The race to the all-important 2023 general election is getting interesting as the list of presidential hopefuls is getting longer on a daily basis. Irrespective of where the major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), will zone their presidential tickets, the tribe of those who will square up for the titanic battle is swelling.
Among those who have publicly declared interest for the plum job are, not in any particular order, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor David Umahi, Senate Chief Whip and former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, Dele Momodu, Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal, Bala Mohammed, Nyesom Wike, Rochas Okorocha, and many others.
Some Nigerians are rooting for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele to join the race. But it is not yet certain if they will do so. However, former governor of Anambra State and vice presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2019 presidential election, last week, publicly announced his intention to contest the 2023 election. Before his declaration, many of his fans and supporters had prodded him to join the race based on his antecedents and track record of performance as a two-term governor of Anambra State where he redefined politics and governance and firmly established a governance template which others follow.
Since leaving office, he has remained committed to discourses aimed at enhancing socio-economic development of the country. He has been forthcoming on how best to grow the economy and lift millions of Nigerians out of the present excruciating poverty and misery. Obi has also spoken on the urgent need to revamp the education and health sectors. He has equally supported interventions in these two vital sectors that propel national development both as a government official and as a private person.
He has also said much on how to use the small medium scale enterprises to grow the economy and drastically reduce the level of unemployment in the country. Peter Obi is a good manager of men and resources and he is very conversant on how to deploy both genders to achieve balanced development. He has set example with Anambra. He can replicate such in Nigeria if given the opportunity to serve the people. He always backs his public presentations with facts and figures. No doubt, his entry into the race has further brightened the chances of the people of the South East to clinch the coveted presidency post.
The quality of candidates coming up for the 2023 poll shows that there is going to be a paradigm shift this time around with emphasis on competence and ability to do the job and probably do it with speed and swiftness. Those who will lead Nigeria in 2023 will be people with vast knowledge of the economy, politics and the people of the country and those willing to serve the people wholeheartedly. They must be people who can respond to any emergency with speed and accuracy and lead the people by personal example. Nigeria needs leaders who can inspire hope and faith in the country and make the citizens see themselves first as Nigerians before any other considerations.
In spite of the arguments in favour or against zoning in certain quarters, there is no doubt that in a diverse nation like Nigeria, the best way to achieve progress and development is through power sharing between the contending groups or power blocs. In a globalized world, the goal of any democratic government is to ensure political inclusion, equity and fairness in the distribution of political power, resources and infrastructure. The politics of exclusion or domination is no longer fashionable and is always froth with dangers, including political instability. Nigeria can as well avoid such dangers by respecting and nurturing its power sharing arrangement between the North and South.
This is probably why the federal character is inscribed in the 1999 Nigerian Constitution as a way of ensuring an inclusive politics. This is also why our founding fathers agreed to form a government of federation at independence where every region is semi-autonomous. The distortion of Nigerian federalism came on the heels of military incursion in politics of the country, the attendant Nigeria/Biafra war and other bad things associated with our politics since then.
Following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election reportedly won by business mogul, Chief Moshood Abiola and his subsequent death in detention, the present political dispensation came into being in 1999 with the presidency zoned to the South West to appease them over the annulment of June 12 election and the death of the winner of the poll. In the election that produced Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as the president, both the AD and the PDP were made to field only presidential candidates from the South West based on the zoning agreement between the North and South that for equity, national balance and cohesion, power will rotate between the North and South. That was why the contest was between Obasanjo of the PDP and Olu Falae of the AD. Although power shift or zoning of the presidency was started by the PDP but it was used to determine the presidential candidates of both the PDP and the AD during the poll.
Since 1999 till date the presidency has rotated between the North and the South hence we have Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, Buhari. Now that Buhari’s tenure is about to end in May next year, it is expected that power should shift to the South in line with the 1999 power shift arrangement. While the South West and the South South had each occupied Aso Rock for 8 and 5 years respectively, the South East has not. It has not even produced the vice president from 1999 till date.
That is why the people of the region are saying that it is their turn to be allowed to produce the next Nigerian president in 2023. It is believed that giving the zone the chance to produce the president will heal the wounds of the 30-month Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970. Doing so will finally reintegrate the Igbo of South East into Nigerian politics and make them believe that they are part of the Nigerian project.
Let other Nigerians see reason with the people of the South East and support their bid to produce the next Nigerian president. A Nigerian president of Igbo extraction will be a win-win situation for all Nigerians. There are certain qualities a president of Igbo extraction will bring to bear on our economy, education and other aspects of our national development.
The South East has duly qualified, competent and experienced people who can pilot the affairs of the country and move it to the expected level. Instructively, most of them have excellently managed businesses, governments and enterprises. The South East quest to produce the next Nigerian president is right, just and equitable. It is going to unify the country the more and bring the much-needed peace and progress.