Professor ABC Nwosu, a Federal Republic of Nigeria minister during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, reportedly bemoaned the South West’s seeming rejection of calls for restructuring in favor of commemorating the presidency, according to the Sun story.
He reminded them of the South West’s 1994 National Constitutional Conference rejection. General Sani Abacha’s military administration organized the conference. He explained how the Conference came up with a paper suggesting three vice presidents and a rotating presidency, arguing that this arrangement would have avoided the use of the Doctrine of Necessity in 2009.
He said, “What woke me up around 2:30 am is that South West appears to be gloating over the presidency and they appear to have given up on restructuring. I’m on my knees begging them. This country was nearly burnt when an election was annulled. General Sani Abacha set up a Conference because he didn’t want to leave.
About nine people were elected from each state. It was not an appointive Conference. The South West then boycotted it but a few leaders from there participated. I was there. I was running a secretariat for the South East.
Ojukwu, Ekwueme, and others were there. The outcome of the Conference was published by the Federal Government. It stated clearly that there shall be a Presidency that will rotate between the North and South. And that there shall be three Vice Presidents. The zone of the President would have had the first Vice President in case the President died. If we had that, the issue of the Doctrine of Necessity wouldn’t have been there.”
