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Uyi Edogamhe
Lives in
Bologna, Italy
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The "North" ceding political power to Olusegun Obasanjo, was a self serving shrewd brinksmanship, that boomeranged on the so-called "North". The "South" is not and has never been represented by Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo was a pawn in the political chess game of the "North", to continue it’s strangled exploitative hold on power, and they got beaten in their game, by Obasanjo. Ceding power to Obasanjo was suppose to be a brief interregnum in the self styled Northern leaders, corrupt hold on power. Obasanjo cleverly, outwitted and outsmarted his benefactors, and helped put a stop to their joy ride.

The Political Zoning Debate.
by Uyi Edogamhe

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Senator John  Shagaya’s granted interview as published in “This Day of 06/27/2010”, is very telling and revealing at the same time. The American historical context on which his analogy is premised, is faulty. The Senator it is glaring, has a warped, jaundiced and embarrassingly flawed understanding of American political history, as posited in the interview.

The often heard narrative of how the "North", in the Nigeria political context,  compassionately ceded power to the "South", in other to give the south a sense of belonging, is self serving, dishonest, and an assault on our retentive, collective intelligence.

The "North", Senator Shagaya talks about and represents are a bunch of corruptly irrepressible, self serviced and egregious, corruptly fulfilled, out spent, nothing positive to offer kleptomaniacs. This “North” is not representative of the hopeless school age, rag tagged children (Almajiris) roaming the streets, of Kaduna, Dutse, Kano and  most of the major cities in the North, with plates in their hands, looking for someone else’s left over to fill their stomach instead of being in school, the North were maternal death and infant mortality is still scandalously the highest in the country, the North were the physically challenged and even a sizeable number of able bodied men and women have been reduced to professional street beggars.

The "North" ceding political power to Olusegun Obasanjo, was a self serving shrewd brinksmanship, that boomeranged on the so-called "North". The "South" is not and has never been represented by Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo was a pawn in the political chess game of the "North", to continue it’s strangled exploitative hold on power, and they got beaten in their game, by Obasanjo. Ceding power to Obasanjo was suppose to be a brief interregnum in the self styled Northern leaders, corrupt hold on power. Obasanjo cleverly, outwitted and outsmarted his benefactors, and helped put a stop to their joy ride.

Chief Sunny Odogwu's - Ibrahim Babangida's in-law - rants about Obasanjo's reneging on an agreement to hand over power to the "North" after four years, in 2003 is not lost on us. These were all a well articulated game plan, orchestrated to intimidate and harass  Obasanjo then, and heat up the polity. This is the same calibrated  unrelenting efforts, geared once again to intimidate, harass and bring to total submission,  President Goodluck Jonathan.

The sophist North and the false hegemonic pretences it propagates is a ruse. The zoning  they are now championing  and robbing on our face is pathetic. If there ever was one, it was and is an in-house thing, that should not be on the front burner of our national discuss.

The Senator’s articulation of “North” - were a few have feasted and gotten fat on our collective commonwealth, is different from  the North of squalor, illiteracy and abject poverty - is an amalgam of failed fellows. These people have all failed individually and collectively in all spheres of  national service and engagements. This is evident, in the scandalous squalor, the dehumanising poverty, the institutional decay, the culture of corruption and impunity and the sad absence of national cohesion. The one thing, they have all been very successful at, is being stupendously rich, at the expense of the Nigerian people, more so, the people of Northern Nigeria.

The bed fellows of, Atiku, Babangida, Ciroma, Shagari and Yakassai, spear heading the agitation for the so-called zoning to the “North” to be maintained, is very ridiculous. It goes to show how very petty and unprincipled these bunch are. These are opportunist who will do anything for power. Their allegiance, they have forcefully demonstrated is first to an “ethno religious North”  before the convenient talk of Nigeria.

President Shagari regretfully have always been inherently docile to be pragmatically principled. He has always been led by the nose like a zombie, and have always been a willing tool in the hands of the  “North” he now champions. It is a shame that a former democratically elected president, that once ruled this country, even if ignominiously, have now become a crusader for religious and sectional interest.

Shagaya’s  zoning argument and  his postulations is clearly a yeoman’s job. It is a placating self seeking exercise. The truth is that, Shagaya, Ogbe, Gemade , Kwande and Ayu are the “fringe”, in the ethno-religious con geo-political scheme of the “North”. They are a means to an end, and this end is self serving. This have variously been proven.

PDP can  implode with the zoning argument for all we care. Nigerians should be speared the details of  the shenanigans and dirty horse trading that went on behind close doors between our discredited “genro”. 

The “North” should be ashamed to say they speak for or represent any segment of this great country in anyway. These bunch are the past, that do not belong to the New Nigeria. They have been adept at fanning and exploiting the North South ethno-politico attrition, for their personal aggrandisement. This is there last desperate fight at maintaining a forlorn status quo. Fortunately, there is a burgeoning class of well read emancipated North, that can read between the lines. We know this gimmick; it wont fly this time. President Goodluck Jonathan should let his performance in this short period of time, determine if he will contest the next elections or not, and not the intimidating ranting of a spent force.