2023: What Does The Igbo Nation Want?

With less than a year to the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria, political gladiators are already aligning and re-aligning forces.

One issue that has remained contentious in recent times is the zoning of the presidency and the region that should produce a successor to incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari.

The South East, populated by the Igbo, has insisted that for fairness and equity, the presidency should be zoned to the geopolitical and that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), should pick their presidential candidates from the zone.

Some Nigerians have spoken on the need to give the Igbos a chance to rule in 2023, arguing that the region has not enjoyed such an opportunity since the Second Republic when the late Alex Ekwueme was the vice president in the Shehu Shagari administration in 1979.

Olu Fasan, a visiting fellow in the International Relations Department of the London School of Economics (LSE), in his recent published opinion on the 2023 presidential issue involving Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Yemi Osinbajo, said: “Let me state at this point that neither Osinbajo’s candidacy nor, even less so, Tinubu’s candidacy is of interest to me. This is because my principled position is that Nigeria’s next president should be of Igbo extraction.”

Fasan further analysed: “If a Yoruba becomes president in 2023 and does eight years, power will then return to the North for another eight years. Thus, by 2039, the Igbo would have produced no president for 40 years since 1999. That’s not a fair way to treat one leg of the tripod of the largest ethnic groups on which Nigeria originally stood.

“Nor is that sustainable in terms of this country’s unity and stability. So, my preference is for the two main parties, APC and PDP, to pick their presidential candidates from the South-East.”

Already, about six presidential aspirants from the zone have publicly declared their intention to run, including Sam Ohuabunwa, Anyim Pius Anyim, David Umahi, Kingsley Moghalu, Orji Uzor Kalu, and Rochas Okorocha.

Recently, in a statement, George Obiozor, president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Socio-cultural organisation, said the Igbos are ready and better prepared to produce Nigeria’s next president in 2023.

“Today, if the truth must be told, the imperative of zoning the presidency to the South East is an idea whose time has come. Certainly, Ndigbo is prepared and looks forward to it as a national priority. It is also indeed reasonable and logical that before any other zone in the country goes for a second turn of occupying the office of the presidency that Ndigbo should at least have their first turn,” Obiozor said.

But beyond the clamour for power shift, the Igbo nation has been urged to put their house in order as power is not served as a la carte.

They have been advised to speak with one voice in order to realise their dream, and that if possible, a consensus candidate should be agreed upon.

Sunday Udeh, president, Igbo Speaking Communities in Lagos, said: “Igbo nation all over the country should speak with one voice in order to be able to tackle the political space and opportunity denying them to achieve it.

“Unless the Ndigbo unite and speak with one voice, it would be difficult to achieve the much-desired political height at the national level.

“As a people, we don’t need to have multiple voices, but a united force so we can speak in unity just the way they were able to penetrate at the grassroots level.”

A PDP member, who spoke with BusinessDay on condition of anonymity, said: “I think the greatest threat to Ndigbo realising that dream is their party affiliations. If you look at those who have declared – Umahi, Okorocha, Orji Kalu, Ohuabunwa, Anyim, Moghalu – they are mainly of the APC and PDP. Instead of them picking a consensus candidate and saying, ‘no matter the party of the person; let him go for us,’ they will, unfortunately, be doing individual races. What you will see is a situation where they will be struggling on party lines and they lose it. For me, I think their best bet is consensus.”

According to him, “Ndigbo must also realise that the votes of the people of South East alone cannot guarantee them victory, to that extent there must be ‘handshakes across the Niger.’ You know what I mean!”

Tope Musowo, a public affairs analyst, said: “They need to fight together; pull resources together to be able to fight moneybags like Atiku Abubakar and Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The Igbo race does not have moneybags politicians yet. So, it has to be collaborative work to make any impact. Perhaps, the cacophony of voices we are hearing now, apparently coming from the wilderness, is not the right approach to making that impact.

“I tend to disagree with the way they are going about it now, I think for anyone to take the Igbo nation seriously in the presidency, they must first put their house in order. If you look back then that was one of the reasons indirect rule didn’t succeed in the Eastern part of Nigeria; because they didn’t have a leader. If they are not careful, the same thing will still play out today. If you ask them to present a consensus candidate and rally round that candidate would they?

“That has been the bane of Igbo brand of politics and lack of unity; some of them want Biafra so they are not interested in the 2023 election. Yet, some people are shouting it is their turn, which one should we believe? They need to put their house in order before asking others for a voice.”

Anayo Chuka, a political pundit, said the South-East was prepared and should get the presidency in 2023 on the basis of fairness and equity.

“Of course, they are prepared and they have credible individuals that would make good presidents for the country. If the zoning debate is honestly analysed in view of equity, fairness and unity of the country, the South-East should be allowed to produce the next president of the country. This singular move, if adhered to, would address agitations in the region and give them a sense of belonging,” Chuka said.

He, however, called for a united front among political leaders and aspirants from the region for the dream to be actualised.

“But, in all honesty, the region has to actually prove to other zones that they need the power. And the leaders of the zone, rather than engage in a media campaign over power shift to the region, should actually engage others to get their buy-in to zone the president of southeast extraction,” he said.