“The reality of acquiring political power is that those who seek it must go for it,”
―Ebuka Onyekwelu
The support for Igbo Presidency recently received what can be described as a partial political boost when Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El Rufai in an interview, said that he had no ambition to vie for president after Buhari and that he taught power should not return to the north but instead go to South. While this may appear favourable, there are more advocates of Igbo presidency that must stay focused. Under current political standings, El Rufai is one of the major players in Nigeria’s political scene as of today. He is also one of the most ambitious and often accused of harboring presidential ambitions, right from the Obasanjo years. So in a way, his recent comment is a major crack on projections and analysis of possible political outcomes by pundits ahead of the 2023 presidential election in Nigeria.
However, if 2023 is in a few days time, and if only the current conditions will remain constant, and if political opinions can be revered and honoured by those who hold them, then, maybe, the contest for who becomes Nigeria’s president in 2023 could be said to be a southern Nigeria affair. But politics is never ideal and the conditions for aligning, including the extent of interest one may have, are constantly changing. More so, political persuasions are not always rational, even as they are dangerously slippery. These are instructive.
Nevertheless, if 2023 were to be a southern Nigeria contest in which southeast, southwest, and south-south will feature in the contest exclusively, then it would be perhaps less rigorous, even as the chances are not exactly brightest for Ndi Igbo. Notwithstanding that Igbo Presidency is now overwhelmingly ripe, fair and justified. The only problem being that politics and especially Nigerian politics, does not pay particular attention to what one deserves, what is fair or what is just, as those do not in themselves constitute any stake in the scheme or equation of power acquisition.
Earlier in 2020, northern leader and an elder statesman Alhaji Tanko Yakasai held that Igbo should produce the next president of Nigeria. Alhaji Tanko was a founding father of the northern socio-political group; Arewa Consultative Forum and a former adviser to President Shehu Shagari. By all standards, he is a respected man and northern elite, so his opinion counts. Yet, actualizing Igbo presidency in 2023 is not a decision left for Alhaji Tanko Yakasai and northerners who might be just as fair-minded like him to decide. Indeed, realizing Igbo presidency in 2023 is not a Nigerian project; it is the Igbo project and the Igbo must own it to actualize it.
Indeed, realizing Igbo presidency in 2023 is not a Nigerian project; it is the Igbo project and the Igbo must own it to actualize it.
No ethnic nationality in Nigeria owes Ndi Igbo the presidency of Nigeria. It may be unfair that since 1999 or even since the end of the second republic, no Igbo man has ever been Vice President of Nigeria not to mention President. Nonetheless, each ethnic group is going all the way fending for her people and why the political condition of Igbo people in Nigeria may be pitiful, they would still not sacrifice their own political ambition for anybody. Therefore any thinking or strategy suggesting that Nigeria owes Igbo the presidency is an approach that is bound to fail.
The reality of acquiring political power is that those who seek it must go for it. As a matter of fact, in a year or two, El Rufai sensing that the conditions may be right for him to contest may declare to run for Nigeria’s highest office and his earlier position would not count against him. As the events are unfolding, Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition is well known and established. Tinubu –from governing only Lagos between 1999 and 2007, was able to raise a formidable team of political leaders that include former governors, senators, and solid political stakeholders on whose wings he can fly to have a smooth ride to Nigeria’s presidency. On paper, this scenario appears doable and simple but in reality, it is an uphill task even though Tinubu remains far ahead of many potential Igbo presidential aspirants within the APC, today.
These are political facts and for Ndi Igbo in the APC to consider. And, in order to maneuver Tinubu’s extensive and embedded political machinery in the APC, they must make certain critical alignments ahead of time. Ndi Igbo must be deliberate and must take a stand that is independent of all Tinubu’s capabilities within the APC. The fact of this matter remains that Tinubu or anybody else is very unlikely to sacrifice his ambition just for the sake of ensuring that Igbo man or woman becomes president in 2023. While this may be right, fair, and just, it remains the most unlikely cause of event because politics does not concern itself primarily with fairness or right in a political contest.
It is therefore left for Ndi Igbo to get to work and eliminate pandering to emotional appeal. Igbo members of the two major political parties in Nigeria; the PDP and APC who are likely to produce the 2023 president must get to work. Igbo President cannot be realized on the altar of appeal or pity as no ethnic group will be willing to forgo the collective aspiration of their own people for the aspiration of Igbo people.
There is need for Ndi Igbo to align strategically and present formidable aspirants on APC and PDP platforms. This is very possible with focused presentations and compromise. Ndi Igbo should pull their energies together and work really hard in pursuit of this common front and not be carried away by comments or opinions of stakeholders of other ethnic origins suggesting that Igbo should emerge president in 2023. Such comments may as well be a decoy dutifully deployed to demobilize intense strategizing for Igbo presidency in 2023.
For Ndi Igbo to get hold of Aso Rock in 2023, they must work for it. No one gets any political advantage without working for it. No one gets power handed over to them without proper positioning for it. Certainly, Ndi Igbo’s quest for Nigeria’s presidency cannot be different, and now is the time to put work into it.
♦ Ebuka Onyekwelu, strategic governance exponent, is a columnist with the WAP
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