Above everything else, Ndigbo must be fully conscious of the reality that if we allow ourselves to be conned into entering a contest that we are relatively unprepared for, the next opportunity won’t come in 2031 but in 2063!
By Tiko Okoye
Just think of this: the same daunting odds stacked against us since the end of the 1967-70 civil war haven’t stopped Ndigbo achieving dominance in the fields of asset acquisition and commerce. How come then we are still registering as a blimp on the national political radar? This is a really hard scenario to accept when it is realised that there are nearly 12 million Ndigbo in the North and about 8 million in Lagos alone!
The answer is very simple: success in business and commerce is individual-based – and the famed Igbo traits of self-assertiveness and self-assurance are undoubtedly synergistic. On the other hand, politics isn’t just only about numbers but about teamwork, trade-offs and consensus-building – where our republicanism and largely “each man for himself” world view have been constricting and restraining.
Shortly after the 2019 Presidential election that ‘our’ PDP ticket – comprising former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi – lost, I tried to rally round media influencers of Igbo extraction to advocate for both APC and PDP to cede the 2023 presidency to the South-East. My efforts were predicated on an Igbo proverb that counsels that it is wise to start looking for a black goat while there’s still daylight. I was shocked to my bone marrow when almost to a man they all retorted that “Ndigbo are ONLY interested in Restructuring, NOT the 2023 Presidency”!
My further arguments that “Igbo for 2023 Presidency” and “Restructuring” are not antagonistic and mutually-exclusive propositions didn’t cut any ice. I even wrote two memos outlining strategic directions to then-Ohanaeze President John Nnia Nwodo, Jr., that weren’t even acknowledged though I have evidence showing that they were received. I ceased writing about the need for Ndigbo to have a go at the presidency in 2023 about mid-2021.
But not before I warned all and sundry that seeing that Ndigbo are not ready to take the prize, the South-West would opportunistically step into fray as even mother Nature abhors a vacuum. Their response? “Let the South-West go right ahead. Tiko, what part of ‘we are only interested in restructuring’ don’t you understand?” As much as I would’ve loved to avoid it, I can’t help saying to them: “I told you so!”
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My take then was that the Republican trait and self-opinionated streak of the average Igbo individual were at play. Ndigbo were still reeling from the shock of backing defeated PDP presidential candidates against Buhari and the APC in two successive election cycles. Feeling very upset, we clearly resented any attempts to be reprimanded for making wrong political choices and were quick to tell anyone within hearing distance that it is our inviolable right to vote as we wish, and we would rather remain with a losing PDP than a winning APC. It was exactly this lack of thinking out of the box that made us believe that the only game in town was between the PDP and the APC.
Unfortunately, while other zones began to initiate moves to contest for the nation’s political crown jewel, the South-East pined away in slumber mode. Added to the problem of general apathy, was the clarion call for secession by restive youths who constitute a clear majority of the South-East population. Of course, the elites with significant investments in Nigeria didn’t – and still don’t – want Biafra but couldn’t publicly say so or even express an interest in contesting a ‘Nigerian/zoo’ election for fear of reprisals.
That explains why I’m both surprised and elated by the resurgence of keen interest in the 2023 presidency spearheaded by some eminent Igbo politicians and technocrats. But I’m very worried that we are still doing things the wrong way.
First, until only days ago when they met in Abuja to take a common stand on the post being zoned to the South-East, the leading Igbo aspirants seemed inexplicably bent on committing political suicide by positing that they are not averse to the post being thrown open to all the zones. For crying out loud, who exactly were they hoping to see cry louder than the bereaved or volunteer to take pain reliever for our headache?
Second is the penchant for the Igbo political elite to demand that the South-West steps down for the South-East. On what basis? What is the connection between an agbero and overloading? The South-East has always been a PDP stronghold, whereas the South-West is an APC stronghold and their group strategic interests are very different. We must start putting first things first!
Why don’t we first take care of the leaf-eating insect that lives right inside the leaf? Or are we still deluding ourselves – as a vast majority are doing – that if the PDP zones the presidency to the ‘South,’ the likes of Nyesom Wike from the South-South won’t beat us to it? As a matter of fact, he has already declared his interest and is generating more traction than all our leading aspirants put together!
Atiku’s recent pledge to withdraw from the race and join those advocating that the party’s 2023 presidential ticket be ceded to the South-East, if and only if both Wike (South-South) and former Ekiti State Governor Peter Fayose (South-West) equally publicly drop their ambitions. Ndigbo, the time has come to know who our real enemies are!
Rather than voyeuristically peep across the River Niger into APC’s bedroom, we must focus all our energies for the moment on mounting unbearable pressure on the PDP to publicly zone the 2023 presidency to the South-East. I for one would’ve loved to witness crowds of Igbo youths and women bused to the Wadata Plaza headquarters of the PDP to showcase a riveting and stunning spectacle of people protesting the party’s cavalier attitude to the maltreatment of its loyal South-East bloc.
It goes without saying that the PDP is only luxuriating in its hegemonic control because the national leadership has taken the South-East as a recurring decimal (not a dot). It has become very predictable that Ndigbo would vote for a goat propped up by the PDP rather than a credible human being nominated by the APC. That being the case, PDP chieftains of Northern extraction take noises we make about “Fulani herdsmen” and the like in their stride, fully assured that Ndigbo would still vote for whoever the PDP presidential candidate is, even if he’s a ‘repentant’ Fulani herdsman!
Yes, we suffered a very slow take-off. But it’s “better late than never,” as the English adage avers. All hope isn’t yet lost as we can still cross the finishing line ahead of our competitors. But this implies that we must now begin to move at a speed faster than theirs. Above everything else, Ndigbo must be fully conscious of the reality that if we allow ourselves to be conned into entering a contest that we are relatively unprepared for, the next opportunity won’t come in 2031 but in 2063!
Let me make some suggestions. First, we must get ‘our’ PDP (not APC) to cede the position to the South-East. When the PDP presidential ticket is in the bag, the right set of Ndigbo leaders should travel to Lagos to make Bola Tinubu an offer he cannot refuse. Tinubu is very sympathetic to Ndigbo causes. He was the first governor in Nigeria to appoint an Igbo man a commissioner, who went on to serve another eight years under Babatunde Fashola, prior to being promoted to the federal executive cabinet, on the recommendations of the same Tinubu, where he has remained since 2015.
I also recall that then Acting-President Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP flew down to Lagos on the eve of the 2011 Presidential election to broker an agreement with Tinubu. It must’ve been a mouth-watering offer for Tinubu to instruct members of his Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to vote for Jonathan rather than for the party’s ticket comprising Nuhu Ribadu with former Guarantee Trust CEO Fola Adeola as his running mate.
That one of the three major Nigerian ethnic nationalities has never produced an executive President or Prime Minister since independence is a telling comment on the state of Project Nigeria. But the ongoing public discourse is having a snowball effect on a nationwide consensus that the time is long overdue for an Igbo man to occupy the presidential suite. However, making good use of this golden opportunity can only happen after achieving the first two tasks. It’s only after then that we can come back home to democratically pick the best man among our aspirants. Anything else would simply amount to an attempt to live in a fool’s paradise.
What’s more, if we fail to apply strategic direction, the powers-that-be in the PDP would shove the post on us, only to re-enact what they did to Jonathan in 2015 and turnround to sneeringly say: “We gave you the opportunity but you can see for yourselves that Nigerians don’t yet want an Igbo man to be President.”