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Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has again insisted that only a southerner should be voted as president in the 2023 election to preserve the unwritten arrangement of rotational presidency between North and South, which he said addresses suspicion of domination and promotes inclusiveness.
The governor stated this while delivering a lecture, entitled: “Nigeria: the Politics of Religion in a Transitional Society,” in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Wednesday.
The lecture was to mark the first anniversary of Prof. Bankole Oke’s demise. Oke was of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ibadan. He died in 2021 at the age of 68 years.
Tracing recent Nigeria’s political history, Akeredolu said the unwritten agreement to rotate presidency between northern and southern Nigeria has helped stabilise the polity, assuaged feeling of domination and also engendered peace in the polity.
He argued that the attempt to make another northerner succeed incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari, will not work, stressing that it will jeopardise the country’s political stability.
The governor vowed that he and other Nigerian leaders were ready to do whatever it takes to ensure that the country is not destabilised again.
He faulted the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for picking a northerner as its presidential candidate, saying:“ PDP which picked a northerner is not doing it in the interest of this country. Peter Obi has the right as a southerner but to say that another northerner should succeed Buhari will be hard.”
“There appears to be an understanding that power must rotate between the North and the South. This understanding witnessed the contest of two candidates from the South West for the Presidency. It was part of the unwritten agreement that the power equation must be balanced to allay the fear of domination harboured by the people of the South
“There is a conscious attempt not to disrupt the extant agreement. There has been a seamless transition from one civilian regime to another since 1999, the longest in the political history of the country. The current political permutations raise strong suspicions on an undeclared motive to thwart the arrangement that has been working for the country. The rotation of the office of the President is between the North and the South since the inception of the Fourth Republic. The attempt to disrupt the process of democratic transition using all manner of subterfuge heralds forebodings of unpleasant consequences.
“So for me, that the South should produce the next president is not negotiable. We will give it all it takes,” he added.
While deploring the use of religion to manipulate the masses in the political space, the governor lambasted those behind the move, stressing that it is dangerous, and will worsen Nigeria’s already bad condition.
“Religion is currently being deployed most shamelessly by the elites to gain unmerited advantage. The earlier we stop this dangerous and divisive campaign, the better it will be for everyone. Any war fought to establish the supremacy of a faith over others can only end in tears. The manipulative skills politicians currently put to use will aggravate an already bad situation.
“The solution to the challenges faced in the country will not be found in the faiths of individuals. A person’s religious persuasion is based on personal conviction. It is essentially private. The public space must remain secular except we want to pollute it. Consequently, the current agitations for a faith-based political representation are anchored on certain misapprehension of the requirements for leadership in a multi-ethnic state such as Nigeria. It borders on plain mischief to set the people on themselves to attain political power. Any so-called religious leader, who ignores knowledge and competence as necessary criteria to measure leadership capacity, is an apostate,” Akeredolu said.
He pointed out that Nigeria is a great nation which only needs a leadership that will turn things around.
According to him, “the cacophony of voices raised on mundane issues distract in the main.”
“The manipulation of the mass of the people by the elites is not just starting. It has always been the case since the advent of the colonialists till date. The purpose is to grab political power for relevance and the attendant privileges. Beyond promises, freely given during campaigns, very few of the members of this exclusive class really spare any serious thoughts for the general well-being of the masses. Any little opportunity, offered by socio-economic crises, is appropriated to wreck maximum havoc,” he said.
He also explained that Nigeria is a society in transition which can not afford to embrace policies which promote stagnation or retrogression, saying: “Religious practice must reflect this character.”
Instead of listening to purveyors of religious bias to gain political advantage, the governor said Nigerians should also focus attention on the need for independence of the 36 states of the federation.
“Beyond the agitation for power shift is the quest for economic independence of the states under the current political arrangement. The clamour for the restructuring of the polity should gain currency more than the unprofitable noises made for representation based on religion. Those who overheat the polity for personal aggrandizement should lend their voices to the issue of resource generation and control by the federating units,” the governor explained.
As the country prepares for the the 2023 elections, Akeredolu urged citizens to reject cravings which may impact negatively on the polity.
“The current noises made on the need to have people occupy offices on the basis of religion is not only dangerous, but, annoyingly, does not portray politicians as those who are interested in public good,” he noted.
Colleagues, friends and associates paid tributes to Prof. Oke, describing him as a great academic, teacher and humanist.