Okorocha And Igbo Presidency 2019: Do Not Be Deceived, Again!

Buhari

Okorocha

The words out there is that many Igbo leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other opposition parties are being cajoled to dump their parties for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) because President Muhammadu Buhari would be handing over the presidency to Governor Rochas Okorocha in 2019.

This is a lie from the pit of hell because President Buhari will not be handing over power to the Igbo in 2019 or to anybody for that matter, but to himself. It is the worst kind of naivety to think that an African leader like Buhari, who fought unsuccessfully for 12 years to be president, would have the opportunity to spend eight years in power and he would elect to do only four years. Only a Mandela can do that. And Buhari is not Mandela and there is nothing in his body language that shows that he has the interest to be classified with the Mandelas of this world. Certainly not with the constant reminder to Nigerians that he inherited a country that PDP has destroyed for 16 years, which is another way to say the damage cannot be fixed in four years.

On September 4, 2012, I published on my blog; www.pauluwadima.blogspot.com, an article entitled: “Why Ndigbo Will Not Produce The President In 2015”, where I gave reasons why Nigerian president of Igbo extraction was not feasible at the time. Four years later nothing has changed to indicate that Igbos can produce the president anytime soon, except for political merchants who use such emotional agitation to bargain for future political relevance at the centre. Read: Why Ndigbo Will Not Produce The President In 2015 http://pauluwadima.blogspot.com.ng/2012/09/why-ndigbo-will-not-produce-president.html

Recently the UK Telegraph Newspaper accused President Muhammadu Buhari of allegedly diverting UK’s aid to Nigeria meant to fight Boko Haram to emasculate the opposition. If Buhari had the intention of doing only one tenure, he would have concentrated all his energy in repositioning the economy rather than muscling the opposition out of the political equation. The president has already frightened the opposition to silence. We no longer get press releases from the embattled national publicity secretary of PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh challenging some policies of the present administration, as he is more engrossed with extricating himself from cobwebs of alleged corruption slammed on him by the Buhari government. The last time I checked, the only press statement from him was the one announcing the suspension of inconsequential state chairman of PDP in Borno State. Nothing on the fuel scarcity or the budget brouhaha.

Recall that Nigeria is not new in this business of one tenure agreement between presidents and those who brought them to power. In 1999, Nigerians were told that the stakeholders who masterminded the emergence of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as civilian president extracted an agreement with him that he would do only one tenure and leave office by 2003. That did not happen. At the time there were sponsored media campaign that Obasanjo should ‘do the Mandela’ by serving for one term. The old soldier refused and jokily said he cannot do the Mandela because he had no Mbeki to handover to. Mbeki was the vice president of South Africa, whom Nelson Mandela handed over power to after serving one term as president. As a matter of fact, Obasanjo did not only serve for two terms, he wanted to serve for third term which was clearly against the constitution.

In 2011 in order to wade off strong opposition from the north who does not want him to emerge elected president, Goodluck Jonathan allegedly entered into one term agreement with northern governors. But as the election year 2015 was approaching it was obvious that Jonathan wanted to maximise his constitutional right of second term, but being from a ‘minorities minority’ he could not pull off what Obasanjo did in 2003 by getting re-elected even without the support of those who initially brought him to power.

In few years’ time it would become obvious that Buhari would do everything within his power to remain president till 2023. Those who railroaded him into the Presidential Villa, Abuja with the understanding that he would serve for only one term would be disappointed. They have not learnt from history. There is no vacancy in Aso Rock by 2019, so the Igbos should not be deceived by the governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha.

In any case if the Igbos were to be fortunate like the Yorubas, who were given the opportunity to produce a president for Nigeria in 1999, Okorocha’s abysmal performance in office where he has turned the state to his personal estate even as workers groan under unpaid salaries does not recommend him for elevation to president. If there is one Igbo man alive now whose performance in office recommends him highly to be president, that man is former governor of Anambra State, Mr Peter Obi and certainly not the rabble rouser at Owerri.

If some Igbo leaders cannot endure to be in opposition during Buhari’s possible eight years in power, they can join APC to partake in sharing the ‘national cake’ if Buhari would allow them, but they should not do so by deceiving their gullible supporters that they are doing so in ‘Igbo interest’, especially when that interest is the unrealistic presidential ambition of Rochas Okorocha.