Today is Sunday and as every good Christian is expected to attend church on Sundays, I was in the church to pray, listen to God’s word and fulfill my Christian obligation. The young priest who delivered the sermon was enthralling and spectacular. He spoke about very many things but seemed particularly interested in the upcoming 2023 presidential election.
In a very passionate and emotion filled voice, the young priest went into a detailed analysis of the politics of Nigeria. He took the congregation down memory lane expounding how the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria has fared taking their turns at the presidency. His analysis centres on the question: WHICH ZONE DESERVES TO PRODUCE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA? His analysis on the matter is as follows.
1. The North West zone has produced a democratically elected President with full executive powers for approximately 15 years since independence:
(President Shehu Shagari from 1979 till 1983)
(President Umaru Yar’adua from 2007 till 2010)
(President Muhammadu Buhari from 2015 till 2023)
2. The South West zone has produced a democratically elected President with full executive powers for approximately 8 years since independence:
(President Olusegun Obasanjo from 1999 till 2007).
3. The South South zone has produced a democratically elected President with full executive powers for approximately 5 years since independence.
(President Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 till 2015)
4. The North East zone has produced a democratically elected Prime Minister with full executive powers for approximately 5 years since independence 62 years ago.
(Sir Tafawa Balewa from October 1st 1960 till January 15th 1966)
5. The North Central zone has NEVER produced a democratically elected President with full executive powers since independence.
6. The South East zone has NEVER produced a democratically elected President with full executive powers since independence.
From the foregoing according to the priest, it is clear that the North West, the South West and, to a lesser extent, the South South have had a fair crack of the whip over the last 62 years when it comes to producing a democratically elected President with full executive powers. Therefore, if the only criteria is fairness and equity and if we are to put primordial and tribal sentiments aside, there are only two zones that can legitimately claim the Presidency next year. Those zones are the South East, the North Central. These two have been deprived of the honor and privilege of fielding their fair share of democratically elected Presidents with full executive powers.
On a further analysis the priest asserts that there appears to be an un-writing gentleman’s agreement between the Northern and the Southern part of Nigeria to rotate the presidency. And since the North has taken its eight years in the person of President Mohammadu Buhari, the North Central is by this excluded thereby making the South East the only viable contestants in the race. Receiving a thunderous ovation from the congregation, he concluded that electing or supporting anyone outside the South East for either of the two political parties in 2023 is not just immoral but unacceptable and indefensible.
It was at this point that the young priest lunched a verbal attack on the person of the MASSOB leader, Chief Ralph Uwazuruike describing him as an ingrate and a fraudster who hides under the agitation of Biafra to enrich himself.
The priest was reacting to the a recent interview given by Chief Uwazuruike where the latter did not only declare his support for Yahaya Bello, the Governor of Kogi State but had also claimed that the South East at this moment has no viable candidate for the presidency.
The priest describes Uwazuruike’s statement as unpatriotic wondering how an Igbo man would be so much senseless and callous at this critical moment in Nigerian history when people from other geopolitical Zones are drumming up support for Igbo presidency. In fact, he was so offended and bittered that he said he wouldn’t mind slapping and fighting the idiot (Uwazuruike) anywhere he saw him.
The young priest is not the only person with this type of emotional outburst and sentiment towards Uwazuruike. I as well felt betrayed and disappointed in him when I listened to the interview. Also, since that interview was aired by Igbo BBC, there have been barrages of attacks and vituperations against Chief Ralph for uttering such abomination.
While these feelings of outrage are understandable and can be excused on the ground that Ndi Igbo have felt so marginalized and left out of the scheme of things in Nigeria, they totally lack justification.
Few days ago, I wrote a thank you article on Pa Ayo Adebanjo for demanding that justice and fairness requires that 2023 presidency should be zoned to the South East. He made this call in spite of the fact that two of his kinsmen, Tinubu and Osibanjo are frontrunners in the APC presidential race. The most interesting part of it is that no Yoruba man that I know, has taken up arms, verbally attacked or threatened to slap Pa Ayo for supporting an Igbo man instead of his own brother. Ndi Igbo need to understand that while collectiveness is important for winning elections; individual choice is the bedrock virtue in democracy. The Igbo nation who prides themselves as the most democratically minded people in Africa must not allow emotion and bitterness to make them forget who they are.
