Buhari, Igbo Presidency 2023, And Dissenting Voices

 “The clamour, the agitation for a Nigeria’s President of Igbo extraction is only achievable under the Buhari administration and what is needed is for South East zone to double our support for Mr President,”- APC Vice Chairman, South East, Chief Emma Eneukwu

Does Ndigbo still desire to produce Nigerian president of Igbo extraction? If they do, how do they go about achieving it and within what time frame? Which political party with the requisite national spread will they use to achieve this?

Is the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that controls only shaky few states and was literally on life support, until resuscitated recently by the Supreme Court and which is yet to purge itself of its demons as witnessed recently in its national convention in Abuja, the party that will bail out Ndigbo?

Or is the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is the party in government and led by President Muhammadu Buhari, and controlling majority of the states in the country and the federal legislature, that Ndigbo should follow to actualize the race’s presidential dream?

The third alternative is for Ndigbo to form another party or invest in already existing party that had this as an agenda and began to build from Ground Zero. The All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) used to provide such platform for Ndigbo. Not anymore. The last time the party presented a presidential candidate which was Late Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu was when the founding national chairman of the party, Chief Chekwas Okorie was in control of the party. Today APGA is a shadow of its promising past, and another hope gone with the winds. In place of APGA another party has also emerged with the agenda of producing a president of Nigeria of Igbo extraction. That party is the United Progressive Party (UPP) founded by Chief Chekwas Okorie, who also founded APGA. The party registered in 2013 was the revelation of the Anambra State governorship election, recently that was marred by vote buying. Its governorship candidate, and former Corps Marshal, FRSC and former minister of Aviation, Osita Chidoka is without doubt the best of all the candidates, including the INEC announced winner, Willie Obiano of APGA. To demonstrate its commitment to the Igbo presidency project, the national chairman of UPP told this writer recently that the party will zone its presidency to the South East zone in 2019, unlike other parties that have narrowed the slot to only northern candidates. He also assured that the UPP would continue to zone its presidency to South East in perpetuity until a president of Nigeria of Igbo extraction is produced.

If Ndigbo want to choose the UPP option, it means that the Igbo presidency will indeed be a long-term project, which all hands must be on deck by Igbo elite and support Oje ozi Ndigbo, Chief Chekwas Okorie who has demonstrated his commitment to this cause over the years. In fact he formed APGA for this particular purpose, before the party was hijacked.

However, if Ndigbo want to follow the PDP option, the presidency may elude them and elongate their chances of producing a president in the short term. Let us be honest, if President Muhammadu Buhari decides to contest the 2019 election it will take a miracle of unprecedented proportion for the candidate of PDP to defeat him. And if that unlikely scenario were to happen, the PDP candidate who is also from the North, would certainly want to be in power till 2027. That will be the date that Ndigbo may produce a president for Nigeria.

From my calculation if Ndigbo want the presidency at the shortest possible time, that is by 2023, they have to vote massively for President Buhari and the APC in 2019. Those who are against this route to Igbo presidency like former governor of Anambra State Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, have not given alternative option, only saying that “Buhari and APC cannot be trusted” and that it was a trick by APC to garner Ndigbo’s vote in 2019.

Incidentally Ndigbo are not lacking quality persons in the ruling APC that could be president in 2023, if the race do the needful and support Buhari in 2019. One of such Nigerians of Igbo extraction is Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, the current minister of Science and Technology and former governor of Abia State. This is a First Class Graduate of Chemical Engineering, University of Lagos in 1976, and got his PhD in 1980 from University of California, Berkeley, California, USA, having been excepted from the Masters Programme. He was pioneer head of Department of Chemical Engineering University of Port Harcourt. A man of integrity who did not succumb to PDP’s tempting offers and remained in opposition with President Buhari and others, until they achieved victory in 2015.