Igbo president, to be or not to be, is dominating the political debate as political parties prepare to field flag bearers
By Ishaya Obrahim, News Editor
A debate has been raging on Twitter. The topic is the 2023 presidential election and the region that should have the slot.
The premise for the debate is that for the 24 years the Nigerian presidency is being rotated among the major ethnic groups, Ndigbo have been left out, not even for the slot of the country’s Vice President.
Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba man from the monolithic South West, was president for eight years. He was succeeded by Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, a Hausa/Fulani man from the Muslim North, a major political bloc. Death cut short his presidency in third year, and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), an Ijaw man from the South South, held sway for the remaining term and got a term of four years. He lost a re-election to Muhammadu Buhari from the northern Muslim political bloc.
As Nigeria enters another election season, the South East faces opposition for the slot even when every major political bloc has exhausted their share.
A tweet from Ayekooto, tweeting with his handle @thebardogbamola, a Yoruba man, set the tone for the debate when he argued: “In all these 24yrs of democracy we have never even had an Igbo vice President. Yet, people still believe the presidency shouldn’t go to Igbos. How? Let’s decide once and for all if Igbos are Nigerians or they should go.”
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He added: “Think about it, if this ever happened to Yorubas. I will be screaming and causing wahala like Sunday Igboho and I know the Northerners can never take this crap we are dishing out to Igbos. Stop all these lies about Igbos not participating in politics. Stop it, it’s disgusting!”
He was supported by @I_amOD_SIT who said: “I always believe it should be South East turn at the presidency while North Central takes it from South East,. If we truly believe in ONE NIGERIA and FAIRNESS in our democracy.”
But @ebeneczaar countered:”When APC was being formed and strategizing of winning the election in 2014, where were the South East. They cannot come and rip where they didn’t sow. Some people laboured for what we are seeing today.”
He was corrected by @Uzusigy, who reminded him: “Ogbonnaya was the Chairman of ANPP, one of the legacy parties that formed APC. Rochas Okorocha as APGA governor pulled his faction of APGA into APC. Chris Ngige moved into APC with his ACN Anambra wing. You were not informed too?”
But @belloteejay1 disagrees that Nigeria should produce an Igbo president in 2023. He says: “We are scared to give them chance, because their hatred on other Nigerians is so obvious. Don’t you ask yourself this question, how you hardly see other tribes in igbo land the way you see yoruba, igbo and other tribes in the North and igbo, Hausa in yoruba land?”
He was counterred by @UK_Bernard who said:” Igbos easily socialize, relate and mingle with other tribes without bias, without prejudice and prosper in business regardless of how other tribes treat them. But same cannot be said of other tribes. Igbos are everywhere. Power of Association!”
