Does it make any sense that Ohanaeze and majority of Ndigbo that have refused to accept the legitimacy of the presidential poll are lobbying the declared winner to influence the zoning of the senate presidency to the South-East?
By Tiko Okoye
The second part of my five-part series examining the 2003 and 2007 elections as part of a framework for ascertaining the veracity of the claim in some quarters that the 2023 elections are the worst ever conducted in Nigeria was to be carried today. However, the raging national debate on how to most equitably share the top-five elective and appointive posts seems to be the most topical and relevant issue right now. The moment of truth has indeed dawned on us.
Perceived through the prism of equity and fair play, the strident voices demanding that the position of Senate President be zoned by the victorious All Progressives Congress (APC) to the South-East amount to no more than the shedding of crocodile tears. It would be morally reprehensible to rob Peter to pay Paul because while such a manoeuvre might make Paul happily reap where he didn’t sow, it would deny a sullen and frustrated Peter the opportunity to savour the fruit of the labour he expectantly expended. Justice and equity is a two-way traffic, not a one-way highway.
As soon as INEC officially announced the results of the February 25 presidential election, I surmised right away that we Ndigbo have shot ourselves in the foot again. It certainly beggars belief that an ethnic nationality that rose like the phoenix from the rubble of the civil war to shortly straddle the commercial and business landscape of Nigeria like a colossus cannot replicate the same perspicacity and mastery in national politics.
Truth be said, Ndigbo have played very obnoxious politics and made very bad choices. Among the three major ethnic nationalities that constitute the tripod on which the nation stands, the South-East is the only zone that has been putting all its eggs in one basket in presidential elections, and has continued to play a highly vexatious politics of vitriolic abuse of person, tribe and religion from 2015 to date.
Does it make any sense that Ohanaeze – the pan-Igbo cultural organisation currently led by Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu – and majority of Ndigbo that have refused to accept the legitimacy of the presidential poll, are lobbying the declared winner to influence the zoning of the senate presidency to the South-East? Does it pass the smell test when the organisations and individuals aggressively advocating – contrary to the extant law and convention – that the presidential inauguration be put off until after all legal challenges to Tinubu’s victory have been adjudicated by the various tribunals and courts are demanding that the APC’s national working committee to cede the position to Ndigbo?
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Let me point out at this juncture that not all those of South-East extraction who don’t want to have anything to do with Tinubu give a hoot about whatever APC decides to do with the senate presidency. As far as these ones are concerned, all efforts must be geared towards making Obi succeed with his lawsuit since the Presidency is a far bigger prize than the Senate President.
My only concern is that virtually all of them gave me an unequivocal ‘Not on your life!’ response when I tried in 2019 to organise an advocacy group to press for a President of Igbo extraction in 2023. They claimed that that their only interest was restructuring the polity. But they turned out to be the leading lights of the Obidient movement three years later!
In the same vein, I fully expect those of them claiming not to have any interest in zoning the Senate Presidency to the South-East to subsequently bristle with rage and declare themselves victims of marginalisation and neglect. One particular organisation with strong links to the zone recently declared in a ‘world press conference’ that depriving Ndigbo of the Senate Presidency is “the manifestation of apartheid.”
But Tinubu and the APC hierarchy must act positively towards Ndigbo, regardless of our current sentiments. Two wrongs don’t make a right. It would be very strategic for the APC to go about zoning the Senate Presidency in a manner that concretises national unity, without irresponsibly and insensitively creating the false impression that there are second class – or even third or fourth class – citizens in Nigeria doomed to be fetchers of wood and drawers of water in the manner of the lowest caste in India’s Hindu socio-cultural hierarchy.
The South-East is a key stakeholder in the Nigerian project and even if its contribution towards Tinubu’s victory might appear underwhelming, the zone can still not be overlooked given that the question of unity and national cohesion cannot be overemphasized because Nigeria plays a very vital role in the stability of the West African sub-region in particular and the African continent in general.
Fortunately enough, Tinubu has a proven record in this area. He was the first executive governor in the Fourth Republic to appoint an Igbo indigene to man a key portfolio in his cabinet – and pushed him all the way to a presidential appointment.
From all accounts, it would seem like the battle has already been won and lost. Leveraging on a well-orchestrated PR and advocacy campaign, former Akwa Ibom State Governor and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, would seem to have clinched the position. But I prefer to be guided by the well-known quote of Yogi Bear, the legendary manager of the equally iconic New York Yankees Baseball Club: “It/(Nothing) is over until it is over!”
About a month ago, I wrote a piece on this subject that recommended that the Senate Presidency be ceded to Barau, with Akpabio as his deputy, if the overriding intention is to reward zones for the contributions they made towards Tinubu’s victory. But I also warned that Tinubu mustn’t allow the success of his same-faith ticket make him giddy with happiness to the extent of taking Christians in Nigeria for granted.
I consequently recommended that national interests would be best served if Akpabio became the Senate President, with Barau as his deputy. Akpabio triggered a domino effect by being the first aspirant to step down for Tinubu during the primary; and it is said that one good turn deserves another.
I’ve since taken a more detailed look at the issue on all ramifications. My verdict? Our incoming President and the APC should cede the Senate Presidency to the South-East – with Ebonyi State having the right of first choice and Imo State following closely behind. From his studies, Albert Einstein bequeathed to the world his profound theory of the universe based on the principle that all movement is relative and only able to be judged when compared with something else.
The best way to simplify Einstein theory of relativity is to consider the incidence that occurred at the Temple as Jesus sat down near the collection box and watched as the crowds dropped in their offerings. Mark 12:41b, 42 says: “Many rich people dropped large amounts. Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.”
Verse 43 says: “Jesus called His disciples to him and said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. For they (only) gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.’”
Tinubu and the APC must appreciate the fact that it is relatively easier to make a big contribution in abstract numbers in Northern zones dominated by Muslims who are well-disposed to their same-faith ticket, but to eke out a single vote in Southern zones dominated by Christians viscerally opposed to a Muslim-Muslim ticket is akin to squeezing water out of granitic rock. Yet, Umahi delivered all three Senate seats and the governorship to the party.
In Imo State, Hope Uzodinma also delivered two out of the three Senate seats. These are feats that need to be properly acknowledged and rewarded. The excuse that freshmen senators cannot aspire to the presidency doesn’t hold water because as the case of Bukola Saraki clearly demonstrated in 2015, the Red Chamber can come up with any rule changes it desires to be appropriate for the moment.
But if that remains an insurmountable hurdle, then Sen. Osita Izunaso, a one-time National Organising Secretary, should step in to fill the void. It’s only befitting that the No.3 man in the protocols of succession to the presidency be allotted to a critical tripod without which the nation would continue to wobble, fumble and ultimately collapse in the hearth.