An Igbo Presidency That May Never Be

The Insight

By Lateef Adewole

As I write this piece, I can imagine the alarm on the faces of many readers who are Igbos, about the title of this article. It sounds tribalistic. It took me quite some time to finally decide to go with it. The initial hesitation was the concern of being wrongfully labelled, especially by people who are quick to fly with the headlines of news without reading the content and details therein.

In line with the last two articles I wrote, where I x-rayed two major aspirants under the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Professor Yemi Osinbajo (though, yet declare officially), many expected me to continue with others. Well, that is good but for certain reasons, I may not do so for all. Personally, I believe the presidency should go to the south after eight years of President Buhari, a northerner. Therefore, I see no reason why I should consider any northerner for the position. So, I won’t bother analysing their suitability and chances.

In the south, we have had many aspirants declared. Apart from the two above, only Chief Dele Momodu has come out from the South-west on PDP platform. However, I will like to focus on the South-East. Why would I lump them together, instead of taking on them individually? It is because I want to evaluate the chances of the region as whole first, on which any aspirant from there will ride.

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When it comes to leadership of Nigeria and ability to effectively run it, I believe the Igbos are more than capable. When what Igbos are capable of doing as individuals and groups are considered, this will not be in doubt. After Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo won the governorship election in Anambra state, I wrote an article where I expressed my excitement at such development in which people who are very brilliant and competent will begin to take over leadership positions in the country. I opined that it is persons with such quality in the realm of Soludo’s, who should lead in Nigeria as a whole. How could less than that be leading us when we have them in abundance all over the country and around the world?

As his inauguration moves closer, he has started making pronouncements and setting up governance structures. When he named the transition committee of 80 members, many Nigerians, including me, were shocked by the size. Only to hear later that there was still pressure on him to even expand them further. That gave me concern as I thought of the cost implications. Someone later told me that they are not regular employees who will draw salaries, and their job is ad hoc. Also, that if the volume and depth of works assigned to them are considered, I would appreciate why it was so.

Beyond the number, I don’t think I have seen an assemblage of such high profile prominent individuals get involved in governance before now. Where similar things do happen is Lagos State where brilliant people are usually appointed into strategic positions. This Soludo’s team is enough to established a university (laughs). Most of them are world class personalities and global leaders in their right. That’s the class that Soludo himself belongs. This exemplifies what the Yorubas say that; “iru ahun l’onri ahun he”. “Egbe eye, l’eye n wo to” (birds of a feather, flock together). If Anambra fails this time around, then, the state is irredeemable.

Anambra state has always been lucky with relatively good governors. Professor Soludo has said he will promote local brands, reason he has made “akwete”, his brand attire. He also said he will drive Innoson Vehicles as his official cars. Something is about to happen in Anambra state. And I hope it will spread across the whole south-east region and Nigeria as a whole. “Akwete” dress is actually made in Abia state. So, it’s promotion of Igbos as a whole, not just Anambra state.

I brought this up to show what an Igbo man is capable of doing if given a chance to lead Nigeria. Another person I have fancied for long, based on his antecedents, is Chief Peter Obi, former governor of the same Anambra state. He contested with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2019 but they lost. When the agitation for Igbo presidency became loud, I had expected that he would be the frontrunner based on his pedigree, but that was never to be. Professor Kingsley Moghalu has been consistent in his aspiration since 2019. Sadly, his adopted party structural strength has been his Achilles heel.

Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, and a hosts of others have declared their interests to run for the office, mostly at later time. Even at that, how feasible is the actualisation of their aspirations? What are the factors on ground that favour them? Let’s examine this.

In the spirit of fairness and equity, it seems a reasonable thing to do is for other regions to “gift” the presidency to the Igbos in 2023, given the claim of marginalisation. It is only Igbos who have not been the president or vice president since the coming of the 4th Republic. The highest they have had was leadership of the national assembly. So, one would have thought they should just be solely considered. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

Historically, Igbos have always aligned and benefitted from the central government. Between 1960 and 1966, late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was Nigeria’s first president. After the coup that sacked that civilian administration, the immediate beneficiary was the late General Aguyi Ironsi, an Igbo man. It was him, as advised by the reknowned constitutional lawyer, Professor Ben Nwabueze, who suspended the 1963 constitution that Nigeria was operating then. He dissolved all the four regional governments, collapsed the well organised regional systems and made Nigeria to come under a unitary system, something that has continued to haunt us till date. That singular act remained critical factor that has kept Nigeria aground, which necessitated the ceaseless calls for restructuring now. That’s by the way.

In 1979, the Igbos aligned with the north to form the federal government. Late Dr. Alex Ekwueme was the vice to President Shehu Shagari, up to 1983 before they were sacked by another military coup of General Muhammadu Buhari. Since 1999 up to 2015, the PDP was in power at the federal. Igbos were fully aligned with PDP, irrespective of who the president was. This gave them access to national opportunities.

All these years, the core Yoruba progressive political parties were always in the opposition and operated majorly at the regional level. From Action Group (AG) to UPN to AD to AC to ACN. Even that regional hold was broken by President Obasanjo, who many claimed, “tricked” the Yoruba leaders who belonged to AD then, to lose their hold on the region and his party PDP took over for about eight years 2003 to 2011, with the exception of Tinubu’s Lagos State. So, despite Obasanjo being a Yoruba man, his administration was never seen as representative of the “Yoruba’s slot” per se. Yorubas did not vote for him in 1999.

It was only in 2015 that the South-West opposition party ACN, merged with other opposition parties to dethrone PDP and brought in President Buhari. It’s a known fact that the political leadership in the South-West, led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, made the greatest contributions to make that happen, risking everything. Same as in 2019. The region got the vice president’s slot. This is the first time that a Yoruba progressive party will get to the centre, notwithstanding what followed thereafter.

So, as we approach 2023, it is not a given that Igbos will get the presidency, they have to work seriously for it. This is what I have not seen in them in the past few years. The urgency of such demand is not reflected in the approach of the leaders from the region. Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife once said that the Igbos will beg, if they have to, just to get the presidency. I disagree with that. Why should any region beg others to get what they have right to, constitutionally?

There are many things lacking in their approach. One, there have not been proper coordination among the leadership of the region. Some Igbos kept citing 1999 “compensation” to Yorubas with Obasanjo as president, but did not weigh the sacrifices that the Yorubas made to bring that democracy. They lost one of their most illustrious sons, a great man, late Chief MKO Abiola, who won an earlier free and fair election in 1993, but died in the struggle to actualise his mandate. So, Yorubas didn’t get that position on the platter.

I am not saying only Yorubas fought for the democracy. No. Many people from other regions participated one way or another. However, Yorubaland was the theatre of war. Yorubas lost more to political assassinations than any other tribe. Long after other regions have accepted Abacha regime, moved on and life continued, NADECO, which had many Yoruba leaders, was still in the trenches, battling the military. That’s why the contribution of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to the democracy we enjoy today cannot be overemphasised. That’s enough a reason he deserves to be president as well.

Right now, the number of aspirants coming out from South-East kept growing. At what point will they harmonise, unify and come out with a common front to be presented to other regions? Under which umbrella? I have said many times that the Yoruba leaders in APC can lay bigger claim to the presidential ticket than the Igbos. Apart from Senator Rochas Okorocha who joined APC at the formative stage, others came later. At that time, he was seen as an “outcast” in Igboland. Would a person like Governor Umahi be able to rightfully make demands on APC? I doubt that. He is a “late comer” to the party.

Sadly, in the PDP which the region and Igbo majority belong, they were not demanding that the ticket be zoned to them. Rather, PDP Governors and leaders from the zone are looking for ways to leave the party and decamp to APC, where they have no stake. How can a presidential aspiration by Igbos be realised in such haphazard manner?

One big clog in the wheel of that aspiration remains the ceaseless agitation for Biafra by the Igbos. IPOB has remained the face of such agitation, led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. While many might claim not to support the approach of IPOB and Kanu, they believe in that agitation. So, other regions of the country see that as wanting to eat their cake and keeping it at the same time. How could Igbos be agitating for a sovereign state of Biafra on one hand but still making demands to be the president of Nigeria where they want to be separated from, on the other hand? That’s double standards.

Worse still, the violence has become the weapon with which such agitation is being carried out. Unfortunately, Igbos, who the IPOB wants to rule over, are the main victims of the violence. My brother, who has lived in the South-East since my years there, nearly 20 years ago, who married a lovely Igbo lady and have kids there, finally relocated to Lagos late last year, after the region became unsafe for him and his family. He lived in Orlu, which happened to be the hotbed of the IPOB / ESN onslaught. The Igbos need to address this.

Many will be quick to remind me that South-East is not the only region where such agitation happened. What about Sunday Igboho and the Yoruba Nation cause? Yes, that is true. But, can we compare the approaches of the two? Throughout the period that Sunday Igboho led that uprising, violence was never deployed. Also, a chunk of Yoruba population did not agree with him and they voiced it out. The first and major concern in South-West was and still is, the spate of insecurities, as allegedly perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen. Kidnappings, maiming, raping, killings, and destruction of farmlands. These are what brought Igboho into limelight in the first place, as he attempted to rid the region of these criminal elements.

Had the federal government being responsive enough, no such demand for Yoruba Nation would have gained traction as it did. Sunday Igboho was attacked by security agents of the Federal government. His house was invaded in the middle of the night. His properties were destroyed and others confiscated. His associates were arrested. Two of his people were killed in his house.

He has been in incarceration for many months in Benin Republic, detained at the instance of Nigerian government who wanted him extradited to Nigeria in failed attempts. All these have happened to a Yoruba son but the region did not boil. His supporters, who are also many, did not go berserk. Yoruba leaders have deployed diplomacy and dialogue to handle the situation peacefully and it did not erupt. That’s the difference between South-West and South-East.

Overall, I expect that the two major political parties will conceed their presidential slots to the south. There are three regions in the south. Everyone who is interested should throw their hat in the ring. The best candidates should emerge through free and fair primaries. Anyone or region that felt they most deserved it, should reach out to other regions and their aspirants. They should negotiate and get their buy-ins and supports. If the south could reach a consensus, so be it.

In the absence of that, candidates who emerge from primaries, be they Igbos, Yorubas or any other tribe, should test their acceptability in the general election. May the best candidate wins! As much as the Igbos deserve a shot at the presidency, they have to assiduously work for it. Power is not served “a la carte”.

Before all of these, the electoral amendments have been done. We hope the president signs it this time around. That should be our reducible minimum at this crossroad that we are. While restructuring the country remained vital to the progress of the country in all spheres, providing level playing field and credible electoral process is the least this government can do, in the interim. “Bi a ko ba ri adan, a si fi oobe s’ebo”.

May God continue to protect us and guide us aright.

God Bless Nigeria.

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