2023: We will back power shift to South, says PANDEF

Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF)
August 1, 2022

By Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt; Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba; Simon Utebor, Yenagoa; Elo Edremoda, Warri; Gill Nsa, Calabar

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) yesterday reiterated its support for power shift to the South in 2023 general election.

The group lamented that the neglect of zoning by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in bad faith.

According to PANDEF, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is better than the main opposition party because it has met its demand and those of other Southern stakeholders that power should rotate to the South.

PANDEF asserted that while the same faith ticket of the APC was of a concern, it was still preferable to the PDP ticket that violated its constitution on zoning and power rotation.

But, a former President of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Udengs Eradiri, said religion should not be a factor in politics.

PANDEF National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Ken Robinson, said the group may back the APC for respecting the cardinal demands and that of South and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) on power rotation.

While noting that religion had a role to play in politics, he said the forum would evaluate some political realities before reaching a final decision.

He said: “For us, our personal view is that we have the APC and PDP. The PDP

established zoning. Instead of respecting zoning, PDDP gave its presidential ticket to Atiku Abubakar from the North. APC respected the demands for zoning and gave its ticket to Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from Southwest. That satisfied the desire for equity and fairness.

“Unfortunately, the APC picked a candidate from the Northeast as a running mate and that has thrown up issues with same faith ticket. Which is the lesser evil? The disregard for established principle for power rotation or a Muslim/Muslim ticket. That is the dilemma before us. Some talk about a third option. For us power rotation should come first.

“There are two Southern candidates in the presidential election and we are having conversations and I think that we will stick with power rotation. Discussions are ongoing. Realities have to be evaluated. We will not do things for the sake of doing it, but we will do things that are realistic.”

However, Eradiri maintained that religion should have no place in politics.

Eradiri, a former Commissioner for Youths and later, Environment, in Bayelsa State, lamented that some politicians were only playing the religious card for their selfish interests.

He said: “But truly, I don’t beleive that religion should be part of our politics. It should be based on competence. Nigeria is on the crossroad and religion has done nothing to help us. They are even killing more Muslims than Christians.

“So, the issue of religion doesn’t even arise. It is about competence and about ensuring that the society and the economy work. It is about ensuring security which does not have colouration of religion.

“However, religion only plays its role at the point of selection. People bring in all kinds of religious colouration to justify a parochial interest. But, when they eventually take leadership and corruption and other things are going on, religion does not play any role.

“When they sit down to share the funds and abuse office, nobody talks about religion. But, when it comes to selection, people jettison capacity and the strength of individuals and then begin to play the religious card.”

Eradiri observed that the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC was informed by the need to win election in 2023 and not based on any religious consideration.

He said the APC having studied the behavioural pattern of Northern voters and the move by PDP candidate, Atiku, to exploit the religious sentiment of the North, opted for a Muslim running mate to neutralise PDP’s strategy.

He argued that it would be a political suicide for any Muslim Southern candidate to opt for a northern Christian running mate the same way a Christian from the North may lose an election with a Southern Muslim.

He said: “But to win an election, you need to consider some religious permutations. If you are a Muslim candidate from the South and you pick a Christian candidate from the North, you might likely lose the election. The same with being a Christian candidate from the North and picking a Muslim running mate from the South.

“The approach in the South obviously cannot be the same approach in the North. You must look at the roles that religion play in winning elections, so that you can design an appropriate strategy. This is the reason I don’t fault the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.

“The South doesn’t practise its own politics with respect to religion the way the North does. Religion has a huge control over the way the people lead their lives in the north.

“In the South, people are more enlightened and religion doesn’t play much of a role to determine the way votes are swayed. It is only wise that the APC should pick a Muslim running mate from the North to defeat Atiku. It is all about political calculations.”

A lawyer and cleric, Pastor Edem Ekong, said there was nothing same faith leadership could do against the growth of Christianity and other religious groups.

He said: “What is important is that whoever is the head knows God and is God-fearing.

I can tell you about Joseph and Daniel in the Bible. Christians should not stay away from politics because of a non-Christian king or ruler.

“There is nothing such non-Christian ruler can do to stop the growth of a Christian or the nation. David was a king and a priest, whenever there was a problem, he went to God by himself.  Denial was a Christian under Nebuccanazar who didn’t even know God. That did not stop Daniel from excelling.

“Joseph was a Prime Minister under Pharaoh who didn’t know God and that didn’t stop Joseph from excelling. Naaman had leprosy and went to Elijah for cure. He went to his master and got permission. It is irrelevant who is in charge, we will still excel.”

Elder statesman and former Secretary-General, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, said though, religion should not be an issue in elections, the Nigerian situation had made it so.

Kokori: “Normally, religion should not be taken seriously on the  aspect of elections all over the world, especially in the western and secular states.

“People like us are liberal Christians. There are many liberal Muslims just like Tinubu. But there are fundamentalist christians and Muslims; those are the problems we have. People not well educated and as exposed as some of us will take it so seriously,” he said.

Urging Christians to “monitor” the outcome of events, the septuagenarian pointed out that “faith in Nigeria is an accident of birth, where you were born”.

The former Labour leader assured that there was no cause for alarm, as the ruling party prepares for next year’s polls.

He said: “But, I know it means nothing to us as liberal Christians and Muslims. In the north, 75 per cent of them are fundamentalist Muslims. So, that is the issue. And a politician wants to win election.

“I’m an APC chieftain and normally, I want my party to win election. No matter what happens, it is the Northern Muslims that can give APC the kind of votes they need to win. So, obviously I will just bend backwards and accept them.

“But, what is the problem? Majority of the governors in Nigeria are Christians, so there is no way one religion can dominate the other in this country. It is an impossible thing. It’s just education that is the whole thing. It is what you call pragmatism.

“So, the Christians should take it like that and monitor them. Like Osinbajo is a Christian; throughout the tenure, what was the difference? Nothing.”

“I know Tinubu is a liberal Muslim. I feel the Christians should just watch. CAN is there. They will always be the watchdog of the Christian faith in Nigeria. If the Muslims are overstepping their boundaries, the CAN can always call them to question.

“Again, the National Assembly is composed of Christians and Muslims, almost at equal strength; the governorship is the same thing. And these are the people who govern Nigeria.

“The president can’t do without them. So, we should just leave that alone and vote for people who can take Nigeria out of this dungeon that we are at the moment.”

The Chief Superintending Officer, Supreme Egbesu Order, an Ijaw religious organisation, Apostle Prince Bodmas Kemepadei, insisted that only competence and leadership capacity and not religious considerations should be the yardstick of choosing leaders in the country.

He said if Nigeria continued on the path of religious dichotomy, then the country would be headed for anarchy, stressing that no religious group had the right to lay claim or rights over the seat of power.

Kemepadei queried: “Is it not sad to hear people advocate that the seat of Nigeria’s power be rotated amongst two religious sects in a secular state like Nigeria having people with diverse religious beliefs?

“Is this fair? Is this not injustice?

“We should be talking about competence and not religion. If we continue on this path of religious dichotomy, then we are heading towards anarchy. No religious group has rights to lay claims or rights over Nigeria’s seat of power.

“I am of the traditional religion; if the country begins to operate a Muslim-Muslim ticket or Christian-Christian ticket or Muslim-Christian ticket, then what is the fate of other religious sects? Are we not Nigerians, don’t we have the franchise to vote and be voted for?”

He warned that religion should be totally separated from politics, saying that if people were interested in religious leadership, they should do so in their religious institutions and not with Nigeria as a state.

He said Nigerians should focus on development, capacity, experience and other ingredients of leadership and not religious differences which is a mere diversion.

The Convener, Forum for Ethnic Nationalities of the Niger-Delta (FENND), Dotimi Kester, said his group was in support of the view that religion should have no place in politics, especially in an underdeveloped country like Nigeria.

“Competence, not religion should be yardstick for choosing leaders,” he said.

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