MINISTER of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola, at the special Town Hall meeting by officials of the Federal Government held in Ibadan last week hit at what would be seen as a devastating blow to the heart of some political power brokers in the South-East.
Fashola, at the gathering, put together to highlight the infrastructural achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the South-West declared flatly that the presidency would return to the South-West in 2023, if they vote for a Buhari Presidency in 2019.
It was a big jolt to the South-East converts into the All Progressives Congress (APC), whose main campaign item was the guarantee of a return of power to the zone after Buhari’s second term in office in 2023.
Not a few APC converts have been vociferous lately about a possible Igbo 2023 agenda, which would see the region produce a President for the first time since 1966.
Former Governor of Abia state, Orji Uzor Kalu, Senator Ifeanyi Araraume, and Senator Hope Uzordinma have repeatedly claimed that Buhari had perfected a 2023 agenda that would guarantee Nigerian Presidency to a Nigerian of South-East extraction. Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha had also said a while ago that Buhari’s presidency beyond 2019 was the fastest way to return Igbo to power by 2023. But all that appeared to have been nullified by Fashola’s declarative statement.
Some months back, I wrote a piece here to highlight why the South-East should not get hooked on the undocumented hope of 2023 Presidency. First, I had posited that the APC does not have zoning in its constitution. And again, I reminded the South-Easterners that the configuration of the APC rests largely on North-West/South-West pillars, something that would make it a difficult task ceding power to the South- East ahead of the South-West in that party.
Now the argument of a South-Westerner in the APC is simple. The party was not privy to whatever happened within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and cannot be burdened by the PDP zoning arrangement. Again, the South-West chieftain of the APC would also argue that at inception, the APC drew strength from the zone and that loyalty should not be rewarded with contempt.
Minister Fashola, however, let the cat out of the bag in good time to justify my previous postulations. At the zonal Town Hall meeting, he said: “Did you know that power is rotating to the South-West after the completion of Buhari’s tenure if you vote for him in 2019?
“Your child cannot surrender her waist for edifying beads and you will use the bead to decorate another child’s waist. A vote for Buhari in 2019, means a return of power to the South-West in 2023. I am sure you will vote wisely.”
According to him, the Buhari administration had kept its promises of securing Nigerian, fighting corruption and rebuilding the economy, its three pronged promise pre-2015 election.
But the signs have been there all along to indicate that the North-West/South-West arrangement in the APC is not bound by just a mere tread. It is tied by umbilical cord that is difficult to sever. While the South-East only donated Rochas Okorocha and a fraction of APGA to the alliance, the South West brought close to 100 members of the National Assembly and Governors, including the finances of its key state of Lagos. Funds from the South-West not only stabilised the APC at its formative stages, but also procured it the international political communications firm that defined the 2015 agenda of the party.
So ordinarily, if there is the possibility of taking a shot at the presidency, you would expect those who have made such contributions to pop up and lay claim. Besides, if Buhari remains in power beyond 2019, the South West would have consolidated the Vice Presidency slot and the man on that seat would be expected to get ‘a right of first refusal’ when his boss’ tenure expires.
On what pillars are the South-Easterners resting the possibility of the 2023 presidency? Hope, simply hope. But the campaigners have also been making a demand of their brothers from the East: Vote for Buhari. Some have blamed their compatriots for “keeping all their eggs in one basket” in 2015, while positing that the decision of the Eastern electorate to plunge fully into the PDP was responsible for the form of marginalisation they suffer in the current administration. That appears like a justification of the 97/5 per cent theory.
But I say to the people of South-East, the surest way to producing a President of Igbo extraction is not by being apologetic of whom you are. It is by affirming your Nigerianness at every instance. Rather than beg a President to change his 97/5 per cent stance, the Igbo should insist on the constitutional provisions that make such a stance impossible. Rather than beg to be included in the Nigerian project, the Igbo should showcase their commitment to the federation and make it impossible for anyone to marginalise them.
I am one of those who believe that the South-East has demonstrated commitment to Nigeria over the years. Yes, there was a civil war, but immediately the war ended, Igbo sons and daughters fanned out of their immediate territory and found abodes among other Nigerians. They are found in villages, hamlets and towns. They are found engaging in commerce and they never shy away from dabbling into any business that possess a hint of profitability. They are also doing well in academics. With such qualities, no one can deny the South-East of the Nigerian Presidency for long.