When in December 2002, the leader of the
defunct Biafra Republic, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu,
declared that the South-East would produce the President of Nigeria in
2003, the Igbo nation rejoiced based on the hope that Nigerians would
put the civil war behind them and vote for an Igbo president.
“It is time for an Igbo presidency, we
have been cheated long enough, whoever says the Igbo nation will not
rule the country in the forthcoming general election is making a great
mistake,” Ojukwu had said.
To this end, a former Vice-President of
Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, joined the presidential race on the platform
of the Peoples Democratic Party but was roundly defeated by the then
incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was gunning for a second term
in office.
Months later, Ojukwu founded the All
Progressive Grand Alliance and joined the presidential race but only got
1.48 per cent of the total votes cast. In 2007, Ojukwu contested again
but got only 0.44 per cent of votes. In both elections, Ojukwu’s votes
only came from the South-East. In fact, in Bayelsa State, he got only
three votes.
Interestingly, in both elections, Ojukwu did not defeat the ruling PDP in the South-East, his area of strength.
But in 2014, the Igbo endorsed former
President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP during the last general election
and supported him through and through. Jonathan, who is from the Ijaw
ethnic group in Bayelsa State, got more than 75 per cent of the total
votes cast in the South-East.
With Jonathan’s ultimate defeat in the
more populated North and the South-West, Muhammadu Buhari of the All
Progressives Congress emerged the winner of the presidential race and
the Igbo lost out in the national scheme of things since the PDP became
the minority in the National Assembly as well.
For this reason, the top four positions
in the country have gone to other geopolitical zones. The Igbo have also
received the least number of federal appointments under Buhari.
The South-East is the smallest
geopolitical zone in the country in terms of land mass and number of
states. Geographically, the entire South-East, which is made up of five
states, is half the size of Borno State.
Because the national strength of a
geopolitical zone is determined by the number of states, the Igbo have
the lowest number of seats in the Senate, the House of Representatives
and the Federal Executive Council while the North-West, with seven
states, has the biggest political advantage in the country.
Sadly for the Igbo, their fortunes might
not change anytime soon since the presidency might continue to elude
them till 2023. The reason is not far-fetched. The two major parties in
Nigeria, the APC and the PDP, are most likely to present northerners as
their presidential candidates in 2019
Already, the PDP has zoned its
presidency to the North. At its National Executive Committee meeting in
Abuja, the PDP endorsed a report submitted by the Deputy Senate
President, Ike Ekweremadu, who was also the head of the post-election
review committee.
According to the report, the North
should produce the next presidential candidate of the PDP as this was
the only way the APC could be defeated. Ironically, Ekweremadu, who
headed the committee, is also from the South-East.
Reacting to this development, the Deputy
National Organising Secretary of APGA, Campbell Umeh-Nzekwe, said 2019
presents the best opportunity for the South-East to produce the
President.
Umeh-Nzekwe, who is also the leader of
APGA in Lagos State, said since both the PDP and the APC had zoned the
Presidency to the North, the votes in the North would be divided.
He, therefore, said this was the time for APGA to consolidate its hold on the South-East.
Umeh-Nzekwe said it was unfortunate that
the Igbo only gave bloc votes to politicians from other geopolitical
zones but continued to shun their own people. He, however, argued that
the Igbo elements in the PDP would awake from their slumber and join
hands with APGA in 2019 to ensure that their kinsman is made President.
He said, “The PDP has zoned its
presidency to the North while the national chairman slot has been zoned
to the South-West. APGA has thus zoned the presidency to the South-East.
Hence, the PDP will be buried in the South-East in 2019.
“Those Igbo who used the PDP to
destabilise the Igbo race will naturally rejoin their brothers and
sisters in APGA to work towards claiming the presidency.
“Since we helped a Yoruba man, Olusegun
Obasanjo, to become President; a Fulani man, Umaru Yar’Adua, to become
President; and an Ijaw man, Goodluck Jonathan, to also become President,
no self-respecting Igbo man will deny his fellow Igbo the opportunity
of becoming President in 2019.”
The Lagos State Publicity Secretary of
the APC, Joe Igbokwe, who is also from the South-East, however, said
that for the Igbo to rule Nigeria, they must master the art of
opposition politics for the next 10 years.
He said one of the reasons that the Igbo
never won presidential elections was because they were always making
deals and forming alliances with the government in power. He said the
Igbo never built solid political structures but continued to rely on the
power base of other geopolitical zones.
He noted that this was the case in the
First Republic, Second Republic, Third Republic and the first 16 years
of the Fourth Republic. He said this development made it difficult for
the Igbo to carve a niche for themselves and become a force to be
reckoned with.
Igbokwe said, “I want the Igbo nation,
where I come from, to play opposition politics in Nigeria at least for
the next 10 years so that the world will take them serious once again in
matters of Nigerian politics. In the First Republic, the Igbo-dominated
the NCNC (National Conference of Nigerian Citizens) formed an alliance
with the northern-based (Northern Peoples Congress) to form a government
at the centre.
“In the Second Republic, the
Igbo-dominated NPP (Nigerian Peoples Party) again teamed up with the NPN
(National Party of Nigeria) to form the national government in the
centre.
“In the Third Republic, during the
Northern Republican Convention/Social Democratic Party era, MKO Abiola
won the election fair and square on the platform of the SDP but the
majority of the Igbo, led by the late Odumegwu Ojukwu, the late Evan
Enwerem, and Okwesilieze Nwodo, teamed up with some other prominent Igbo
leaders and even some prominent Yoruba leaders to support Ibrahim
Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, and Sani Abacha in sustaining the annulment
of the June 12, 1993 election. Again, for 16 years, the PDP was in power
in Nigeria, and the Igbo were with the PDP.”
The APC spokesperson said the Igbo did
not have sacrificial leaders like MKO Abiola who died protecting his
mandate and refused to be bought.
Igbokwe further noted that the absence
of a unifying leader in the South-East is also affecting the politics of
the zone. He said for instance, the Yoruba interest was being propelled
by the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
He said there is the need for the Igbo to shun money politics.
A member of the PDP Board of Trustees,
who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the Igbo
must have ‘unity of purpose’. He said the Igbo were not known for making
sacrifices.
He said, “In 2008, we zoned the office
of the PDP national chairman to the South-East. However, when we asked
the South-East caucus to present a candidate, 20 people signified
interest. Some of those who signified interest were Rochas Okorocha,
Senator Pius Anyim and a former Governor of Ebonyi State, Sam Egwu.
“They all refused to step down for one
another until we intervened and held a series of meetings. It was after
such an intervention that Prince Vincent Ogbulafor emerged the chairman.
The moment we zone the presidency to the South-East, be sure that
several candidates will emerge. The Igbo need to be more united if they
will ever get the presidency.”
A former Governor of the old Kaduna
State, Balarabe Musa, told our correspondent on the telephone that it
would be unfair not to allow the Igbo to produce the next President.
Musa said although he would prefer the next President emerging on the
basis of competence rather than tribe, Nigeria’s diversity must be
respected.
He said, “The development is unhealthy.
If we accept this idea of rotation, then we must apply it faithfully.
And I think the South-East qualifies to benefit from this rotation. It
would save Nigeria from a political crisis.
“Normally, it should be based on merit
but there is the need to give every Nigerian a sense of belonging. The
rotation is, therefore, justified and I think it is time that someone
emerged from the South-East.
“The South-East must bring one person
forward who is credible and can compete with any other candidate from
any other part of Nigeria. If the North presents a candidate that is
more competent than the South-East, then the South-East could easily
lose.”
It’s been 13 years since Ojukwu
prophesied that the South-East would rule Nigeria. When the prophecy
will come to pass still remains unknown.
