Igbo president: why not?

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?You see things and you say, ‘why?’ But I see things that never were; and I say ‘why not?’” –George Bernard Shaw.

I continue to read with amusement the reasons advocated by most of the proponents of Igbo presidency. I am not against the agitation or ambition of any individual or groups of individuals, and likewise I am not against any religion, tribe or ethnicity in their prowess to become president or whatever they desire to be in Nigeria. I have read most the reasons for Igbo president, and I found most of them amusing and self serving because none put the interest of the country first.

My Reasons for Igbo President

There are many intelligent and patriotic Igbo men and women, that will make a wonderful president of Nigeria.

The Igbo tribe has gone through a lot of hardship, discrimination and humiliation in the country. These issues have caused some psychedelic effects on the Igbo race. It is my own opinion that giving the opportunity to be president of the country will go a long way to uplift their psyche as it was the case for the Yoruba race when Abiola won the presidential election of June 12, 1993 and currently Obasanjo’s election despite the fact that few Yoruba voted for the mandate.

Since, after the civil war the Igbo are yet to be properly assimilated into the country mainstream. There is much evidence to this, but as a scientist, I have no statistical evidence to support this claim.

Every citizen of Nigeria has the write to aspire to become the president of Nigeria.

I believe an intelligent and fully emancipated Igbo person can give Nigeria the kind of leadership that we’ve never have.

Reasons Why not Igbo President

“Treasure your relationships, not your possessions.”- AJ D’Angelo

I respect and love the Igbo people for their intelligence, industrious spirit and ingenuity. I am a Yoruba man that grew up in the eastern part of Nigeria, I went to school with many prominent Igbo sons and daughters. I had and still have a lot of them as friends. My assessment of the Igbo people is that they treasure their possessions more than relationships with others. This culture has made some ethnic group to mistrust the Igbo person and subsequently a would be Igbo president.

Secondly, the comments of some of the proponents of the Igbo presidency are working against the actualization of this dream.

It is baffling and disheartening that some Igbo intelligentsias who are parading themselves as the advocate of this noble course lack tact and political sagacity required to actualize this aspiration because of the following reasons:

The proponents of the dream believe the use of vagarious words on the Yoruba past and “present” leaders will help them in achieving this goal. I view with bemusement how these groups of people continue to attack late Chief Obafemi Awolowo the rightful hero of the Yoruba race and the black race as a whole. More than 95 percent of the Yoruba people believe this assertion made by me regarding late Chief Obafemi Awolowo because no Nigeria leader living or dead has done more for the psyche of the Yoruba and Nigerians than Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

 

I will list few of them below for our information and enlightenment.

The first all seating stadium in Africa (Liberty Stadium -1959). 

The first television and broadcasting station in Africa (WNBS and WNTV).

Free Education for all the citizens and residents of the Western Nigeria

The first Industrial estate in sub Sahara Africa (Ilupeju and Ikeja Industrial estate).

The first Housing estate in West Africa

The longest miles of paved roads in West Africa

The first city portable water distribution in West Africa.

The most beautiful University in Africa (architecturally) -University of Ife.

Although, this was a sad annals of Nigeria history, He led the prosecution of a civil war without borrowing and Nigeria was not in debt.

He kept and gave to the eastern region after the civil war with interest all the federally allocated revenue meant for the eastern region during the war.

The Ikemba, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu supported my view as discussed in one of his books and his eulogy of the late sage “The best president Nigeria never had”.

The Yoruba man has no reason to mistrust an Igbo person, the relationship between the Yoruba and the Igbo person is that of healthy rivalry. This deduction can be supported with the rate and comfort level at which the Igbo and the Yoruba intermarries. All other tribe and ethnic group has reasons to mistrust the Igbo person, because they’ve once advertently/or inadvertently been dominated or offended by the Igbo actions and inactions.

The way the Yoruba people view the attack of Igbo person on the person of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo is that, what the Igbo could not do to him in life and death as they did to Alhaj Tafawa Balewa and Alhaj Ahmadu Bello the leaders of the Hausa Fulani. They are trying to do posthumously. Hence, my advice to the Igbo presidency proponents is stop using vagarious words on Yoruba past and present leader. Learn from Abiola and Obasanjo, in other to achieve their ambition, they courted the leadership of the tribe that is less threatened by their ambition, the Hausa-Fulani. The Yoruba are the least threatened of all tribes and ethnic groups about the prospect of an Igbo president. Hence for Igbo person to be the president of Nigeria, he/she needs the unalloyed support of the Yoruba race.

I am not trying to hold brief for Obasanjo, tactically, the surest way for the Igbo person to become the president of Nigeria, is to treasure their relationship with Obasanjo rather than their possessions during his administration. “No man can become rich without himself enriching others”-Andrew Carnegie.

In summary, the problems of Nigeria is so great, it is an act of pettiness and silliness for anyone to be flouting symbolic hegemonies as the reasons why he should be the next president or the next president should be someone who share their religious beliefs or come from their sociopolitical area.

I am looking forward to a presidential candidate or a president whether from Kokombilo or Timbuktu that will identify the country’s problems and profess a workable and agreeable solutions that can lead the country out of these doldrums.

For peace, tranquility, accountability and progress to be in Nigeria we need real and sincere dialogue with every issue on the table because “any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction”.

First published at http://www.nigerdeltacongress.com/iarticles/igbo_president_why_not.htm

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