One of the arguments put forward by supporters of the status quo is that Jonathan should be allowed to serve his two terms, after all he is an Ijaw man from the southsouth, where our oil is produced and where no president had come before.
If we are afraid to interrogate the performance of an incumbent, why waste money and valuable resources organizing elections every four years. We might as well have a single tenure of eight years and save ourselves all the troubles. It must be noted however, the in USA where we borrowed the presidential system, second term is not guaranteed, it is predicated on good performance of the president in his first term.
Remarkably, this power rotation bogey is not in our constitution, it was put in place by political parties ostensibly to foster national unity. Whether this policy has engendered national unity is open to question. Rather, it has created deep divisions and the perception of a Northern or Southern president instead of a Nigerian president.
As things are power rotation is more or less “our turn to chop”. It is an equal opportunity to loot. We need to put a stop to this. Those who claim power or solicit for contract or political appointments on behalf of their ethnic groups should be asked to show how they have improved the lives of their people in particular and other Nigerians in general by such largesse
Where there is honesty, justice, fairness and where people abide by the rule of law, power rotation clause would not be necessary.
Let us look for good people to rule wherever they may come from. That is the only way forward.
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