ROTATIONAL PRESIDENCY AND GOVERNORSHIP: THE BEST FOR NIGERIA, by Dr Gbenga Adeoye

1. Unwritten Peace and Unity Codes should become written in the heart of all reasonable stake holders in Nigeria.

2. Presidential Candidacy should  be structured in a manner that North and South Rotational Presidency should be adopted by lovers if peace and unity.I heard El Rufai and many others spoke firmly on this in 2022 to support the South to take over from Buhari.The analysis of rotation was what Tinubu summarised as EMILOKAN in Abeokuta in 2022 before APC primary (which means, it is my turn because it is the turn of the south.)

3. We might then begin to do INTERNAL rotation within the 3 Geo Political Zones in the North and 3 Geopolitical Zones in the South.

4. In other  words, whenever it is the turn of the North, Northern Candidates should  emerge  from any among the three which are ;North Central, North East or North West.

5. The same principle must apply to South. That is,  when it is the turn of the south, it should come from South West, South South or South East.

6. Today my focus is on Governorship Candidates in the 36 states in Nigeria.

7. All the states in Nigeria has three Senatorial Districts.

8. I must commend the National Assembly and all intelligent, peace loving and patriotic Nigerians that Contributed to that Law of Senatorial Districts Equitable distribution which aligns with one of the Principles of Good Governance that I spent three years of  my PhD on from 2010 to First Quarter of 2014 with research around the world.

9. That is why, we have 36 states having 108 Senators and when one senator from Abuja is added, it makes it 109.THAT IS THE MOST EQUITABLE THING IN NIGERIA.

10. For example, Ogun which is my  State has Ogun Central, Ogun East and Ogun West 

11. I listed the Senatorial Districts in my state in order of Population .

12. It is then unreasonable for anyone to rise up from a senatorial district back to back for the purpose of contesting Governorship election.

13. Therefore from now on, this is how to run the affairs of all parties in Nigeria...Ogun Central, followed by Ogun East and then followed by Ogun West. All political Parties must be reasonable to adopt such peaceful system that breeds unity. Same in Lagos; Sanwoolu is from Lagos Central, Hamzat is from Lagos West.Amobode came from Lagos East.

14. In Ogun State for example, Bisi Onabanjo was an elected  Governor..From Ogun East. After him, the next elected Governor was from Ogun Central( Chief Olusegun Osoba), After Osoba, Otunba Gbenga Daniel became Governor from Ogun East and After that,  it returned to Ogun Central simply because PDP and PPN could not come together to produce a Governor from Ogun West..Another problem then was that OGD was in PDP but supported PPN because Obasanjo did not agree with him.It became clear later that Obasanjo would have supported Gboyega Isiaka if they all remained in PDP and succeeded in Managing the crisis wisely .The votes of Gboyega Isiaka when added to that of Tunji Olurin,  it was higher than that of Amosun in 2011.So Ogun West couldn't unite to produce one candidate when it was their turn.It was unfortunate because GNI being a First Class Graduate from Ife and a  calm Chartered Accountant, he  was supported by many even though he was the PPN Candidate then.

15. The inability of Ogun West to produce one united candidate then led to Central taking it back. Still;  rotational Scheme played out and it appears like between Ogun Central and Ogun East. God is not partial and He knows how to arrange things .

16. After Amosun's tenure,  effort was made to see the possibility of producing the next Governor from Ogun West, but the method used by Amosun then was wrong as he was in APC but supported and funded an APM candidate who lost to APC in 2019 narrowly with Asiwaju and Prof Osinbajo playing big role to checkmate Amosun on election day.Same way it happened to GNI when OGD supported GNI outside his political party; PDP.

17. Dapo Abiodun emerged after the turn of Ogun Central in 2019 and then in 2023 for 2nd term ending in May, 2027.

18.  The Most reasonable ,.equitable and intelligent thing to do by all political parties is NOT to produce any candidate from Ogun East towards 2027 election. That is the best thing to do.Yes Central qualifies and so ADC has produced Biodun Collins from the Central.

19. Assuming APC is not the National Ruling Party and a strong candidate like Solomon Adeola popularly known as YAYI did not emerge from Ogun West, the Chance of Ogun Central becoming the next Governor would have been VERY HIGH as it aligns with two way rotation that have been ongoing since but a 3 way rotation is the most reasonable .Hence Ogun ranked first now.

20. The most unreasonable thing to do at this time  is for any political party to unreasonably consider an Ogun East Governorhsip after Dapo Abiodun's 8 years tenure. It does not conform to Logic at all.

21. Some people argue that rotation is not good and that it is an attempt to deny intelligent candidate from a given Senatorial district, I disagree with this view because intelligent, experienced, educated and men and women of good character can also be identified in the the district that such rotation favours.

22. Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun Ondo and Ekiti must continue to follow this reasonable rotational system in south West.

23. South South States of Edo, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibo and and  Rivers must adopt the same method .

24. South Eastern states of  Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu & Imo must adopt the same.method.

25. North Central States of Kogi, Kwara, Benue,.Nasarawa, Plataeu and Niger State must do the same.

26. Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe,  Yobe, Taraba, must do the same in the North East.

27. Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Sokoto and Zamfara must follow the same in the North West.

28. Nigeria as a country must follow the same principle wholeheartedly for the purpose of Unity. G5 Governors led by Wike advocated strongly on this in 2022.

May God bless our country and may God bless our respective states with reasonable,intelligent,  patriotic and selfless leaders who will govern for the greater good of the greatest number of people and in deed for all citizens.

If you agree with this Article, send me an email and state.the number you agree with from.1 to 28

The Author; Dr.Gbenga Adeoye is a Good Governance Advocate, Lawyer, Chartered Accountant, Arbitrator, Tax & Fiscal Policy Experts.

He can be reached via dga@gbengaadeoye.com