The Next Nigerian President and the Zoning Regulation for the 2023 Presidential Elections

The Nigerian Presidential Elections are just around the corner and many have been predicting the possible winner of the elections. Ever since the turn of the Fourth Republic in 1999, which saw Obasanjo become the president with a Northern running mate, under the flagship of the PDP, the political elites have constantly spoken about using the ‘Zoning Rule’ to determine the Presidential candidates of the next elections.The Principle of Zoning?

This informal rule states that:

1. The president and his vice cannot be of the same religion.
2. Power must oscillate between the north and south every two terms.

This rule simply implies that Power is ‘zoned’ to a religion and a region of the country, till every Geopolitical zone has a representative who has served as the president of the Nation.

The principle of zoning is designed to ensure that neither the north nor the south of the country is ever permanently excluded from power and that no one party is seen to monopolize power. The key factor which necessitated zoning was the need to ease inter-ethnic tensions following the unpleasant Nigerian Civil War.

The Zoning rule is important because of the complex state of Nigerian ethnicity. Nigeria is a multi-ethnic country, with 6 Geopolitical zones, which are categorized broadly into the North and South. The North comprises majorly the Fulanis and Hausa, making up the North Central, North West, and North East. The South majorly comprises the Igbos and Yoruba occupying 3 Geopolitical Zones – the South-West, the South-East, and the South-South.

Furthermore, the two major religions observed in these Geopolitical areas are Christianity and Islam which have almost an equal spread around the Nation.

The Federal Military Government of Abdusalam Abubakar accepted the zoning arrangement for administrative convenience but zoning is still yet to be enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution. While the federal character principle is a constitutional provision that can be enforced in a court of law, zoning remains a matter of tactfulness, therefore informal.

The main essence of the thoughtful zoning process is to ensure the promotion of national cohesion and a sense of belonging for citizens from all parts of the country.

Elections and. Misinterpretations

To ensure a system of Justice and equity, it is important that the choice of a president and his running mate must be equally shared in terms of religion and tribe according to the rule.

This was seen as an important tool of National peace by the two major political parties that led the transition from military to civilian rule in 1999. They reached an agreement that gave room for the presidential candidates from the two major parties to emerge from the South-West geo-political zone.

The 1999 Elections saw the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) emerge, winners, producing Olusegun Obasanjo, a southern Christian as the president and Atiku Abubakar, a Northern Muslim as his vice. The rule was well interpreted.

However, there have been irregularities in the way this rule has been interpreted by the political elites of the country since after the 1999 – 2007 ‘two terms’ administration.

Firstly, former president, Olusegun Obasanjo wanted to continue his reign for a third term, a move that must be met with stiff opposition and criticisms. He would bow to the pressure and allow new candidates to run for the office of the president.

The 2011 elections saw the PDP win again, this time producing a northern Muslim, Musa Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan, a Southern Christian. Sadly, the president died just 3 years of his reign, and this automatically meant that his Vice completed the first term as the interim president of the nation.

According to the zoning rule, it was believed that the north had not finished using up its own turn, so a northern Muslim was expected to continue as president for the next four years of the second term. This brought about the emergence of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar declaring his interest. However, interim president, Goodluck Jonathan, from Bayelsa state in the south also stated his intentions to run under PDP. In the PDP primaries, Goodluck Jonathan convincingly defeated Atiku and became PDP’s flag bearer.

Meanwhile, another party in strong opposition to the PDP, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), produced a northern Muslim, Muhammadu Buhari from Katsina as its presidential candidate.

Sadly for the northerners, Jonathan would defeat Buhari and emerge as the President of Nigeria. This was a bitter experience for the northerners who strongly believed that power had prematurely fallen to the southern leader, although Jonathan’s vice, Namadi Sambo was a northern Muslim.

In the next elections in 2015, Buhari emerged as the winner of the presidential elections defeating the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan. Buhari, a northern Muslim, came into power with a southern Christian, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as his vice.

Does the Zoning Rule still stand?

Although one can argue that the zonal rule was back into effect after the win of President Buhari, however, the chain of events from the 2011 elections had shown otherwise and cast a strain on the rule. This is revealed in the major candidates of the 2023 presidential elections.

It was believed and said around many corners that the 2023 elections should produce a southern president, whose vice will be northern and their religions won’t be the same. However, this rule hasn’t been upheld in some quarters.

In the APC, the ruling party, Tinubu, a Muslim from southern Lagos, claimed that it was his turn to be in power. That wasn’t a problem as long as his running mate would be a northern Christian. Shockingly, he ignored this and opted for a Muslim vice-presidential candidate. This choice was met with lots of criticism, especially from the Christian leaders in the land.

Meanwhile, up north, the PDP elected a northern Muslim and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as its presidential choice. Atiku, who is from northern Adamawa, claims his own party has not been in power for the last eight years and so the zoning rule does not apply to him.