Jideofor Adibe, a Professor of Political Science at Nasarawa State University, Keffi and publisher of Adonis & Abbey Publishers, a London and Abuja-based publisher of professional books and peer-reviewed and indexed academic journals, has called for power rotation to be respected in the choice of who succeeds President Buhari in 2023. In an interview with Channels Television on Friday, April 2 2021 monitored by The News Chronicle, Professor Adibe said the current argument over which zone should produce the successor to Buhari highlights the hypocrisy of Nigerian politicians:
“It is remarkable that some actors from the North, who in 2011 felt that Jonathan contesting for the presidency amounted to cheating the zone because it deprived it of completing its eight-year turn in a supposed gentle man’s agreement on power rotation between the North and South, are today calling for the abrogation of the same arrangement after benefitting from it”.
“It is also instructive that the South-west which has always been in the vanguard of accusing the core North of born-to-rule mentality or sense of entitlement, today wants to produce a successor to Buhari after eight years of Obasanjo as President and another eight years of Osinbajo as Vice President
Professor Adibe further added: “The South-east which traditionally frames its national politics on marginalization and is anchoring its clamour for someone from the region to succeed Buhari on the need for fairness and equity does not always respect this principle in its zone because there are some senatorial zones there which are literarily shut out from the governorship of some states on the spurious ground that politics is a game of numbers.”
On the continuous voters’ registration which is billed to resume by June, this year, Professor Adibe said: “I think for the government, it presents some opportunities and some threats. One of the opportunities is that it will keep the political class busy and focused on the election and hopefully it will some to bring back the money they stacked away in some places which will then help to reflate the economy and provide employment, even if temporary”. He however saw the flipside in the exercise as the possibility that it could divert the attention of the of the populace to 2023, thereby putting governance in abeyance or turning the government into a lame duck.
