The campaign for the South-east to produce Nigeria’s president has continued to gain more grounds after the 2019 general elections with individuals, geo-political zones and organisations backing the agenda. In this report, CHIZOBA OGBECHE x-rays the arguments for and against the Igbo presidency and asks: Are Igbo really marginalised?
The Igbo is one of the major ethnic groups in the country and are reputed as having the largest population of the most industrious entrepreneurs, however, they are perceived as not doing well in terms of politics given their population and contribution to the country’s economy.
While it’s been argued that the region be given opportunity to produce Nigeria’s next president, some people have also argued that the ethnic group has had the opportunity to produce leaders like Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, popularly called Great Zik of Africa, who was Governor General of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963, and the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966.
Similarly, Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi was the country’s first military head of state. He was brought to office following the January 1966 coup d’état which saw some Nigerian soldiers reportedly led by Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu and Emmanuel Ifeajuna kill 22 people, including the Prime Minister of Nigeria. The casualties of the coup included the Prime Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa; the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello; the Premier of the Western Region Samuel Akintola; the Minister of Finance, Festus Okotie-Eboh and many other senior politicians, senior army officers, and other ranks on protective duty.
He was, however, killed in a counter-coup in July of the same year, reportedly masterminded by Lt.-Col. Murtala Muhammed and many northern military officers. It was a reaction to the killings of northern politicians and officers in the January 15, 1966 coup d’état.
How north dominates
Following the 1966 counter-coup, Lt.-Col. Yakubu Gowon was subsequently appointed head of state marking the beginning of a succession of military governments in Nigeria for 29 out the 33 years, until the restoration of democracy in 1999. It is worth noting that all six military head of states after Aguiyi-Ironsi were of northern extraction.
The country witnessed, in between the military juntas, efforts to install democratic governance in 1979 and 1991; however, both efforts were truncated by the military.
Presidential elections were held in Nigeria for the first time on August 11, 1979 with yet another northerner, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) being declared winner. The party had won the parliamentary elections in July the same year. President Shehu Shagari had contested against Obafemi Awolowo of United Party of Nigeria (UPN); Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria People Party (NPP); Amino Kano of Peoples Redemption Party (PRP); as well as Waziri Ibrahim of Greater Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP).
Shagari was overthrown in the 1983 coup d’état and succeeded by Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who was appointed chairman of a new Supreme Military Council of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces by the junta.
He was subsequently overthrown by General Ibrahim Babangida in the 1985 coup d’état, who appointed himself President of the Armed Forces Ruling Council of Nigeria making him the self-acclaimed military president.
Babangida promised to return power to the civilians and commenced the process which culminated in the 1993 general election, widely believed to have been won by Yoruba businessman and politician Chief M.K.O Abiola. Gen. Babangida, however, declared the polls inconclusive and temporarily handed over power to an interim government headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan in 1993. The Shonekan-led government was, however, overthrown by Gen. Sani Abacha two months after.
Following Abacha’s death in 1998, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar took over and ruled until the former Military Head of State, Gen. Olusẹgun Ọbasanjọ, was elected president in the 1999 presidential election establishing the Fourth Nigerian Republic.
Case for Igbo
With the return to democratic rule and the rotational presidency principle of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua took over from Obasanjo after two-terms in office in 2007. However, when Yar’Adua died following a protracted illness, Vice President Good Jonathan was sworn in to complete the tenure declared a northern ticket hence President Jonathan’s quest for a fresh mandate in 2015 was perceived as a bid to usurp the region turn based on the rotational principle. Jonathan subsequent lost at the polls leading to the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Blueprint Weekend checks indicate that the argument for Nigeria’s president of Igbo extraction is basically hinged on the fact that after Buhari’s second term in office, the presidency would return to the South and expectedly since the South-west and South-south have had the opportunity to produce the country’s presidents the Igbo, who make up a vast majority of the region, should be given the opportunity to produce the next president in 2023.
However, a section of the country has argued that there is no constitutional backing for rotational presidency, which has been described as best as a gentleman’s agreement. For this school of thought, President Jonathan went against the principle of rotational presidency; hence any zone is at liberty to produce the president.
Igbo marginalisation reality – Ekweremadu
Immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, while speaking at the public presentation of the book: The Audacity of Power and the Nigeria Project: Exclusion of the South East in Nigeria’s Power Politics and the Spectre of Biafra by Godwin Udibe and Law Mefor in Abuja, described the Igbo marginalisation within the Nigerian federation as “a reality” that could only be effectively addressed through restructuring, to enthrone true federalism.
The lawmaker, who was represented by Hon. Dennis Amadi, said, “The cross of Ndigbo in the Nigerian state is heavy; Igbo marginalisation is real; and, as the authors argue, now bothers on deliberate exclusion.
“But the worst disadvantages suffered by Ndigbo are not just those imposed by structural imbalances, such as fewer numbers of states and local governments or the lesser revenue accruals, political representation, federal employments and political appointments, arising from the imbalance, the greatest marginalization and disadvantage suffered by Ndigbo is the wilful dissembling and discarding of true federalism.
“Whereas Igbo communities and public spirited individuals build schools, roads, hospitals, and other socio-economic infrastructure, the South-east states cannot build certain infrastructure because only the federal government has the constitutional powers to build them.”
It’s self-inflicted – Orji Kalu
Former governor of Abia state, Orji Kalu, on his part, argued that the Igbo have been marginalised by their own people.
Speaking on the proscription of the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), he called for a cessation of the agitation for the Republic of Biafra, stating that the break-up of Nigeria would not be in the interest of Ndi Igbo.
Kalu said given the huge investments of Ndi Igbo in different parts of the country, the people of the South-east stood to suffer more than any other ethnic group, should Nigeria split.
“Ndi Igbo should stop boxing themselves to a corner. We are serious contenders and members of the entity called Nigeria. Ndi Igbo should rather struggle for equity and justice so that they can feel safe to live and work in any part of the country. It is true that Ndi Igbo are marginalised but even our own people have at one time or the other also marginalised us,” he said.
It’s turn of Igbo in 2023 – Yakasai
An elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, has declared unequivocally that it should be the turn of the Igbo to produce the next President of Nigeria in 2023.
Yakasai based his declaration on the logic that other regions and zones in the country, except the Igbo of the South-east, had produced the country’s president.
In an interview that with an international news channel, the elder statesman reminded the Igbo that it is their duty to go out and convince other Nigerians to join them to realise their aspiration to produce the country’s president next time around.
“Nigeria has three major blocks. Two of these three namely, the North and the West have had the opportunity of producing the President. Therefore, the Igbo have a good argument because out of the three siblings, two have already succeeded at producing the president, but the Igbo have not.
“They (the Igbo) deserve the sympathy of all Nigerians for them to get it in 2023 or later. My opinion is that this is not a matter that one will lie down and think that it will come to him. Effort is needed. How do you go about it? This can only be done by persuasion to convince other Nigerians about the need for an Igbo to emerge the President of Nigeria.
“I am in support of it. I did it before in the era of National Party of Nigeria (NPN) when we had the arrangement that the next president after late President Shehu Shagari would come from the South-east. We would have settled this problem long ago if not for the military intervention.”
Gowon backs Igbo
In the same vein, a former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, backed the quest for a Nigeria president of Igbo extraction.
Gowon, while speaking in an interview with the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, recently, said he does not have any problem if power shifts to the Igbo for the 2023 presidency as long as doing so would enhance peace.
“If doing so will bring peace, it should be done; if the people so desire. There was a time the PDP started rotational presidency, if that was continued maybe the Igbo would have produced a President but that didn’t happen.
“If that can be done now, I don’t have a problem with it. Anybody can govern. There are many people in Nigeria, if God gives them and they will govern with the fear of God and love for Nigerians, we will make the desired progress,” he said.
Chekwa Okorie’s position
The national chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwa Okorie, in a media interview, said there is a national consensus that it is the turn of the South-east to produce the next president.
He said, “Interestingly, people who are not of Igbo political leadership are the ones who appear to be championing the cause for our people. So, we cannot afford not to show seriousness in the way we engage others and the way we redefine our political strategy to be more pragmatic and proactive in actualising it.
“The truth remains that the likes of Edwin Clark; Chief Ayo Adebanjo; Gen Ishola Williams (retd.); and Senator Emmanuel Buwacha from Taraba state, who are non-Igbo people have said it is our turn. And if an Igbo man would wake up and say, no it is not our time; I begin to wonder where the person is coming from.”
Ex-military adviser’s view
Former Special Adviser to ex-Chief of General Staff, Gen. Oladipo Diya (retd.) and late Vice-Admiral Mike Akhigbe, Prof Femi Otubanjo, expressed doubts that the power play at the centre might not swing in favour of an Igbo president in 2023.
Otubanjo, who noted that ideally, the South-east should produce the president in 2023, stressed that the mood of the incumbent President Buhari does not indicate that he would be willing to support an Igbo candidacy on the platform of the APC.
He said, “The Igbo people are ripe to produce the president. They have several prominent people who are not worse than those who have become president of Nigeria in terms of education and experience. But if you are talking about the culture of rotation I will like to think that it is the turn of the South-east. However, that is strictly at the theoretical level.
“I am not sure if the All Progressives Congress (APC) has that provision of rotational presidency in their constitution and from what is playing out, the presidential succession in the APC will look like a result of the power play because we are beginning to see a situation that will appear that President Buhari will transfer power to the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. I cannot see that Tinubu will put his head out already for 2023 if he has not got the nod from President Buhari.”
Balarabe Musa’s take
Also, a former governor of Kaduna state, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, has said any attempt to deny the Igbo people the presidency in 2023 would amount to injustice.
“It is imperative for it to go to the South-east for national unity peace and progress and because we want to have national unity and peace we have to give every major section of the country a sense of belonging. At the moment, there are four basic sections: North, South-west, South-east, and South-south.
“The North has had the privilege of producing the president so many times, both military and civilian. The South-west has had it once, the South-south and the only section that has not had it in the South-east. Therefore, for peace, unity, and progress, we should find a suitable person from the South-east, not just any person, to occupy that position.
“We chose just any person from the North and the South-south, but that ended in trouble. Now that we are saying that somebody should come from the South-east, we should not say just anybody from the region otherwise we would be making the same mistake. We should stand out and choose the equivalent of the Great Zik of Africa,” he said.
