By Peter N. Peters
On the vexed issue of the turn of Southern Nigeria to produce the next president, each day that passes, as we draw closer to the 2023 general elections, the picture gets clearer of which zone among the three geo-political zones of South East, South South and South West of Nigeria is most prepared to take a shot at the presidency, if the whistle for election blows even now.
The South South, by virtue of being home to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the immediate past president of Nigeria, comes across as the least on the list of contenders for the coveted throne. Even then, there is a convergence of opinion that they won’t be found wanting if by a stroke of luck, they find reasons to throw their hat in the ring. They already have an arrow head in Goodluck Jonathan, whom they are prepared to support. Barr. Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, the Rivers State Governor, and the numero uno of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) alluded to this fact in a remark last year while admonishing Dr. Jonathan not to fall for the All Progressives Congress (APC’s) poisoned chalice offer of their platform to run again for the office of President. He said unequivocally that he was willing to support Dr. Jonathan if he wants to take another shot at the Presidency under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Remove Dr. Jonathan from the equation, there is Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi , the current Transportation Minister in the APC government of President Muhammadu Buhari and of course Barr. Nyesom Nwike himself all on the queue.
The South West, having taking their turn with the 8 years of Obasanjo presidency, should ordinarily not be in a hurry to have another go at it, at least not when the South East has yet to take their turn. But fortunately or unfortunately, they are gradually working their way to the top of the ladder and appearing to be the most prepared for that office, if the whistle for the race blows now. No thanks to the seeming unpreparedness of the South East politicians. Through synergy, purposeful and strategic positioning, they seem much more prepared than anyone else for the presidential race with a deliberate line up of their arrow heads: Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Leader of APC, Prof. Yemi Osibanjo, SAN, the Vice President and Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State Governor, and the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum. The rest of their political leaders appear all too willing to queue behind these ones with little or no fight and irrespective of party affiliations.
What about the South East? If justice, equity and fair play are valuable ingredients in Nigeria’s brand of politics, then it should be a done deal that the next president of Nigeria, come 2023, should be of Igbo extraction. But politics is not mathematics! Two plus two is not always four. This is the reason the two major political parties (APC and PDP) are still having a hard time deciding which part of the country to zone the presidential slot.
So then how prepared are the Igbos themselves for this task? Right now there is no one single person we can point to as the arrow head of the Igbo’s clamour for the presidency of Nigeria. And that’s the crux of the matter. In Igboland everybody is lord and master, in tacit endorsement of the old fable, “Igbo ewegh eze” (Igbo has no king). No one is ready to concede any ground to anybody. While the South South appears set to queue behind their arrow head, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan if given a chance, the South West are all yielding grounds to their arrow head, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu; while the South East politicians are all busy running from pillar to post, undercutting one another, blackmailing one another, and carrying on like a rudderless ship on stormy waters. The political leaders do not see eye to eye with the traditional rulers. The governors appear more like generals without troops as the people gravitate more towards the ‘outlawed’ IPOB and its leadership. It is such a pathetic sight watching the governors of the five South East states of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo complain helplessly of the economic losses their states are suffering through the never ending sit-at-home order of the IPOB leadership which has grounded activities in these states for some time now. They just can’t do anything, because they do not have the ears of the people they claim to govern. What a tragedy!
On the face of the worsening security situation across the nation, the Yoruba nation pulled resources together in support of the efforts of Gani Adams and Sunday Egboho (who reports filtering in say he has been released from detention by the Beninoise government) in tackling the security challenges within their domain. The result is the ‘Amotekun,’ the security outfit of the South West. The South East leaders will do no such thing. Rather than pull forces and resources together in support of IPOB’s Eastern Security Network (ESN), which, in spite of monumental oppositions and stumbling blocks from both the Federal and States governments, have proven to be a formidable counter force against the criminal herders, bandits, kidnappers, etc, invading the South East, they went on a wild goose chase of putting together another clownish paper tiger security outfit which they codenamed ‘Ebube Agu.’ Please where is Ebube Agu in the face of the continuous murderous and kidnapping activities of the notorious ‘Unknown gun men” who are busy wreaking havoc in the South East while the Federal Police seem to continuously look the other way? Where was ‘Ebube-Agu’ when some time ago the husband of Prof. Dora Akunyili, Dr. Chike Akunyili and a good number of other very prominent Igbos were murdered in cold blood or being kidnapped with utmost ease?
Time has come for the Igbo nation to go back to the drawing board, take proper stock and rework her strategies. It’s only a mad man that will continue to do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. Recall in 1999 to 2007, during Chief Obasanjo’s Presidency, when the Igbos got the slot to occupy the seat of the Senate President. Five different Senators representing the five South Eastern States of Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo took turns in occupying that seat of Senate President. It was record breaking and it spoke volume of a people who cannot work together.
At this stage, the Oha-na-Eze Ndi Igbo (which unfortunately is another divided house), the political and traditional leaders and various leaders of thought across Igboland should be working together and building bridges of political understanding and agreements with the other sister geo-political zones of South South and South West, then across the Niger, towards the North Central states, as a strategy to build a groundswell of support for the Nigerian President of Igbo extraction come 2023. Anything short of this, we shall be here watching helplessly while the presidency slips off the fingers of the Igbo nation once again in 2023, while the cry of maginalisation and struggle for self-determination continues unabated. God bless the Igboland!
Peters is an Abuja based media practitioner and Ethics and Values crusader
