
From the election results announced all South
Eastern States except Imo voted for President
Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in the Presidential and National
Assembly polls.
In order words, Ndigbo are perceived to have voted themselves out of relevance in the APC
government except if they manage to integrate
themselves into the system by some miracle. However, as bad as it seems, many are still
optimistic that there is a place for them in the new
government, at least, as provided by the
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Chekwas Okorie, one of the presidential
candidates in the last general election said that
although the voting pattern of Ndigbo will make it
difficult for them to make claims in the APC
government, there are certain things that are the
rights of Ndigbo as guaranteed by the constitution.
“It is the constitutional provision that every
state must be in the Federal Executive
Council, FEC, every state have a Minister and
that cannot be denied. “
However, it will be to Buhari’s political
benefit that some key positions be allotted
to the South-East because he is the
president of Nigeria and not the president
of APC. South-East is part of the Nigerian
state and therefore should not be sidelined because they voted mostly for PDP. From
records, he got a significant number of
votes from the South-East too and that
should not be disregarded. “
The new president should also know that
anybody in government wants to be there
in the next government.
I’m sure that he
would want to continue in 2019 and it is the
way he handles things that will determine
the future.
If he ignores Ndigbo now because they didn’t vote for him, what
happens in 2019? Will he come back to
campaign? APC should have their eyes in
2019 and therefore, should not disregard
Ndigbo because of their bloc vote.
“The new government should also realise
that in 2015, more than 50% of traditional
Igbo votes did not go to Jonathan or to
Buhari.
The truth of the matter is that many
Igbo were aloof.
They didn’t vote at all
because they were not with Jonathan and they were suspicious of Buhari. So, Buhari
should not give Ndigbo cause to believe
they were right in their suspicion of him by
ignoring them.
He is Nigeria’s president and
should therefore focus on the future and
what determines the future is what happens now.”
On reference to statements credited to Oba of
Lagos, Oba Akiolu and Nobel Laureate Professor
Wole Soyinka on the politics of Ndigbo, Chekwas
Okorie refrained himself from commenting on
what the traditional ruler said.
According to him, “ He is not a politician and
therefore I don’t want to talk about him.
As
for Soyinka, let me give give him benefit of
doubt especially as he denied ever saying
what he was alleged to have said.
“My concern more is the attitude of the
South-West in the whole issue of APC and
their purview that they are the ones that
gave Buhari the victory.
That is not true and
that is not right.
Even if they did, I think they
should be more accommodating especially in the way they portray themselves in the
new government and stop talking down on
others.”
A former governor of Anambra state, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife however didn't see any
problem for Ndigbo in Buhari’s government.
Ezeife
opinion is based on the fact that Nigeria is
operating a political party system and whoever
wins at the end of the day becomes the people’
president. “
General Buhari is Nigeria’s president and not APC president.
He contested on the
platform of a political party as established
but having won election, will he now
become the president of APC? He is the
peoples president and should therefore be
a man of the people”
. In his own submission, Chief Nduka Eya, the Secretary-
General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural
organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo said that
whatever becomes the fate of Ndigbo in the
new administration should be blamed on
the much desired change.
“ We must know that this is a democracy.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ruled for
16 years.
We talked about change but
nobody defined the change we talked
about.
Now, the reality has dawned on us.
In the whole South-East, only Imo is APC. So,
a lot depends on the government.
They should realise that they cannot run the
country without the South-East.
Buhari is
the president of Nigeria including those in
opposition.
So, the opposition should
organise themselves because without
Ndigbo, there will be no Nigeria.
This is a pointer to any government .
You cannot
ignore someone because he is in
opposition.
This country is run with a
constitution and therefore Ndigbo should
not lose confidence.
“ The South-East is not alone here.
There is
also the South-South.
All South -East States
are PDP except Imo which is APC and
Anambra which is APGA.
The entire South-
South is also PDP except Edo state which is
APC. So, what are we talking? Buhari must appoint a Minister from each state of the
federation.
It is for him to choose statesmen
as ministers and not praise singers.
“ Let me also tell you another thing.
APC is
as good or as bad as PDP.
Nigerian
politicians play politics oft their pockets.
Buhari is already in.
Let us see what he will
do differently.
We must hold him to task on
his promises because he must fulfill all and we want him to prove that APC politicians
will be different from PDP politicians.
He
must keep to his words because that is
what change is all about.
And so, we must
keep him on his toes on the top promises
he made to Nigerians while campaigning such as : reducing fuel price to N45.00 per
litre ; giving N5000 per month to every
unemployed youth; creating 3,000,000 jobs
per annum; providing free meals for all
elementary/primary/almajiri schools; giving
one year allowance for youth corps post NYSC members; promise of free and
qualitative education up to SSS 3 ;. building
2 million houses yearly for the next four
years; generating 48,000 megawatts of
electricity within four years; applying zero
tolerance for corruption, wiping out corruption by the force of his personal
example; banning medical tourism by our
politicians from May 29, 2015, annihilating
Boko Haram within two months, equating
N1.00 to $1.00 and stabilising the oil price .
We want to see Buhari ask questions about
peoples wealth especially those of his party
men.
People should be able to account for
the stupendous wealth they flaunt all over
the place.
I want to see change in all its
ramifications, not selective change or abusive change.
” Dr Chinweoke Mbadinuju,
another one-time governor who recently
defected from PDP to APC opines that the
way things are, the position of Ndigbo in
today’s political calculation is highly
pathetic. “Igbo have not had it worse than this, from the time of Zik, to Okpara, to
Ojukwu and a few others. It has been like
from fire to frying pan.
But it is entirely not
the fault of Ndigbo.
It was circumstantial.
For whosoever loses war goes on the
receiving end which is where the Igbo now
are on the receiving end apart from Zik
whom the British awarded the office of
ceremonial Governor of Nigeria and this
was the highest political office an Igbo ever held.
Even when Chief Alex Ekwueme
became Vice President under Alhaji Shehu
Shagari, still the Vice Presidency was
without political powers except the much
Shagari assigned to him. “Anyway, the
constitution could grant a VP power like Chairmanship of Economic Council, but Dr.
Ekwueme will know whether such power
was good or ephemeral.
“So since the end
of the civil war, subsequent leaders did not
see it good to integrate the Igbo into the
mainstream.
Abacha did not. Obasanjo did not.
Even Mallam Yar’ Adua and Jonathan
did not.
All they did was to pick up one
Igbo man or woman and give them little,
and they would be parading them as Igbo
leaders.
“ But now, I know that political
power is not given, it is taken.
Igbos must learn to earn power and to exercise it.
For
now, it is not easy to know how President
Muhammadu Buhari will pattern his
methods.
He was a soldier and former Head
of State.
He knows his onion, and within this short
time he won the Presidential election, he is
showing capacity to lead Nigeria into
prosperity.
Nigeria will surely prosper.
Nigerians will surely assist President Buhari
to end corruption; build security around our people; employ the unemployed; build
power and energy; reduce cost of
governance; he will handle the electoral
reform or confab as occasion warrants.
“Whether we are Igbos or Nigerians, we
must all embrace the Buhari’s concept of “change” for Nigeria. If Nigerians, and
indeed the PDP, had allowed Chief Ogbulafo
and Dr. Nwodo to go on with their job of
being Chairman of the Party (PDP) there
would have been no collapse of the party
which had wanted to rule for 64 years but stopped at 16 years.
When some friends ask
if I really defected to PDP which I helped to
nurture, I told them I did not defect rather
PDP defected.
“At the end of the day we must all embrace
the concept of “change” , not just “change”,
but “positive change”. Nigerians will see
that the hunger for food and drinks are not
that alone, but we must deal with physical
hunger; spiritual hunger; monetized hunger’ waste and wastages; and life of
ostentation.
“The Igbo people are not
asking Muhammadu Buhari for many
appointments.
It is enough that the South-East people
knew or ought to know the adage that “He
whose bread I eat, his song I will sing”. So
since the South-East did not vote for Buhari,
it means that Igbo cannot complain if Buhari
did not grant them appointments commensurate with other zones which got
more and who worked harder and got
more offers.
“Good politics under Buhari will
further enhance the neighbor to neighbor
approach that will bridge any gap of good
relationship.
It is not God that will unite our people in understanding each other.
This is
the job Nigerians will do by themselves and
it shall be well for all Nigerians.
It is true that there are so many ethnic
groups competing among themselves for
preservation, but good education will help
in ceiling the gaps created by politics and
politicians many years past.
Today we still
can re-capture the Nigerian factor if we work hard for it and one day we will see the
North calling the Igbo “my brothers.”
Story by Linda Ikeji.