|
New Page 6
2007 Presidency: The Igbo resurgence
SIMON IBE, Political Editor
IT was clear
to every Nigerian and, indeed, every African of the time, that if merit was to
be the yardstick for deciding who should be the Prime Minister of the Nigeria
that was to become independent, that the position would have gone to the now
Late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe.
He towered above his contemporaries in
many respects, including oratorical prowess, commitment to the struggle for the
emancipation of the country from colonial rule and nationalistic and even pan-Africanist
fervour.
But a combination of factors, especially
high level intrigues by the departing colonialists denied the great Zik of
Africa the golden opportunity to lead Nigeria at the dawn of its independence.
When civilians came together again in
readiness to take the reins of power from the military who had been in the
saddle for close to 12 years in 1978, Dr. Azikiwe offered himself again for the
position of chief executive officer of the country.
He was the arrowhead of the Igbo political
establishment which was, through the then Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), making a
strong statement that it was returning to the nation’s political arena after the
war, confident that it could show the nation the way forward.
Dr. Azikiwe’s gallant moves were again,
cut short, this time, by the sentiment that it was too soon after the war for
Ndigbo to want to lead the country. As was the case in the first republic,
when what was the Western region refused to co-operate with the Eastern region,
the states of the South West, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, went their separate
way and so the south could not together present Zik, which if they had done, he
would have won, especially as the NPP made significant in-roads into the Middle
Belt region.
The scenario replayed itself in the 1983
election when the progressives alliance on whose platform the two political
tacticians, Zik and Awo, wanted to run collapsed, largely due to the alleged
refusal of Awo to let Zik fly the flag of the then very promising alliance.
Another opportunity for a Nigerian
president of Igbo extraction to emerge presented itself during the transition
process of General Ibrahim Babangida. Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu’s efforts to
clinch the coveted position were severally frustrated, again by what close
watchers of the Nigerian political terrain have called a conspiracy of the other
ethnic groups to ensure that Ndigbo remain in the back waters of the
country’s political theatre.
The General Abdulsalami Abubakar’s
transition programme offered another auspicious opening for the realisation of
the aspiration of many Igbo and non-Igbo for the election of a president of Igbo
origin in 1999. Then, Chief Iwuanyanwu, was the front-runner for the position in
the All Peoples Party (APP) while Dr. Alex Ekwueme was the clear leader in the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), before the tables were turned against them.
APP, now All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP)
went into a strange manouevre that ended with the party rated at par with the
PDP ceding its presidential ticket to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) which was
a distant third in the ranking of the then three parties. Many analysts insist
that apart from the sentiment of allowing the South West zone to produce a
president to compensate them for Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s lost mandate, the other
major goal of the manoeuvre was to deny Chief Iwuanyanwu and Ndigbo the
party’s ticket.
In the PDP, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was
drafted in, in the view of commentators, to also assuage the South West and
short - circuit Ndigbo. The South West, as prime beneficiaries of these
manoeuvers were too happy to complain while the South South zone, as they did in
1978 and 1983, threw their weight behind the candidate of the North rather
behind the candidate of their next door neighbour,
Ndigbo.
The scenario did not change dramatically
in 2003, as in the PDP and ANPP, Igbo aspirants were shoved aside, leaving only
Chief Chuwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who ran on the platform of the All
Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as the only serious Igbo presidential
candidate.
Ahead of the 2007 general election,
however, the clamour for the endorsement of an Igbo as president of
Nigeria has picked up again and across the country, analysts have started
considering its feasibility and the pro and cons of the option.
Opponents of the option, mostly from the
northern part of the country, hinge their opposition to an alleged agreement
between chieftains of the PDP that power would shift back to the northern part
of the country after it had spent eight years in the South. Their argument is
that they are not bothered that it would have spent all eight years in the South
West, that the South East and South South zones should wait till after eight
years of power in the North before aspiring to produce the president of the
country.
Indeed, they insist that the basis for
rotation is neither the old three regions of East, West and North or the present
six geo-political zones but the long extinct North - South divide. Some of the
governors of the Northern states who have been championing this point of view
have, however, come against the flawless logic of their South East zone
counterparts and the steely resolve of the entire people of the zone, led by the
resolute and highly articulate new executive of
Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
The arguments of Ndigbo and their
resolve to claim what they insist is their right, were again clearing put
forward at the Igbo Day celebrations in Owerri, the Imo State capital, last
Wednesday. Beneath the glamour of the occasion, the gaily dressed men and women,
the different dance groups and masquerades, the message that came forth from all
the speakers was that 2007 is the turn of Ndigbo to produce the president
of Nigeria and that nothing and nobody, including Ndigbo themselves must
stop the realisation of this goal.
Those who did not get the message clearly
from the resolute and defiant looks on the faces of the young and old men and
women who thronged the Dan Anyiam stadium, Owerri, for the historic event, would
have been chilled to the bones when Prof. Joe Irukwu (SAN), the President
General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo said that he would rather die than be
leader of Ndigbo and watch them being cheated or denied their rights. He
also asked the people to be confident that the new leadership of their apex
organisation would not be bought over with money or any other thing but would
single - mindedly pursue the collective agenda of the people.
The logic of Ohanaeze Ndigbo and
the governors, especially, Chief Achike Udenwa of Imo State, who hosted the epic
celebrations and Dr. Sam Egwu of Ebonyi State, who is the chairman of the South
East governors’ forum is that when Nigeria signed the independence contract,
three autonomous regions, East, West and North, gave up their autonomous status
for a federal arrangement.
Within the federation, the North and the
West would have taken more than their fair share of power by 2007 while the East
would only have occupied the country’s prime position for six months, Governor
Udenwa, in his written welcome address argued that from whatever perspective one
looks at the issue, there is no justification for hurriedly returning power to
the north.
Besides the fact that it would be morally
wrong to do so on the basis of the length of the time that power has resided in
the north, it is also argued that since after the civil war, Ndigbo have
been badly marginalised, with little or no infrastructural facilities and
inadequate or total lack of representation in sensitive military and other top
positions in the country. They have also suffered heavily during ethnic or
communal feuds across the country, with their considerable investments in other
parts of the nation being the target of mobs during such crises.
It is therefore argued that if the South
West could be ceded the presidency in 1999 based on the Abiola sentiment, the
South East could likewise be allowed to present the presidential candidates of
all the parties in 2007 to assuage their deep feelings of marginalisation and
compensate them for the heavy sacrifices they have made to keep the country
together.
The successful sit-at-home order by the
Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) is also
said to be evidence that Ndigbo at home and abroad are yet undecided
concerning the Nigerian project and need just a concession as the nation’s
presidency to get them to follow the path of national stability and growth.
Another compelling reason why a national
consensus should favour an Igbo for the presidency according to
commentators, is the fact that the people seem to have overcome the problem of
lack of focus and disunity among their elite. It is argued for instance, that
the 1999 effort by Chief Iwuanyanwu and Dr. Ekwueme were, largely, frustrated by
their kith and kin who appeared as presidential aspirants even when they knew
that they were there to scuttle the chances of their better placed kinsmen.
Now, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has sent out
word that whoever accepts any other position short of the presidency is on their
own. This should put paid to speculations that some of the governors canvassing
Igbo presidency are actually gunning for the vice presidency. The three
governors, Chief Udenwa, Dr. Egwu and Dr. Chris Ngige of Anambra State who were
at Owerri, last Wednesday and the representatives of the Abia and Enugu
governors also pledged to subsume their aspirations if necessary, for the
attainment of the common goal.
Once the South East leaders are united and
resolute and the South South and South West can throw their weight behind their
aspiration, it is certain that the Northern zones would see reason why the
presidency should be ceded to the South East.
As most of the dignitaries at the Owerri
Imo Day celebrations said, the time, indeed, has come for the realisation of the
objective of a president of Igbo extraction. The people seem poised for
it now more than ever before and seem to have ready answers for the obstacles
that had frustrated the quest in the past.
What is left is for the rest of the country to come to
terms with this idea whose time has come in the overall interest of the country.
|
