2023: Southern Unity Key To South East Presidency Actualisation

Nwodo

President of Nigeria of South East extraction is possible in 2023, if Southern Nigerian people are united and want it to become a reality. I have seen and heard many people expressing reservations about the possibility of president of South East extraction in Nigeria in 2023 when it seems as if some power brokers in the North appeared not to support the idea. But I posit that the major threat to South East producing president in 2023 is Southern Nigerians and not Northern Nigerians. To buttress my point I want to project a road map to producing South East President in 2023 if the South is united.

If the South South geopolitical zone; South West geopolitical zone and South East geopolitical zone are united and speak with one voice, South East presidency in 2023 is a forgone conclusion. With united South, 17 states of the Southern Nigeria will be already in the bag even before the election. The battleground states will be North Central Nigeria or the amorphous Middle Belt. Here we have Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Nasarawa, FCT Abuja, that are more likely to vote for a South East candidate in 2023 and then get 25 per cent of the votes in Gombe, Kaduna and Adamawa states, and the president of Nigeria of South East extraction becomes a reality. It is almost the same route that took Dr Goodluck Jonathan to presidency in 2011. Remember that in 2011, Jonathan did not win the Kano votes, but he won in Lagos to cancel out Kano’s massive votes won by General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the now defunct CPC. Note also that Jonathan won all the Southern Nigerian states with the exception of Osun State. One can therefore see that it is not any cabal or northerners that would stop South East presidency in 2023, it is Southern disunity that will.

I have also heard people say that South East presidency is not possible because the Igbos are not united and never speaks with one voice. Those who parrot this knew that it is a lie, but they say it anyways. I have never seen a people more united like the Igbos of Nigeria. They were united and fought a Civil War for three years against the greatest army in Africa that was backed by world super powers, United States, USSR, United Kingdom among others. If that is not a sign of unity, I don’t know what is. After the war in 1979, the South East states of Imo and Anambra voted massively for the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) that had former independence president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe as its presidential candidate, the same way the Yoruba states of the South West voted massively for UPN, the party that had Chief Obafemi Awolowo as its presidential candidate. If South East were not united how come the zone voted massively for NPP in 1979?

In 1999 the South East people voted massively for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with no exception. For a zone that has five states and all the states voted PDP in 1999 to be described as not united, means that unity has a different meaning for some people. While the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) remains a popular party in the South East, the zone has always voted for PDP presidential candidates from Obasanjo to Yar’Adua and Jonathan and if that is not a sign of unity I don’t know what is.

I think the problem is not that the Igbo are not united for the presidential mandate, it is that the people of Southern Nigeria and the rest of the country are yet to be united for Igbo presidency, the way they were for Yoruba presidency in 1999 when Obasanjo emerged president.

If Nigeria wants South East presidency to become a reality there is already a template on ground that could be followed. The template that produced only Yoruba presidential candidates in 1999 is the best option.

I therefore agree with the former minister of Power and former vice chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Professor Chinedu Nebo who suggested that all political parties in Nigeria should zone their presidential ticket to the South East in 2023. Delivering a keynote address at the inauguration of FCT chapter of South-East for President 2023 (SEFORP 2032), the former vice chancellor, insisted that Nigeria is better and stronger together, but must restructure its political structure to give justice to all Nigerians irrespective of religion, ethnic or political group.

He advised political parties to zone their presidential ticket to southeast as was the case some years back which led to the emergence of Olusegun Obasanjo, as President in 1999.

He said: “Only southeast had a taste of the President for less than a year during the period of Aguiyi Ironsi. Other regions have had the taste of the executive powers for 11 years, eight years and several other years.

“Undoubtedly, people of southeast have contributed greatly to the political and socioeconomic development of Nigeria, in spite of unfriendly treatment, unfavourable political and economic policies they received by the state.

“In spite of that, they have shown resilience, resourcefulness, intelligence, diligence and commitment to Nigerian project. But political players must keenly consider the region in political power sharing in the spirit of justice and fairness.”

It is therefore obvious that if political parties follow the 1999 template that produced mainly Yoruba presidential candidates alongside united Southern Nigeria and some sections of the Northern populace, the South East presidential mandate will become a reality in 2023.

Let it also be known that if the political class decides that the presidency must come from the South East, there will be multiplicity of voices in form of aspirants and candidates from the zone. This is not a sign of disunity or lack of speaking with one voice; rather it is a measure of the political sophistication and vibrancy of the leadership recruitment process of the zone. But the important thing is for Nigerians to choose from among these leaders who they think can make a better president for the good of all Nigerians. If the two major political parties in Nigeria; APC and PDP and the other smaller parties zone the presidential ticket to the South East, it would be hotly contested but that does not mean the people are not united.

Let us not forget in a hurry that in 1999 when the political class decided that the Yoruba should produce the president of Nigeria, the Yoruba socio-cultural pressure group Afenifere metamorphosed to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and under this political party decided that its preferred presidential candidate was former minister of Finance and former secretary to the government of the federation, Chief Olu Falae. In the 1999 presidential election all the South West states voted for Falae, but their vote was not enough to make him president. The Yoruba rejected candidate, former military head of state and the candidate of the PDP, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was preferred by the rest of Nigeria and he was overwhelmingly elected president.

The political class that decided that the president should come from the South West in 1999 was aware of likely disagreement in the zone in selecting candidates that was why the best option was to encourage the political parties to restrict their choice of candidates to the zone. The same thing could and should be done in 2023 to ensure the emergency of president from the South East.

 If however for whatever reason the political class decides that the power will not be going to the South East, it will not be that the people of South East are not united, rather it is that the rest of Nigeria has failed to unite to actualize South East presidency. It will only be added along the long list of discontents and marginalization being felt by the zone, which does not encourage unity, peace and justice.