It is about time our generation steps out boldly to
spearhead this great call and rightful constitutional, moral, political and
social demand for a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction come 2015.
One of the greatest factors we have going for us is that we
are pursuing an idea which time has not only come, but long overdue. This makes
more meaning if you contemplate the fact that Victor Hugo said, and I quote:
‘’There is no army or force that can defeat an idea which time has come’’. In
view of the fact that the question of Nigerian President of Igbo extraction is
an idea which time is long overdue, no matter how difficult the task ahead may
look, the spirit that guided Nnamdi Azikiwe, Michael Okpara, Alvan Ikoku, Mbonu
Ojike, and Eni Njoku in risking their lives to liberate this very nation will
guide us. I also pray that the spirit that guided George Washington, Nelson
Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Aminu Kano, King Jaja of Opobo, Ken
Saro-Wiwa and Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu-all who fought for the enthronement
of truth and the liberation of man from man’s oppression will also guide us.
It was Frantz Fanon who was born on July 20, 1925 on the
mainly Diaspora Igbo Caribbean Island of Martinique, which was then a French
colony who wrote, ‘’each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover
its mission, fulfill it or betray it’’. One of the greatest missions of our
generation is to produce a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction and in asking
for this we are not asking so much from the other ethnic groups that make up
Nigeria.
Rather, it is in every true sense of it a logical
affirmation of our faith in the Nigerian Project. The Igbo 2015 Presidency
Project is an expression of our total trust in the wider Nigerian Project. The
Igbo 2015 Presidency Project is an attempt to test the patience of the other
ethnic groups and see if they have the capacity to accommodate for just four
years, what we have endured for over 40 years.
Therefore, this Project is an idea which time has come and
as a result in the name of freedom of information, for the sake of justice and
equity, in the spirit of fairness let this campaign start in earnest. Put out
your loudspeakers on top of your buses and announce it; occupy every open space
and scream it; climb the trees, climb the mountains and stand in the
marketplace to proclaim it. There is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear.
Shout it in such a way that it will prick the conscience of every Nigerian that
has the spirit of justice and equity running in his or her veins. This has to
be so because the Igbo 2015 Presidency Project presents a perfect opportunity
for those who have been shouting against injustice, man’s inhumanity to man;
crusading for social justice and patriotism to walk their talk by stepping out
and looking beyond their ethnic enclave to demand for the right thing to be
done. It is either they stand out for the truth now once and for all or be
damned for ever.
Even a blind political analyst will perceive the feelings
that today, in the Nigerian polity, the Igbo, as a people, are being
deliberately sidelined, especially in the sphere of political leadership of the
country. Ndi Igbo as original one arm of the tripod in Nigeria’s historical,
geo-political structure have struggled to produce the Executive President of
Nigeria in all previous democratic elections without success.
So let the writers write it; let the singers sing it, let
our internet wiz-kids spread it, let the preachers preach it; in the public
domain, in the internet, in the electronic and print media, soliciting for the
understanding and help of our friends, brothers, sisters, partners and in-laws.
Let us remind them that there is nothing we are asking of them which we have
not sacrificed before for them.
This has to be so because only a Nigerian President of Igbo
extraction in 2015 will clearly help to address this discriminatory attitude
towards Ndi Igbo which is in sharp contrast with the support we gave to Shagari
in 1979; concession given to the Yorubas over the M.K.O Abiola case in 1999,
and the support we mobilized for Jonathan in 2011.
Going by all these it is only right to assert that our
beloved co-citizens of Nigeria owe the Igbo Nation unreserved fraternal apology
for visiting an unjust and sustained capital political punishment on the entire
Igbo nation vis-à-vis their constitutional right to exercise power as president
of our country. This is a fundamental right already too long denied, for which
the entire Ndigbo as one united and indivisible family, no matter their
individual political affiliations, must come together to fight in 2015.
In the same vain, it is most important to note that it was
the emergence of Ndi Igbo in the Nigerian political struggle, led by Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe, Nwafor-Orizu, Michael Okpara, Dennis Osadebey, and Mbonu Ojike, etc
that fast-tracked the independence of Nigeria.
Politically, under the leadership of the late Owelle of
Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Igbos played the role of bridge builders in
the fledgling Nigerian nation. In 1957 the British Colonial Government, under
intense pressure from Southern politicians pressing for independence, attempted
to uncouple the union between the North and South forged through Lord Lugard’s
Amalgamation of 1914 with the offer of independence to the three Regions
individually provided any two accepted the offer, a political crisis loomed
large on the national horizon. The Northern Region, led by the Northern Peoples
Congress (NPC) took the position that the North was not ready for that level of
political and economic independence. The Western Region, led by Chief Awolowo’s
Action Group (AG) promptly, declared its readiness to accept the offer. It was
the Igbo-led NCNC that held the balance. It was an issue that could make or
break Nigeria if the three Regions chose to go their separate ways to
independence.
The NCNC leader, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe took the stand that
although the Eastern Region was ready to assume the responsibilities of
Regional independence, its attainment without the North would lead, in his own
words, to the ‘’Baalkanization of the Nigerian Nation’’ and conceivably a
break-up of the country. The Eastern Region would rather suppress its appetite
for independence and the obvious gains it would entail until the Northern
Region was ready. That was how Nigeria Independence was delayed until 1960. In
short, the Igbo-led Eastern Region would rather forgo the advancement of its
own political economic interests than risk the break-up of Nigeria.
Had the Eastern Region opted for Independence at that time,
the territory under its control would have comprised in today’s terms the
following nine States with their enormous human and natural resources: Abia,
Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Rivers. It
would also probably include Southern Cameroun with the oil rich Bakassi
Peninsula.
If not for Zik, by 1960, the three Regions would have become
separate sovereign states and there would have been no question of Biafra’s
attempted secession in 1967 from a non-existing Nigerian federation and the
devastating civil war fought to stop it.
Unfortunately, upon all these sacrifices Ndi Igbo have been
the greatest losers in the Nigerian Project. Despite our contributions to the
emergence of a new Nigeria, we have occupied the office of the
President/Head-of-State of Nigeria for mere six months; we have the least
number of states, least number of Senators and Members of the Federal House of
Representatives amongst other geopolitical zones.
While at the same time, the dynamic and highly
entrepreneurial Igbos of Nigeria are the people who have sacrificed more than
any other ethnic group for the unity of Nigeria.
One of the greatest prospects we have going for the Igbo
2015 project is the single fact that we have been marginalized for far too
long. Therefore, my call therefore goes most particularly to fellow ethnic
nationalities of our common Nigeria to realize that the call for Nigerian
President of Igbo extraction is a call for Nigerian Unity. It is a call for
peace, harmony, equality, fairness and understanding. We offer ourselves to
this cause and our commitment to this struggle. We need you, fellow ethnic
nations of Nigeria. Find our hand stretched forth in comradeship and take it, for
truly truly, you need us as we need you.
As a matter of fact, it will be the height of injustice for
any other region outside the South-East to step out to contend for 2015
presidential election. This is so because in summary, by 2015, we will have the
following situation:
1. South-East 6 Months
2. South-South 4 Years, 4 Months
3. South-West 11Years, 11 Months
4. North-Central 18 Years
5. North-East 5 Years, 4 Months
6. North-West 13 Years.
2011 is the first time in the annals of Nigerian political
history and democratic elections that no person from the core Igbo States of
the South-East stepped out to run for the presidency in any of the major
political parties. And after the political primaries Ndi Igbo massively voted
for President Jonathan.
As you can bear me witness, we have worked with the North
through our support to Shagari; we have supported the West through our hard
work to elect Obasanjo, and we have sacrificed to the South through our
unequalled voting for the election of President Goodluck Jonathan. There is no
other better time therefore, than now, for us to come together in one accord
and hold our brothers by their words. We will remind them of their promises to
us, we‘ll remind the North of our loyalty to them, and to the West how we joined
force to accommodate them and request from the South to reward us for our
sacrifice.
Going through history, any good scholar of constitutional
law will tell you that what we are asking for is in perfect constitutional
order of merit. This is so because, section 14 (3) of the 1999 constitution of
the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides that;
‘’the composition of the government of the Federation or any
of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a
manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote
national unity and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that
there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few
ethnic or sectional groups in that government or in any of its agencies’’
In arriving at the above balancing, am sure the wise men and
women who framed the constitution had at the back of their mind justice,
equity, unity and giving a sense of belonging to the entire ethnic group that
makes up our great nation. And since all the ethnic groups that makes up
Nigeria has tested power, it will be constitutionally wise for the other ethnic
groups to come together and make sure that the next president after Goodluck
Jonathan will be of Igbo extraction.
This is so because the survival and to a very large extend
the strength of a nation depend on the ability of the state to eliminate
conditions that will generate fear and suspicion in the minds of the various
units to the union. And the new Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language,
International Edition defines a ‘’nation’’ as ‘’a body of people recognized as
an entity by virtue of their historical, linguistic or ethnic links’’
These clarifications are necessary else we will be
classified as yet another ethnic demagogue in a mad season of ethnic and
sectarian supremacist politics.
To my knowledge, all that we is asking for is that Nigerian
democracy to respect and honour our nation’s ethnic, cultural, religious
diversities by providing each and every one no matter your tribe the right to
achieve in Nigeria, what Obama came all the way from Kenya to achieve in
America.
We can not be accused of not trying or working hard enough
as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s pioneer head of state, took a shot at the real
thing-the executive presidency, in 1979 and 1983. In spite of his nationally
acknowledged role as the foremost crusader for our nation’s independence, he
scored abysmally low in both electoral contests. Dr. Alex Ekwueme fared no
better, even as he teamed up with a scion of the northern oligarchy-Alhaji
Shehu Shagari. In this fourth Republic, mention must be made of the efforts of
Dr. Achike Udenwa, Dr. Peter Odili, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani, Ebitu Ukiwe, Amb.
Ralph Uwaeche and my humble self who struggled for the 2007 presidential ticket
under our great party PDP. Not forgetting Chief Orji Uzor Kalu the PPA
presidential candidate, Prof. Patrick O. Utomi of ADC, Chief Emeka Odumegwu
Ojukwu of APGA and the highly respected Arthur Nwankwo of PMP. Igbos have
always stepped out to give the nation a multiple opportunity to make a choice
from the pool and correct what seems like a perfectly scripted design to
marginalize them from the political polity.
OBSTACLES
No doubt, the Igbo people themselves have their share of
blame in this unsavoury saga, especially given the individualistic and blindly
opportunistic attitude of some Igbo politicians, scrambling for crumbs of
public office in total disregard of legitimate Igbo collective interest within
the Nigerian family. Like Nze Ozichukwu Fidelis rightly observed, ‘’there is a
discordance that seems metaphysical. We have always lost by own goals. Our past
is nostalgic. Our present is pathetic. Let our future indeed not be ‘’A comedy
of Errors’’. Unless we correct this, the greatest obstacle we are going to face
in 2015 is going to come from within.
Like Alvin Toffler wrote,
‘’If we do not learn from history, we shall be
compelled to relive it, True. But if we do not change
the future, we shall be compelled to endure it.
And that could be worse’’
As a result, I suggest that we use the next few years to
first of all put our house in order by doing the following:
a. Take urgent steps to restore the lost dignity of our
people.
b. Develop a solid healthy political relationship with other
ethnic groups.
c. Set up a political movement that will coordinate and
integrate the Igbo 2015 project to become the mainstream of Nigerian political
discussion in the next few years.
d. Start mobilizing resources both human and capital towards
actualizing our objectives.
e. Unite the Igbo leadership to work as one no matter our
different political affiliations.
Only this will create a strong cohesive political force that
will help pull other political forces from different ethnic and political
groups together, to form a base or a platform for the accomplishment of this
noble mission come 2015.
The Nigerian President of Igbo extraction is an idea which
time has come so, let us hold firmly to this truth and insist on it
unyieldingly, for it will free not only us but every other bondman in our
nation as it will wipe away the stigma of the Civil War. This is our manifest
destiny. For us to change Nigeria and build a strong prosperous nation we must
recognize the ethnic units as the foundation, the blocks that build our
country. This is the time therefore, for us to rise from the North, West and
South and answer the call of our united destiny by coming together to make a
Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2015. Let us help berth Nigeria conclusively
on the shores of her true destiny by giving every ethnic unit a sense of
belonging and the only way this can be achieved is for our brothers and sisters
from the different ethnic groups to come together and join forces with us to
produce a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction in 2015.
God Bless Ndi Igbo! God bless Nigeria!
SOURCE: codwit
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