Opinion: LET THE BATON BE TRANSFERED TO KWARA NORTH By Usman Lade
Who is heir to the baton?
Who decides the heir?
It’s not a RELAY! Unless the baton is PASSED!
I am going to specifically point out and controvert the numerous pitfalls in the kwara political system, I will now highlight the importance of zoning system as a political principle. In the first place, I am one of those Nigerians who believe that Nigeria stands to gain a lot from a legally adopted presidential and governorship zoning or rotational system.
The rotation of political power (party Zoning System) is a strong element in the kwara State political system. There seem to be a bridging trust between the three parties (Kwara central, Kwara north and Kwara south) since 1999. As the Kwara Central senatorial district of the state has been favoured most in all political occasions, But 2019 general election is coming in with a strong hurricane that is about to destabilize the zoning system in Kwara State.
In the past, the concept of zoning had not dominated political conversations in Kwara State. That is changing now. The current Governor of the state, Abdulfatah Ahmed, is from the South and has spent eight years in the saddle. Prior to his tenure, Bukola Saraki, now Senate President, from the Central Zone, was governor for two terms. Ideally, one would expect that Kwara North should have a shot at the governorship after the tenure of Ahmed. But it is not that simple.
As the case may be Kwara has nothing to lose by its application in her body-politic. A zoning system, as has been already canvassed by many Nigerian socio-political commentators, is a simple, post-modern political practice in which a state is divided into 2,3,4 or 5 electoral zones. In this system, all the political parties in the State must nominate their candidates from only one agreed zone or constituency in any election year as stipulated in the power-sharing ordinance of the people.
Although zoning has not been widely and generously applied in Kwara state since inception of democracy in 1999 because of man’s domineering and greedy nature.
This is an elementary truth which is most palpable everywhere in the part of the State. It is only a hypocrite in Kwara that will make an argument against that truth. Both inwardly and outwardly, the Nupes, Barubas, Hausas and the Yoruba’s etc in the kwara North region are NOT COMFORTABLE with this situation. That is another truth that no man in Kwara can dispute. To an extent that the people and it region has been deprived of dividend of democracy with little or no sense of belonging from the government and political office holders. This situation has immensely eroded patriotism in many Northerners; as a result, political and infrastructural sabotage has become rife. Increasingly, saboteurs from various zones in the state are not tired of sabotaging the growth and development of the region which I see as not as a result of their progressive naivety but an act of selfishness and self-centered ness they’ve been inculcated with.
However, “My position is that the best of our candidates will represent us in the governorship race; what is important to us as a region is to achieve ultimate victory and we are not bothered about the area where the best comes from, so its not outside the kwara north region. The race is now! The baton is ours!
God bless Kwara State
God bless Nigeria
Amb. Usman Lade
KNYAGG Ambassador
08051076883
Yunususmanlade@gmail.com
