{"id":150927,"date":"2025-02-16T08:54:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-16T07:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership"},"modified":"2025-02-20T16:13:37","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T15:13:37","slug":"acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership","title":{"rendered":"ACF Chieftain advocates competence over regionalism in Nigeria\u2019s leadership"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>Dr. Usman Bugaje, a prominent chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and former secretary of the defunct Action Congress, has called for a collegiate system of leadership in Nigeria to resolve the ongoing North-South presidential rotation debate.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview on Arise News television on Friday, Dr. Bugaje argued that the country should focus on selecting the best leaders, regardless of their region, rather than restricting the presidential race to a particular geographical area.<\/p>\n<p>He stated, \u201cI would prefer a collegiate leadership where we identify the best and brightest individuals, who are abundant in this country, to lead and help restore our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He advocated a governance system that prioritizes competence and denounced the long-standing regional divisions and corrupt leadership that have hindered Nigeria\u2019s progress. Bugaje emphasized the importance of a new approach that blends popular participation with real developmental outcomes.<\/p>\n<p>The activist criticized the ongoing North-South divide in Nigerian politics, describing it as outdated and harmful to national development. He questioned the logic of electing leaders based solely on their region, using past experiences as evidence of the negative effects of such an approach.<\/p>\n<p>Bugaje remarked, \u201cBuhari\u2019s presidency is clear evidence that electing someone from one region to be president doesn\u2019t work. What do you expect from such a leader? To favor only their region and neglect others? That\u2019s nai\u0308ve, to say the least. What I\u2019m proposing is that inclusion should not come at the cost of progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He argued that the focus should be on competence, character, and expertise, stressing that \u201ccharacter is the most important thing.\u201d He warned that continuing the North-South debate would detract from the urgent need for development, as the country is in dire straits.<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on 25 years of democracy in Nigeria, Bugaje pointed out that much has changed, making the discussion of rotational presidency outdated. \u201cPolitics is about popular participation, and inclusion is essential, but after 25 years, it\u2019s clear that models based on North-South divisions have only led the country further into decline. We need a new conversation on how to combine democracy with tangible development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He stressed that while democracy should be inclusive, focusing on regional representation is not the solution. \u201cWe must recognize every part of the country, involve everyone, and consult widely, but we should not become fixated on turn-by-turn presidency or this North-South formula,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Bugaje called for a shift towards finding the right leadership team to address the challenges facing the nation, warning that Nigeria is on the brink of collapse under the weight of ineffective leadership over the past 25 years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. Dr. Usman Bugaje, a prominent chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and former secretary of the defunct Action Congress, has called for a collegiate system of leadership in Nigeria to resolve the ongoing North-South presidential rotation debate. In an interview on Arise News television on Friday, Dr. Bugaje argued that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":150926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1276,4848,254],"class_list":["post-150927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-acf","tag-leadership","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ACF Chieftain advocates competence over regionalism in Nigeria\u2019s leadership - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dr. Usman Bugaje, a prominent chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and former secretary of the defunct Action ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ACF Chieftain advocates competence over regionalism in Nigeria\u2019s leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr. Usman Bugaje, a prominent chieftain of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and former secretary of the defunct Action ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-16T07:54:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-20T15:13:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1739683555.833423.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"719\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"ACF Chieftain advocates competence over regionalism in Nigeria\u2019s leadership\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-16T07:54:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-20T15:13:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership\"},\"wordCount\":454,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1739683555.833423.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ACF\",\"leadership\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/acf-chieftain-advocates-competence-over-regionalism-in-nigerias-leadership\",\"name\":\"ACF Chieftain advocates competence over regionalism in Nigeria\u2019s leadership - 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