Igbo’s endless struggle for presidency

Late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu

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.