Equity and fairness (in practice) are two important concepts, which over the years have been an effective approach to the achievement of a symbiotic livelihood. Globally, modern societies have considered "evenly distribution of power and resources to be the panacea for sustainable development and maintenance of peaceful co-existence". This normative approach however, curtails social inequalities, economic and political crises, and of course, regional imbalances. We must escape from the theoretical trap of the subject that is typical of the nature state - selfishness and "war of all against all". This nature of greed and selfishness is the baseline against which to judge the justifiability of the conventional political formula of "CODE 888".
Understandably, the desire to preserve one's political world grows stronger by every political season, this personal desire often times do not reflect the interest of the larger society, thus, raising an avoidable dust. It therefore behoves on every political gladiator to retreat and have a sober reflection ahead of 2023 - putting Cross River first.
Going further, if the blame for the alarming insecurity and political instability that has challenged our freedom of existence could be attributed to marginalisation, injustifiable form of distribution of wealth and income across geo-political strata in the country, then, it will not be undesired to explore the principle of fairness as the antidote for our obvious fiasco. The most scandalous result of this is the destruction of lives and properties - this, also, we can avoid.
Zoning system is widely argued to be an ideology for power-sharing arrangements and a mechanism for ethno-regional balancing, conflict mitigation and consensus formation in plural society like ours. Cross River, just like every other State in the Nigerian federation is characterised by potentials of human population and material resources in the best of quality, across the three senatorial districts, to play major roles in Nigerian and global politics.
Ahead of 2023, it is no longer news, that there are rapacious agitations by disgruntled groups and individuals to disregard the conventional system of governorship rotation in the State. Let them be reminded that peace and unity is a key challenge in many societies. It is a key challenge in Nigeria with major divisions along class, linguistic, religious and ethnic lines. In the case of Nigeria, a sense of belonging or inclusion is vital to the country's survival. This is why the Constitution prescribes the Federal Character principle in Section 14. Federal Character is about inclusion of the six geopolitical zones in the allocation of political and public sector appointments including the office of the President. Cross Riverians should take a bearing from the inclusion policy laid out in our Constitution. This connotes a sort of rotation. Any argument against this, is a misconceived one. Presidential election is rotated between the South and the North. Why then should a few power-drunk exhibit tendencies that may challenge mutual peace, having enjoyed same for a period 10 years? The elites in this school of greed argue from the point of credibility and capacity. That, to me, is laughable and quite an invalid notion, as there is no senatorial district bereft of credible candidates that can effectively and efficiently lead the state through the path of development at any political time. The Southern Senatorial District had the governorship seat between 1999 to 2007, succeeded by a Central Senatorial District Liyel Imoke who governed between 2007-2015 and handed over to the North. It is commonsensical to understand that power should return to Cross River South - a people that have patiently waited and supported past administrations for almost two decades now.
Let us all throw our weight to the most credible in the Southern Senatorial District for a greater Cross River.
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