There’s currently a proposed Bill at the House of Representatives which aims to prevent candidates from the North-West, South-West, and South-South regions from running for future Presidential elections in Nigeria until other regions have taken their turn.
The Bill, is seeking an alteration to various sections of the 1999 Constitution to prevent the three geo-political zones from presenting candidates in the next general election.
The proposed Bill, titled: “An Act to modify the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria to introduce a system of power rotation among various geographic and political divisions in presidential, governorship, and senatorial elections”, was submitted to the House Committee for consideration as part of the Constitution Review process.
Proposed by a member representing Apa/Agatu federal constituency in Benue State, Ojema Ojetu, the legislation aims to restrict regions that have previously produced a President since the country transitioned to democracy in 1999 from producing future Presidents if the Bill is passed into law.
The Bill seeks to alter Section 133 of the Constitution by inserting sub-sections 2, 3 and 4 to the nation’s extant laws.
A copy of the Bill indicated that
“The Office of the President of Nigeria shall revolve round the six geo- political zones, with each State holding the office for a maximum of two terms of four years each – to give every section and State in Nigeria a sense of inclusion, participation and representation in Nigeria’s democracy”.
It further stated: “Any geo-political zone in Nigeria which has produced a President of the Federal Republic shall not be eligible to produce another President until the other zones take their turns, while Section 4 says, “The effective date for consideration in the rotation of power shall be 29th of May, 1999 when the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) became effective.
Ojotu’s proposed legislation also seeks an alteration of Section 48 of the Constitution with the introduction of sub-sections 1 (a) and (b).
1(a) provides that “Senatorial election shall rotate round all the federal constituencies in the Senatorial zone in order to give a sense of inclusion, participation and representation in the constituencies to engineer social progress and development”; and (b) states that “Every federal constituency in a Senatorial district which has produced a Senator shall not be eligible to produce a Senator, unless and until all other Federal Constituencies produce a Senator”.
