VONENHACH
John Campbell was the USA Ambassador to Nigeria between year 2004 and 2007 and is currently the Ralph Bunche Senior Fellow for Africa Policy at the USA Council on Foreign Relations. John Campbell is also reported to have written a book entitled ‘Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink’ which is due to be released in November. Since leaving Nigeria, John Campbell has consistently commented on key issues concerning the country and in his latest commentary, he has warned that the 2011 presidential elections pose a threat to Nigeria’s stability saying, ‘the end of a power-sharing arrangement between the Muslim North and the Christian South, as now seems likely, could lead to post-election sectarian violence, paralysis of the executive branch and even a coup.’ Given John Campbell’s high profile as a ranking American diplomat as well as his stature on the USA Council on Foreign Relations, his most recent comments on Nigeria which are evidently reflective of the dominant thinking and opinions that he’s distilled into his upcoming book in which he’s tied Nigeria’s political stability and long-term survival to the retention of the zoning arrangement of the PDP (as is currently being canvassed by Northern political elders like Adamu Ciroma, Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar) are both baffling and unsettling especially because his position seems to defy all logic and diplomatic commonsense.
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Ambassador John Campbell’s comments are also baffling because they are clearly tangential to the salient facts of Nigeria’s political history which can be divided into the period of British Colonization, especially dating from the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by Lord Luggard in 1914 and the period of Sovereignty which began in 1960 when the country gained independence from Britain.
Since Ambassador John Campbell waves PDP’s zoning arrangement as the only magic-wand that can guarantee Nigeria’s political stability and long-term survival, he owes Nigerians, Americans, the USA government, the Council on Foreign Relations, his publishers and the world at large a duty to answer the following pertinent questions in order to either validate or correct his positions, views, opinions and comments on Nigeria’s unfolding political scenarios. The first question is-what’s the status of the “power-sharing arrangement between the Muslim North and the Christian South” that he so passionately speaks about? When and how was the “power-sharing arrangement” negotiated and agreed between the so-called Muslim North and the Christian South? Since Nigeria became an independent state in 1960, why did it take 39 long years before it was discovered that Nigeria’s political stability and long-term survival could only be achieved on the basis of the power-sharing arrangement between the Muslim North and the Christian South? How did Nigeria survive for 39 years after its independence without a power-sharing arrangement between the so-called Muslim North and the Christian South? If the zoning arrangement is so pivotal to Nigeria’s political stability and long-term survival as Ambassador John Campbell passionately argues, why does he fail to notice that nobody made any effort to take advantage of the just-concluded constitutional amendment to ensure that it got written into the Nigerian constitution to give it the force of state law?
Isn’t it curious that a ranking diplomat like Ambassador John Campbell will choose to elevate the casual arrangement of the PDP which is one of Nigeria’s many political parties to the level of national policy without expressing any concern or regret that the zoning arrangement has never been subjected to any form of national legitimization say through a national referendum? Why is Ambassador John Campbell silent on the known fact Northern politicians like Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar who are now swearing that power MUST return to the North in 2011 collected the presidential nomination form in 2003 when Obasanjo had only done one term and so it was still supposed to be the turn of the South? If the zoning arrangement was as sacrosanct as Ambassador John Campbell is making it seem, why did the PDP sell presidential nomination forms to Northern presidential candidates in 2003 when it was still supposed to be the turn of the South? Why should Ambassador John Campbell be so passionate about the zoning arrangement between the North and the South of Nigeria without bothering to establish who decided that such a pivotal arrangement should conveniently overlook the fact that between 1960 and 1999, a combination of Northern generals and politicians had ruled the country for a total of 35 out of its 39 years of independence?
Why is Ambassador John Campbell not bothered about the irony of the fact that Northerners who have held power for 39 of Nigeria’s 50 years of independence are the ones who are insisting that presidential power must return to the North in 2011? Given the convergence of opinion between Ambassador John Campbell and northern regional champions such as Adamu Ciroma, Ibrahim Babangida and Atiku Abubakar, should it be taken that the Ambassador is a passionate subscriber to the ‘North or nothing’ political philosophy and therefore, that they are all playing the same script?
What other than subscription to the ‘North or nothing’ political philosophy would have convinced a diplomat of John Campbell’s stature to conclude that Nigeria which didn’t collapse in 1993 when a northern head of state in the person of Babangida annulled Nigeria’s all-time best presidential election which was won by a Southerner in the person of late MKO Abiola whom another northern head of state in the person of late General Sani Abacha arrested and detained until he died under controversial circumstances (for campaigning for the de-annulment of the election he legitimately won!) is sure to disintegrate if a southerner in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan wins the 2011 presidential election? If Ambassador John Campbell is for any reason afraid of telling a Nigerian story that involves asking tough and objective questions about the logic, equity and justice of one section of the country dominating and insisting on continuing to dominate the rest of the country, why must he tell a Nigerian story?
