It was as if the journey was stalled; the journey to May 29, 2023, when President Muhammadu Buhari would hand over the reins of state to his successor.
However, with the president’s signing into law of the amended Electoral Act, this date with history has been firmed up and the tottering behemoth may be preserved after all.
The intense scheming with regard to which region would produce that president is also scaling up.
It is worth noting that there has been a gentleman’s agreement since the return of democracy in 1999 to rotate the Presidency between the North and South. That decision was arrived at following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, which the late MKO Abiola presumably won. The crises that trailed that action and Abiola’s eventual death in detention necessitated the decision to concede the presidency to the South, Abiola’s Yoruba in particular.
Prior to this time, the North had monopolised power, resulting in seething anger in the South. So, all the leading political parties then fielded only Yoruba candidates to ensure that the deal came to fruition.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo emerged from that arrangement and was succeeded by Musa Yar’Adua, who died, unfortunately, without completing his term thus making way for his vice, Goodluck Jonathan, a southern minority, to succeed him. President Buhari defeated Jonathan in 2015 and effectively returned the presidency to the North and, by May 29, 2023, he would have completed his maximum eight years in office and would expectedly hand over to a successor.
Strangely, by that date, the North would have spent a total of 45 years and three months in power. The Yoruba or South-West would have spent 11 years and 11 months (via Obasanjo and Chief Ernest Shonekan), and South-South, five years (via Jonathan). The Igbo would have held power for a trifling period of six months, by Gen. Johnson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi.
Of course, for purposes of mischief, somebody may refer to the Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe years, which were ceremonial, since the power resided in the North via Tafawa Balewa, as prime minister and, therefore, inconsequential.
The Igbo’s meagre six months shows how Nigeria sees the area as a mere appendage that they are managing to tolerate in the entire political structure. This has given rise to the agitation for justice that the Igbo deserve to produce the next president.
Unfortunately, there is no justice anywhere in Nigeria, be it political, economic, judicial, even religious; everything is as fraudulent as the country itself. Therefore, those agitating for the Igbo to produce the next president may be daydreaming as far as the lords of power are concerned.
As it is, the North is already scheming to retain power. What is most painful is the betrayal being hatched by the Yoruba that could have supported their Igbo brethren, who were on the battlefield with them during the 1993 crisis.
The national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has rolled up his sleeves and is ready to fight dirty on the road to Aso Rock. Also rumoured to be in the race is Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Indeed, both men should perish their ambition, not because they are not qualified but because they lack the moral justification to do so.
In fairness to Tinubu, he is a movement as far as the politics of Nigeria is concerned. Without him, there probably would not have been anything like a Buhari presidency. He it was who birthed the APC that stampeded a sitting President Jonathan out of power.
It is foolhardy to disparage this man because whatever we have said or heard about him have remained mere rumours and allegations. I do know that Tinubu has picked so many from the backwaters and propelled them to the front seat of relevance. That is his backbone and why his army of supporters are swaggering across the Nigerian landscape and making all the noises that so far seem to portray him as the only presidential hopeful.
However, Tinubu should know and ask Kenny Rogers’ gambler when to deal and when to walk away. This is definitely the time to walk away. He should take another look at his ambition with circumspection. He is by no means a spent force but the kingmaker that wants to be the king has danced out of sync with reality. Insisting on continuing this race in the hope that the youth would take over from him is inelegant. Because by the time he is done, another old man would either take over and make the same promise or the prospective youth would have become old too.
Besides age, we are talking about equity, justice and fairness without which life is tasteless. A society standing on the faulty foundation, which the people are unwilling to correct would definitely collapse.
That is why the odds favour the Igbo. As a people, they are endowed with the magic wand to transform Nigeria; this is unlike the magic some people have promised to use to rebuild Nigeria. Magic is a mythical mirage that ultimately fails when it matters most.
Igbo land parades an array of undeniably great men that have all it takes to fix the country.
Take, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, HCN, for instance. In him, the Igbo have a brand that should be courted by all sections of this country. Humane, urbane, cerebral and self-effacing, this young man, already packed with a doctorate in law, has been tested and proven.
As a member of the House of Representatives, he was acclaimed as the best, even by international rating. As chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), he excelled beyond expectations and left indelible footprints there. As Minister of State for Education, Nwajiuba is shining like a million brilliant stars, bringing light to the education system. As a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, he was one of the founding fathers and, in fact, served as the secretary of the APC constitution drafting committee that midwife the party.
He is a purposeful youth, a trailblazing, detriblised Nigerian, who has built bridges across the six fingers of Nigeria. He is an embodiment of all that Nigeria needs at this moment; young, brimful of ideas, and peerless. Every nation that desires relevance in this morbid age needs such a man.
He is not alone. There are the likes of Peter Obi, Orji kalu, former governors of Anambra and Abia states, respectively. Youthful Kingsley Muoghalu, a former chieftain of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and many Igbo stars are on parade and common sense dictates that Nigeria picks from among them and live.
So, talking about merit, it would be a done deal to give it to the Igbo, as they are just up the ladder, waving undeniable flags of honour.
However, the Igbo should not expect to be handed the presidency on a platter of gold or on the basis of pity. It is their right to be considered for the number one office in the land, especially considering that they have all that it takes.
However, this is one quest the Igbo must shun self-destructive inclinations, as they are wont. As it is, the Igbo seem to have the highest number of interested aspirants, including self-professing pilots that may fly the project to tomfoolery and crash it before take-off.
Nigeria waits for Ndigbo and they must get their acts together. There are hawks everywhere; all they want is to swoop on the beleaguered Igbo and snatch the chick away. Those scheming to beef up their curriculum vitae as former presidential aspirants or those, plotting to torpedo the Igbo mission with vice presidential ambition should beware of the judgment of history and prosperity.