The People Democratic Party of Nigeria (PDP) became the ruling party in power in Nigeria in 1999 at the onset of the 4th democratic dispensation. The elections that brought the PDP to power in Nigeria were acclaimed by both the local and the international independent election observers to be flawed with rigging, violents, intimidation of voters and manipulation of votes. That elections by any standard of assessment did not reflect the collective will of the Nigerian voters, thereby it ushered in the era of "Pseudo-Democracy" in Nigerian party politics and governance.
The founding members of the PDP did not respect the supremacy and the position of the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 that has no legal provision for a rotational presidency in it. The PDP adopted the zoning policy in their political party to be used in the sharing of all elective positions between the northern and the southern Nigerian geographic zones. This was a gentleman agreement on power sharing between the north and the south.
The former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo was a beneficiary of that political arrangement. The late Nigerian President Musa Yar'Adua continued this pattern of rotational presidency in the PDP. The natural force of death terminated his presidency. His then Vice-President Jonathan Goodluck from the southern Nigeria had to take over the presidency based on the Nigeria Constitution. President Jonathan Goodluck told Nigerians few weeks into his presidency of his interest to run for a second term in office.
He won his party's nomination as their presidential candidate for the presidential elections slated for April 2011. What happened at the PDP presidential primary election is a clear-cut indication of what to expect in the main elections slated for April 2011. Money, power of incumbency, bribery, vote buying, intimidation of voters and political opponents as well as the political survival of sycophant politicians and elected officials played a major role in that election's final outcome.
The election of Jonathan Goodluck has a lot of political implications in Nigeria now and in the nearest future. Firstly, his election as the PDP presidential candidate for the April elections signified a final end to the rotational and zoning polices of the PDP in Nigeria. Secondly, a major block that is disenfranchised in the PDP that believes in this zoning policy may move out of this party to other political parties. Thirdly, this singular development may signify the end of the political dominance of the PDP in Nigeria.
Fourthly, the weak opposition parties in Nigeria may now capitalize on this major political development to gain inroads into political prominence in Nigeria. Fifthly, voting pattern in the presidential elections this April may be conducted along the religion and geographical lines. North versus south, and Muslims versus Christians.
Sixthly, this development could lead to a turbulent political era that Nigerians have never seen or witnessed in the last 50 years of her nationhood. These possible massive political explosions may eventually result in a uniform national demand by all Nigerian ethnic nationalities to converge the long overdue Sovereign National Conference that will determine the future of the Nigerian federating units.
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