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For how long can you hold a people down? Definitely not forever! Let me begin by saying that the fear of a Nigerian president of South East extraction by some sections of the country is unfounded. I have listened to various arguments against the South East producing a Nigerian President not just from non-South Easterners but also from fellow Igbo.
I have listened to fellow Easterners argue in preference of restructuring as against presidency. They held that the existing structural imbalance cannot produce quality leadership, that it is unlikely that a focused development can happen except power is devolved to the states. This is the devolution being asked for in the clamour for restructuring. The present structure is such that the Federal Government can stop development in any state by the whims of a hostile president. They believe that with a restructuring of the exclusive and concurrent list the Igbo spirit will trump all adversities
I agree that Nigeria is in desperate need of restructuring so that the dividends of democracy will be definitive. However the quality of persons operating the levers of power is equally important. For instance, Presidents Shehu Shagari and Yar’adua led the country at different times. Both men were Fulani. Despite operating with the same flawed 1979 and 1999 Constitutions, executive lawlessness was not as prevalent as today. Similarly, Presidents Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan held presidential positions also at different periods with the same constitution and no part of the country was grossly excluded as we now have it. My point is that no matter how perfect a constitution may be, a bad workman can make the best of tools look bad. Buhari is a good example.
I believe we need restructuring to make our institutions serve the people better and more efficiently. This, however, cannot be an alternative to a president of Igbo extraction as both are mutually exclusive.
My single biggest wish is to see Nigeria fully reconciled with the Igbo, and the Igbo fully integrated as equal citizens. I wish to see the day Nigeria will elect and swear in an Igbo as President of Nigeria. When this happens, I will shed tears of joy for Nigeria, knowing we have finally turned the corner in creating a nation our children and great grandchildren will be proud of, a country where life is worth living.
I have heard the argument that the Igbo cannot produce a Nigerian president because they don’t have the numbers. Pastor Tunde Bakare recently advanced this faulty narrative for obvious reasons. In the absence of accurate census in Nigeria I cannot say which of the tribe has the numbers to singly produce a president. However, I do know that none of the major ethnic groups has the numbers to achieve this feat. No Nigerian president has emerged on this account. The constitution even made a tribal president an impossibility. Presidents Shehu Shagari, Umaru Yar’adua and Muhammadu Buhari didn’t become President because the Fulani had the numbers. On the contrary, the Fulani is one of the smallest ethnic groups in Nigeria. Likewise, Presidents Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan didn’t become president because the Yoruba had the numbers or that the Ijaw had the numbers. Presidents in Nigeria had emerged by consensus, political harmonisation or a combination of factors other than tribal numbers. There was no time we the Igbo want to produce a Nigerian president made solely by Igbo. Our aspiration is to produce a Nigerian president of South East extraction made by Nigeria and acceptable to Nigerians. The leadership we will give will be such that will heal our broken politics, unite the country, secure the country, make the country safe again and build back the economy to prosperity. We will produce a president that will be a solution, not the problem.
I have also heard the argument that the North will not allow the Igbo to be president because of the death of Balewa and Ahmadu Bello who were killed in Nigeria’s first military coup. While the actions of the young military officers remain regrettable, it is pure mischief for someone like Doyin Okupe to resurrect such old wounds with half-truths. He blatantly ignored the fact that one of the five majors who masterminded the mutiny was Major Adegboyega- a Yoruba. The actions of the coup plotters were purely a misguided military putsch and not a product of Igbo agenda. The Tafawa Belewa led government was our government too. In Belewa, we lost a friend and a dependable ally. It’s worth repeating that it was Ojukwu, an Igbo officer and Gen. Aguiyi-Ironsi another Igbo officer that foiled the coup. If that coup was an Igbo agenda, these senior Igbo officers wouldn’t have aborted the coup.
However, rightly or wrongly, the Igbo had paid hefty prices for the misguided actions of the idealistic young Majors. In the counter coup that followed, over fifty thousand Igbos were murdered in one of Africa’s worst genocides. Another three million were killed in a brutal civil war that pitted the Igbo against Nigeria. Though living in our minds, the Igbo nation of Biafra rose and fell with that war. After the war, Nigeria implemented the three-pronged programme of reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconciliation. The Igbo today is not at war with anyone. All we want from the country is respect as equal citizens, full reconciliation and integration. We recognize that our faith and history are so interwoven, and that no matter how inconvenient the union may be, we need to forgive one another, embrace peace and move on.
I have also listened to some persons argue albeit very unkindly that the Igbo are trying to use threat to get the president in 2023. Personalities like El Rufai, whom I have tremendous respect for, reflected this opinion in a recent media chat. This is further from the truth. While not denying that I have also heard some persons voice such sentiments that could be likened to threat, the question is whether those persons are speaking for the Igbo nation. Did they have our mandate to issue threats to other stakeholders? The answer is ‘No’.
The politics of Nigeria requires negotiation for integration. It’s not about threat, pride, ego or prestige. It’s about consensus building and the fostering of understanding, like the political harmonisation that led to the emergence of two candidates from the South West in 1999 after the IBB missteps of the ‘90s. A president of Igbo extraction is possible given the heightened conversation, and I am sure other sections of the country are all ears. We must continue to speak to their conscience to do justice to the Igbo. Sometimes the truth we speak may be bitter and the justice we demand hurting, but they remain the truth.
One thing Nigeria has failed to do is to quit judging the Igbo with a different measuring rod or standard as they do others. Nigeria must learn to separate the careless and irresponsible statements by some individuals or groups from that of the mainstream Igbo. Not everyone with a red cap on his head is an Igbo leader.
We need to deeply reflect on our common existence as a nation as we are challenged on many fronts. The centre as at today strangleholds the states on many fronts, coupled with the pariah attitudes of the leaders who think their leadership licence must come from the centre and therefore will forgive dancing their tunes and dictates. This is why I believe, irrespective of every other argument; the centre remains crucial vis-à-vis the presidency. My single biggest wish is to see a Mr. Peter Obi or Mr. Orji Uzoh Kalu or any Igbo man take the oath of office as Nigeria’s president to mark our full reconciliation with Nigeria. The easiest route to this is for PDP and APC by political harmonization to zone their presidential tickets to the South East.
