By Emeka Alex Duru
Whoever that facilitated the Thursday, October 17, 2019 meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and the South East leadership, must have looked beyond the current uncertain politics in the country. No matter the outcome, the meeting is symbolic in many respects. It comes when the President is not angling for any election, at least, for now. There is therefore, no campaign at hand. In that case, the discussion is expected to be frank.
More than that, the meeting, well handled, may be a beginning of a new phase of relationship between the President and Nigerians of the Igbo extraction. As it is, the average Igbo holds the impression of the President bearing some grudge against him. How this feeling crept into the consciousness of the people, has not been adequately located. Attempts to attribute the frosty relationship between him and the group to the 1966 – 1970 Civil War where he played active parts, have not been quite convincing. This is because, his comrades-in-arms during the confusion, such as Generals Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar and others, have found ways of flowing with the people. In 1999 when he ran for the Presidency, Obasanjo garnered more votes from the South East than any other geo-political zone in the country. The question therefore, is why the case of President Buhari is different. Not even the late Sani Abacha in his ravenous years, had been that loathed by the people.
Incidentally, Buhari had on two occasions, demonstrated the willingness to work with the people. In 2003 when he made his first foray into politics, he ran for the presidency with the former Senate President, Chuba Okadigbo, as his running mate. He did so with erstwhile Speaker of House of Representatives, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke in 2007. With these overtures, the expectation would be that he would see the East as his natural base. This is especially as the Igbo are by nature, easy going and accommodating to people from other ethnic zones. But for reasons the President does not bother to know, he has not had robust relationship with the people. Thus, for him, not making remarkable marks in votes from the region in 2003 and 2007, simply meant rejection by the people, for which they must pay dearly. But that was where he got it wrong. The Igbo, by orientation, is republican and egalitarian. While queueing in an election, he has his mind on who to vote, based on calculations of the value his vote would earn him, of course, not necessarily in the context of Naira and Kobo. On the three previous occasions that Buhari ran for election, he did not pass this test. He was then seen as lacking the national appeal for the job. The iconic Igbo leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, was seen as having similar challenge, hence despite his sacrifice to the Igbo, the best that he got in return, was his political party making waves in the region at state elections. But in his pragmatic nature, Ikemba understood the calculation and continued living for the people till his last day. Not so for Buhari who saw the turn of events as an affront.
Consequently, when he eventually came to power in 2015, he drew an imaginary line against the Igbo. In his policies and pronouncements, he sold the impression of being at war with the people. Aside the tokenistic appointments to indigenes of the zone, there had been this inexplicable ejaculation of force at any whimper of protest by the people against the policies of the government. This is why the level of bestiality visited on the members of the proscribed Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB), for merely seeking an independent state of Biafra, remains the highest against any group, in peace time, in any country across the World. Curiously, while the Presidents wields the big stick against the unarmed members of IPOB, his administration has held sessions with leaders of the murderous Boko Haram Islamic Sect and unruly Fulani Herders, that have dealt deadly blows to the corporate existence of the country in various forms. As of date, Igbo land has the largest number of Police and Military checkpoints, with varying incidences of extortion, intimidation and harassment on the people. In the last four years to five years, the zone has been assaulted with the presence of military squad code-named Operation Python Dance (Egwu-Eke) that seems to derive pleasure in trampling on the rights of the people. Igbo land also ranks the least in terms of federal presence, with the state of existing infrastructure, very rankling. There are other incidences of programmed neglect and perceived vindictiveness against the area by the Buhari administration. Against this backdrop, the people have been at opposite ends with the President.
His meeting with the governors, members of the National Assembly and other leaders from the region, therefore comes handy. It is expected that the forum will avail the two parties the opportunity to rub minds and find ways of smoothening the rough edges in their relationship. For the Igbo leaders, the session provides space to table all the incidences of neglect by the government against the region, before the president. For the President, the meeting goes beyond mere round table discussion and photo opportunities for political purposes. It should signpost a new beginning in his relationship with the Igbo. By this, he would have initiated a process in making the people see themselves, also, as Nigerians under his watch.