In the 90s, President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida introduced the idea and since then, the genie has escaped from the bottle, mutating from time to time. Babangida, in his own wisdom, mooted the idea of New breed politicians and his transition programme, at that time, wanted a clean break from the past. The president, as he was called, banned a category of politicians, including ex and serving public office holders, from contesting elections in 1992. Babangida, in that experiment, wanted to conjure perfect political rabbits, untainted with the past, to run the third republic but Newbreedism died on arrival.
However, before its stillbirth, the government had founded two political parties, wrote their manifestoes, built their offices and bankrolled them. Thereafter, to his chagrin, the banned politicians or Old breed, called the shots at the background and IBB’s pet project was sabotaged. Reluctantly, he unbanned the banned politicians or old brigades and the experiment came crashing down.
Since then, individuals and groups, as well as power blocs, have been re-writing the Babangida script of using short cut to power, instead of slugging it out in open contests. This ‘’catapult approach’’ has spawn many other concepts like power and generational shifts and several buzz words that now litter the nation’s political lexicon. In 1998, following Chief M.K.O Abiola and General Sani Abacha’s deaths, the clamour for power shift assumed a life of its own.
Significantly, former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, the reticent politician, had earlier canvassed for rotational presidency, where he introduced the idea of six geo-political zones and vice presidents. Ekwueme, at the 1995 confab, argued that the proposed power configuration will reduce the zero-sum quest for the presidency. However, the proposal suffered a miscarriage, following Abacha’s death; but from the ashes of defeat, power shift germinated. The media, southern political elites and pressure groups nurtured it to full bloom and it is now a bargaining chip in the jostle for power. Back then, they had lobbied, threatened and cajoled Nigerians on power shift. The presidency, according to them, should either go to the South or Nigeria should spilt. In the end, the apostles of this creed, through elite consensus, carried the day and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo emerged president. Consequently, power shift has become a fixture of political negotiation. With time, youngsters also started clamouring for generational shift, in jockeying to for political space.
Indeed, this is an improved version of Newbreedism as instead of an outright ban, the young sought accommodation with the old for political offices. In fact, activists of every hue, political analysts of all stripes and critics of opposing sides of the ideological divide, have hitched on to this gravy train. Right now, it has snowballed into a formidable movement and in 2016, its proponents even sponsored the Not-too- Young-to-Run Bill. Broadly, the bill sought to reduce the age for elective positions; from 30 to 25 years for House of Assembly and House of Representatives aspirants and from 35 to 30 years for gubernatorial and senatorial aspirants. Likewise, anyone who attains 30 years, according to the Bill, should be eligible for the presidency as opposed to the earlier 40 years requirement.
Significantly, Hon Tony Nwulu and Senator AbdulAziz Nyako, arrowheads of the campaign, lobbied fellow legislators, met Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to root for presidential assent, after the bill’s passage at the National Assembly. Similarly, the Not-too-Young-to-Run movement lobbied the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other stakeholders, especially to reduce the cost of nomination fees, to encourage youths to run for elective offices. On May 29, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari brought glad tidings to the youth, promising to sign the bill into law and he kept his promise two days later. Specifically, former Deputy Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Kingsley Moghalu of the Young Progressives Party, Fela Durotoye of the Alliance for New Nigeria and Ahmed Buhari of the Sustainable National Party ran on that Not-too-Young-to-Run credo but made no impact.
Significantly, during every election cycle, the issue of power and generational shifts feature in the permutations of aspirants and their supporters. Right now, the national convention of APC, where the National Executive Committee will be selected, is around the corner and asporants are playing up their selling points. To some, the next APC national chairman should come from the North West, seeing that it’s the party’s stronghold. The zone, according to them, ought to be rewarded for its voting strength, given that the presidency will go elsewhere in 2023. Likewise, other proponents of power shift prefer the party’s top post to go to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc. By and large, APC is an amalgamation of former Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), the New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), the CPC, as well as a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Largely, these three defunct parties and the APGA faction collapsed into APC but CPC, ANPP and ACN are seen as the main tripod on which the party stands. All but one of these three legacy parties have produced the national chairman of APC. First, Chief John Odigie Oyegun, ex Edo state governor, was the pioneer chairman in 2014. Oyegun, a former ANPP chieftain, was succeeded by his fellow Edo kinsman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, another ex governor from the ACN camp. The pendulum, this time around, should swing to the CPC bloc, some interests argued. Similarly, some prefer a young, vibrant and energetic leader this time around, having tried the ‘’oldies’’ on two occasions.
Indeed, literally and figuratively, the national chairmanship of APC is not a job for the boys for obvious reasons. APC, as a political party, needs an experienced politician, someone who can unify the party and command the respect of all power centres. Likewise, the chairman should rally together party chieftains, state and federal legislators, governors of APC states as well as APC’s rank and file. In summary, he should be a unifier, an astute administrator, who must also be a fair and firm leader who will protect all political tendencies in the party. Similarly, he shouldn’t be held captive by any individual or group, political interest or dynasty. In fact, he should belong to nobody but belong to everybody as the APC needs a steady pair of hands that can lead it to an election victory in 2023. Clearly, this job description is beyond tokenism; it requires the best of the pack as only the best is good enough for APC.
Khalil sent in this article from Kaduna.
