these sufficient guidelines to redress this imbalance? Who is to decide where the Presidency goes?
Is it the political party in power as claimed by Agagu (2004) and some party stalwarts or the people’s constitution?
Leadership Succession
Leadership succession is not unaccompanied by political thuggery, violence, premature to democracy and national rancour and insecurity. Until when elections are free and victimisation and discrimination of any sort, Nigeria could not be said to be peaceful and secure. This is another serious dimension to the issue at stake.
Currently, the Northern governors are clamouring that the North will produce the next South-East. Some northern progressives antagonising the two groups above are even supporting the South-South for the Presidency (Babalola, 2005). Where then do we go?
Survival of Democracy
For the survival of democracy in Nigeria, a lot of negotiations, compromises and reconciliations have to be made. Proper understanding and extreme tolerance have to be adopted.
The nature of Nigeria as a heterogeneous, complex, multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic multi-religious nation makes it more cumbersome to govern.
Consequently, the inhabitants have more caution and great sacrifice and understanding of their multifarious problems -political, economic, religious and cultural. The fact remains that dialogue and effective communication go a long way in minimising conflict.
National Conference
Therefore the persistent demand for a foreign national conference where Nigeria will come to the negotiation table, reconcile their currencies, bargain for the future and consolidate the existence of the nation is inevitable. The earlier this is done, the better for the nation to avoid unnecessary procrastination.
The confab ended abruptly without reaching an agreement on major national issues such as resource control and rotational presidency (Haruna, 2005).
There were many forceful adjournments, walkouts, and delegate boycotts during the conference.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The author thinks that rules and regulations are meant to be strictly adhered to. Political leadership must be proportionally and democratically rotated to enhance the unity, peaceful co-existence and harmony of the country.
The zonal structure, the six geo-political zones, the quota and the federal character should be faithfully implemented so as not to bring undue advantage to others at the expense of another group.
Conclusion
A new peoples’ constitution has to emerge from a newly constituted and acceptable national conference. Such a constitution has to contain in clear, unambiguous terms, specific relationships among the three tiers of government, power structure, mode of revenue sharing, and rotational presidency among other issues.
It is however obvious that no constitution can be self-sufficient. The government too has to broaden educational opportunities and create gainful employment to reduce ignorance and poverty to the barest minimum.
Recommendation
Enlightened and educated people are more aware of their civic and moral obligations and easier to govern than uneducated and jobless individuals. Nigerian citizenry must imbibe also what Almond and Verba (1998) called the “civic culture”.
This will make them rational and objective in their thinking, participative and patriotic rather than being subjective and parochial in the choice of political leadership. You can read more related posts on our research page of the site.
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