Return Power to the North, or Obasanjo Third Term?

[Richard Akindele]

Nigeria gained independence over 45 years ago. The nation has been blessed with one of the biggest income-generating commodity ever - oil. Yet, to this day, our country remains destitute.

Sani Abacha is shown to be among the worst embezzlers ever, having stolen an estimated [b]$25 billion[/b] from Nigerians. The richest man on earth (Bill Gates) was only worth $28 billion last year.

Let's take a look at the presidency since 1960:

Tafawa Balewa, Aguiyi-Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Olusegun Obasanjo.

[b]Seven[/b] out of [b]Nine[/b] Nigerian leaders have been northerners.

As a matter of fact, we could remove Aguiyi-Ironsi from the list, since he was leader only for six months (16 Jan 1966 - 29 Jul 1966).

Therefore, we can say [b]seven[/b] out of [b]eight[/b] leaders have been northerners.

What have these northern leaders done for the nation besides record high embezzlements? The ones among them that had the interest of the people at heart, such as Murtala Muhammed, were assasinated after a mere six months in office.

The only non-northern president, Olusegun Obasanjo has his faults without a doubt. But, so far, he's the only president that can be said to have shown some initiative toward doing something positive for the nation.

Recently, the nation's debt to Paris club was paid off. That is incredible! These were unncecessary debts acrued by northern leaders, that we've been paying huge sums of interest on for decades. Obasanjo came in and got it paid off.

Now, hardly any day goes by without hearing something positive about Obasanjo's presidency, such as developing trade and commerce with other nations, improving healthcare, complaining about the low grade of our schools, improving technology, and so forth.

Given these positive developments, are we sure we want to return power to the north? Have we learned any lesson from our history, that the north has thus far contributed nothing but misery to the nation?

If you were to choose between a constitutional amendment for president Obasanjo to remain in office, and a return of power to the north, which would you choose?