In a fair and equitable setting, I would not bother about the state and region of birth of Nigeria’s President. I consider issues of region and religion as mere accidents of birth. Character and competence, for me, matter more than language and faith in affairs of the state.
Instances of sterling performances by some Nigerian leaders in the first and second republics who rose beyond their immediate geographical environments to impact on their larger constituents, reinforce my conviction that it is not just where a president comes from that determines his performance but his person and vision.
Premier of the defunct Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Iheonukara (M.I.) Okpara, did not pigeonhole himself to his Umuahia Province in spreading dividends of governance to the people in such far-flung areas as Aba, Owerri, Abakiliki, Enugu, Nkalagu, Port Harcourt, Calabar and some parts of the current Akwa Ibom State. Of course, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (The Great Zik), looked beyond his Onitsha hometown and chose Nsukka to site the first indigenous university, the University of Nigeria.
In the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo did not restrict his commendable efforts to his Ikenne place of birth but extended them to such distant areas as Ibadan, Ife (where he built the famous University of Ife, now named after him), Abeokuta, Akure, Owo and even parts of the present Edo and Delta states.
The Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, who hailed from the old Sokoto section, took development to Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Ilorin, Bauchi and other parts of the North.
Even in the Second Republic, some outstanding faces like Lateef Jakande (Lagos State), Ambrose Alli (Bendel, currently Edo and Delta), Jim Nwobodo (Anambra) and Sam Mbakwe (Imo) were not bogged down by parochial and provincial considerations. They saw every section of their states and regions as their immediate constituencies. Till date, Mbakwe remains a reference point for leadership in Imo. Their recruitments and appointments were equally spread to the various component parts of the states, irrespective of creed.
That was Nigeria in which tribe and tongue differed but all were bound by brotherhood and service delivery. Men and women of good will and dedication to duty still abound in all parts of the country. But leadership failure, as Prof. Chinua Achebe rightly noted in his concise book, “The Trouble with Nigeria”, has continuously worked against discovering and mobilizing these Nigerians. In the process, journeymen who ordinarily do not have any business with leadership have taken over, directing the affairs of the state. Without adequate preparation for the demands of the office, they easily resort to provincial and ethnic inclinations, reducing the bar of leadership to the abysmal level of ‘us and them’.
In such situations, there are bound to be agitations from sections that feel alienated. As in fragmented polygamous settings, everyone wants to have a feel of the much-abused national cake, even in symbolical terms and not necessarily that their own person at the helm of affairs may change their fortunes for the better. It is on this ground that the clamour by regions to have a shot at the Presidency can be fully understood. As 2023 politics draws near, the gladiators are gradually announcing their presence.
Many Nigerians of South-East extraction are not hiding their desire to have one of their own as the President in the next dispensation. They anchor their argument on history and equity. They argue that, of the three major ethnic groups that led the march for Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the Igbo are yet to have a touch at the presidency in executive capacity. Tafawa Balewa, Shehu Shagari, Umaru Yar’Adua and Muhammadu Buhari have held the position for the Hausa/Fulani North. Olusegun Obasanjo has represented the Yoruba of the South-West. Goodluck Jonathan has been there for the Ijaw of the South-South. The Igbo of the South-East and beyond have been left out. This is the reason for the on-going agitation in the region.
The apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, has keyed into the agenda, insisting that the principles of zoning must be applied ahead of the 2023 general election to ensure that the South-East produces the President of the Nigeria. In apparent reaction to insinuations that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have thrown its presidential race open to every part of the country, Ohanaeze frowned at those rejecting zoning, saying, if the principle is to be jettisoned, it should be after Ndigbo had taken a shot at the presidency.
Ohanaeze and Ndigbo have a good point. They deserve to be considered for the high office. But that is as far as sentiments and wishes can go. Politics is not an affair of the saints. It is engaging and entails strategic calculations and alliances. Power is not freely given, it is grabbed. For the Igbo to actualize the 2023 presidency, there is need to be fully involved in the game. The first line of action is to cast aside the victim mentality and make bold assertion for the position. It requires mobilisation of men and resources and getting into the mainstream of the leading political parties. There is no prize for a spectator or peripheral player.
It is good that there are individuals from the zone making moves for the office. It is high time they started coming out. They cannot remain in the cocoon and expect power to be handed to them. In real life, the saying is that a journey of 1,000 kilometres starts with a step. In politics, it may require a leap.
The followers also need to be educated that nobody will do it for them, if they fail to do so. The result of the by-election for the Aba Federal Constituency held on Saturday, March 27, is not too good for the agitation for Igbo presidency. The winner, Chimaobi Ebisike of the PDP, scored less than 11,000 votes in an exercise that had voter registration of 470, 000 persons. The scourge of voter apathy and low turnout associated with previous elections in Igboland was at play in the election. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), only 3.29% of registered voters voted in the election. For a people angling for the presidency in 2023, this is discouraging.
A colleague, Chido Nwakanma, captured it that “low voter turnout, nay apathy, is a challenge to both the electorate and the Igbo elite.” He added that politicians were responsible for the situation, but citizens also owe a responsibility to themselves. I agree with him. Convincing others to vote a President of South-East extraction demands that the people will also be involved in the exercise.