Elliott Ugochukwu-Uko
Some people may not know that I led marches along the streets of Enugu two decades ago, pleading with President Obasanjo to do just one term like Mandela and support the emergence of a President of Igbo extraction in 2003, in order to heal the land. Without the attached photo, many would not know that the IYM and a few others have been screaming for a power shift for decades. The Igbo political class woke up late, jolted and encouraged by the agitation. Not a bad idea. Powershift is desirable.
Many people may not also know that a certain Dr Dons Eze sent his points man to interview a certain activist in Enugu, a few years ago. The interview studied and analyzed, by certain political leaders, inspired the recent clamor for Igbo President. A just demand though. Encouraged and emboldened of course by the agitation, Igbo leaders finally found their voice.
The activist, in the unpublished interview, outlined three things the Igbo political class could use the agitation to achieve, instead of antagonising and distancing themselves from the agitators. The Igbo political class which inspired the interview, which was never published, (nor were there any intention to ever publish same), have been struggling to manoeuvre the agitation into a quest for power shift to the South East. Nothing wrong with that. After all, our Niger Delta brethren, at some point, intervened into the violence in that region and carefully guided the agitation in their region and cleverly got, NDDC, a general amnesty for their restive youths, and a full-fledged ministry of Nigeria Delta to the bargain.
Those who planned the interview with the activist in question had no intention whatsoever to publish same. They only wanted to glean his ideas and use same to decide their next step. Something they’ve been doing for decades. Why they prefer such a format, remain unexplained, save to isolate the activist, a style that hasn’t paid them any dividend, except widening the gulf between the leaders and the youths. Arrogance, displayed at an amusing level, you would say.
Whether they are correctly piloting the power shift agenda, is another matter. They ignore certain basics and fundamentals needed to drive their power shift dream. The youths of the region are not interested in Nigerian elections and do not vote. The weak electoral process, nauseating manipulation of the system and mind-boggling rigging discouraged them over time. If they are dutifully mobilized and convinced to register and vote, the Igbo alone could harness and deliver up to 20 million votes. But the youths are angry with the system and the leaders have not found it necessary to engage them and address their grievances. Instead, the leaders are so mad at the activist pleading with them to engage the angry youngsters. They say he is their mentor.
The voter apathy continued to widen and deepen over time. Talk about boycotts propped up, yet the political leaders angling for Igbo President are yet to pacify their angry youths. They are busy searching for scapegoats.
The political class continues to show no genuine interest in addressing the grave voter-apathy that has reduced the region to a politically irrelevant zone. Over 80% of eligible voters in the region, do not bother to vote. They simply do not have confidence in the system. Angling for power shift to the South East, without correcting or solving the loss of faith in the system, that fuels voter apathy, amounts to hoping that Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani voters will vote in the Igbo man who will emerge President in 2023.
Less than one and half years to the next general elections, there’s no aggressive campaign to mobilize registration of voters or any determined effort to encourage voter registration by reassuring the 18 to 35-year-olds that massive registration and participation in the system remain the only way of realizing the dream of power shift.
Engaging the chief agitator, who is in custody, to ensure that elections hold in the region and are peaceful without boycotts and threats of boycotts, another key task, that should be on the priority list, is still being dilly-dallied on, whilst they bank their hope that non-Igbo voters will vote an Igbo man President for them. The truth is: aggressive mobilisation and awareness on the great need for massive registration and participation in the polls, remain key to the realisation of power shift.
Other ethnic groups will not queue and vote one of you as President when your people refuse to register and vote. The aloofness exhibited by the political class for 22 years the agitation has raged on, comes with a price. The loss of confidence between the leaders and the younger generation is huge. The wide gulf created by shunning and ignoring the agitators for years has now presented a huge problem. How do you negotiate with them to register en mass and vote in order to shore up Igbo votes?
Ignoring them for years and leaving them to their devices, hasn’t been a great idea. Ignoring the voter-apathy for long because it helps inflate figures during the vote count, has become counterproductive. Blackmailing the activist who has been stridently calling for engagement with the agitators and plotting to rope him in, because you resent his guts, won’t solve the problem either.
Conveniently forgetting that you mocked him to no end, when he called for the Igbo to taste the Presidency years ago or denying that you only found your voice, all thanks to the agitators, whose activism brought impetus to the demand for power shift, won’t reunite the disparate cleavages in the Igbo society, unwittingly created out of ignorance and arrogance. Only sincere dialogue will.
Refusal to reunite these quite unnecessary cleavages or pretending they don’t exist, won’t help healing. Marching forward and pressing for Igbo President without a united front, is unhelpful and untidy. Delaying or not recognizing the need to mobilize registration and participation in the voting proper, is actually unintelligent. The Igbo political class need to correct their earlier mistakes, put their house in order and move together as a powerful team carrying everybody along. An Igbo President is desirable, but structural reconstruction is the key to Nigeria’s survival and greatness.
This brings us to the stark reality of the Nigerian structural issues.
Voting for an Igbo man President of Nigeria will help in healing the land. It will grant Ndigbo a sense of belonging. But the truth remains the truth, even when it seems bitter.
The unitary structure of the 1999 constitution designed by the military, ensures Nigeria will remain crippled and stagnant. Regardless of where the next President will come from, the structural deficiencies and inadequacies of our current unitary system will continue to hinder real development and inhibit both political and economic growth. Hoping or wishing that a President from a particular region will come with a magic wand, that will suddenly create jobs, reduce unemployment, and enthrone a level playing field, is sheer wishful thinking.
Devolution of power and practice of true federalism remain key to peace and harmony, not what region the next President will come from.
Those who erroneously believe that the emergence of an Igbo President would automatically quell the agitations and Nigeria move on under the same template, after the tenure of the Igbo President, are in for a huge shock. The real problem afflicting Nigeria is the suffocating unitary structure and the fallouts of over-centralisation of power. Over centralisation of power enables nepotism and impunity which in turn breeds mediocrity which ruins the country. Over centralisation of power allows humongous corruption and weak institutions.
These in turn, encourages bad governance, prependalism and the emergence of cabals interested only in protecting their members to the detriment of the general welfare of the people. Over centralisation of power tolerates dichotomy and marginalisation of sections of the country, the concentration of headship of the military, paramilitary and security agencies to only one section of the country, infuriating others, thereby growing discontent which leads to loss of faith in the system.
These frustrations inspire agitations and crises.
Nigeria’s most pressing issue is an early restructuring of the country into a format that carries everybody along. Insisting that only an Efik President would give justice to the Efik, only a Birom President would treat the Birom right etc, is actually suggesting that unless one of your own emerges President, do not expect fair treatment.
We need a system that assures everyone of fair treatment. A system that is equitable, just and fair to all. A system that everyone believes in because their delegates were part of crafting the constitution. A system created by the people of Nigeria, not the military.
A new people’s constitution affirmed at a referendum, as opposed to a military creation certain people are struggling to retain in spite of its inadequacies, just because they think it serves their sectional selfish desires.
The fraudulent document fires frustrations and discontent which powers the agitation for secession. The problem is the military constitution. That some people find the truth unpalatable does not change the facts. The truth is bitter.
To be CONTINUED.
