‘Igbos March Towards 2023 Presidency’ by Taiwo Lawrence Adeyemi

7 Min Read

“We celebrate life, what  a wicked world. Some are sitting in the front row seat. We are living in a world with a lot of crazy people, with sycophants. Everyone one of them wants to rule, some people have the front row seats at the gate of hell. We stay in a world full of wicked people.”

“People fight to stay alive everyday, cause they know life is worth more than worries.”

“Some people have nothing except life. Problems are there left and right. Liars, cheaters, politicians and back stabbers making life a little bit more unbearable. It is a give or take world. You got to take what you can when you can and better make the best of it. Life is GOOD! Celebrate Life.” – Lucky Dube

The political landscape in the South East is fragmented. Anambra State is home to All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA], Enugu, Ebonyi, Abia States is home to Peoples Democratic Party [PDP], while Imo State is torn between All Progressive Congress [APC], All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA] and Action Alliance [AA].

The Igbo are ubiquitous; they are everywhere. In the remotest villages, the farthest part of the earth, North Pole, Down Under, all over the world, into anything, commerce, transport, drugs, producing the best brain, etc, you’ll find them there.

Despite producing the former Nigeria Ceremonial President, First Nigeria Military Head of State, Nigeria Vice President, Nigeria Chief of Army Staff, and the current Deputy Senate President, former Deputy Speaker House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of The Federation after 50 years of Nigeria’s independence, the Igbo still demand more.  But they are not complaining too loudly.

After former Vice President Dr. Alex Ekwueme’s humiliation by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Board of Trustees, BOT, he still returned to the PDP. Like the saying in Igbo language ndoro ndoro [push me, I push you].

Igbo names are synonymous with commerce, ruggedness, affluence, wealth. Igbo that produced Emeka Emeagwali, Chinua Achebe, Barth Nnaji, Emeka Anyaoku, Dora Akunyili, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Alvan Ikoku, Augustine Ilodibe, Sir Louis Ojukwu, etc., should be respected.

A tribe regarded as the most industrious on the continent of Africa, Igbo on the other hand mean different things to other tribes in Nigeria. Igbo means cheat, make money at all costs, advanced fee fraud, drug baron, armed robber, human trafficker, anything dirty, the ultimate goal: WEALTH!

Known for displaying wealth, the Igbo worship wealth and affluence. The number of cars you parade increases your standing in society; they love chieftainship titles.

They have an environment ravaged by gully erosion. Igbo nation has the worst road network in Nigeria, no thanks to bad leadership. In over 50 years of Nigeria as a nation, Igbo have never held the exalted office of the President and Commander-in-Chief, except for the brief period of General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi in the 60s. Many reasons can be adduced for this, but a giveaway is what is known in local parlance that Igbo could and should not be trusted. And successive administrations have cashed in on this by appointing Igbo as ministers of information.

A Yoruba adage says ‘Omo ina la ran si’na’, which literally means: ‘To subdue fire, you have to use its antidote.’ From the first republic to the eighth and during the military era, Igbo were handed the job of minister of information.

The 2007 elections [selections] were supervised, signed, sealed and delivered by an Igbo. And it was the last straw that broke the Igbo’s quest of becoming Nigeria’s president, parading 15 or thereabouts presidential candidates from the same ethnic nationality contesting for one position.

The presidency will continue to elude the Igbo unless they come together.

The Igbo are easily disorganised politically, ‘settle’ them and they forget their ambitions. If current trend persists, I see a situation where the Igbo will never have a shot at Nigeria’s highest political office in the foreseeable future.

The Igbo’s woes are self-inflicted; to turn things around they should begin by putting a stop to pointing fingers or blaming the north or the south-west for these woes.

The Igbo cannot afford to continue to weep; rather they should brace up and reverse the trend, and make the prospect of a president of Igbo extraction a reality in 2023. A word is enough for the wise!”

The storm is getting settled now, with less than a month away to 2019 general elections. All Progress Congress [APC] has foreclosed any Igbo man becoming the president in 2023.

Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] has picked it’s vice-president from the South-East geo-political zone in the person of Peter Obi. Yet, instead of a cohesive support for Peter Obi it has been a divergent views from the Igbos on Peter Obi’s candidacy. Who will rescue, save and help the Igbo nation?

With the demise of Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu, All Progressive Grand Alliance [APGA]’s fragmentation [Igbo’s political party], and Ohaneze’s  lack of clout, Igbo nation should as well forget Nigeria’s highest political office.

The Nigeria civil war is over but in tragic sense, Nigeria has now been made safer for ethnic, tribal, and religious vengeance and the great earthquake we called Nigeria Civil War has now been eaten by termites called Igbo. The South West has already laid claim to 2023 presidency.

When will Igbos celebrate life according to the late South African reggae legend Lucky Dube? The long wait for an Igbo to become Nigeria N0 1 citizen will continue to remain elusive…….

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