MARRYING MERIT WITH ROTATIONAL PRESIDENCY IN NIGERIA
To marry the rotational presidency principle with some amount of merit or laudable performance in office, the PDP should limit the rotational concept to the first term in office. The second term should be thrown open to competition between the incumbent and candidates from the alternative geopolitical zone, in party primaries. Two terms in office would then no longer be guaranteed and would largely depend on performance in office the first time. Opposition to the second term in office of a leader who has performed well in the first term, is likely to be muffled. This is because all party members ride on the goodwill of the masses enjoyed by such a good leader, to win their respective elections.
A good leader has no hiding place in society. Take Gov. Fashola of Lagos State currently, for instance. Only a fool from within his own party would seriously try to undermine his return for a second term because all members of his party stand to gain by his success, to win elections.
For any of the two geopolitical zones to enjoy two consecutive terms in office as a result of this arrangement, therefore, each zone would begin to go out of its way to put its best brains forward every time.
Second term in office would then become a reward for good performance, both for the incumbent and for his or her geopolitical zone. This would mean that if Jonathan performs well in the next couple of months as acting president, he would deserve to have a short at the presidency in 2011 on a rotational presidency basis. His second term in 2015 would not be guaranteed and would be thrown open to competition between him and candidates from the northern zone. If he wins his second term, it would mean he has performed well in his first term and the rotational principle would come into force again after that. That way, the friction between merit and rotational presidency would be greatly reduced and a geopolitical zone that fails to get a second consecutive term in office would have its self and its candidate's performance in office to blame. The beauty of this arrangement is that the best candidates would begin to be thrown forward to rule and move us forward as a people.
Naiwu Osahon
Naiwu Osahon renowned author, philosopher of science, mystique, leader of the world Pan-African Movement.