The Nigerian Presidency
and the Igbo Nation By Sabella Ogbobode Abidde One
could argue that within the context of Nigerian politics and society,
and indeed within the context of African politics and society, the Igbo
have made it and have it all. They have everything but political power,
political influence, and political currency -- especially at the
presidential level. Collectively, the Igbo are wealthy, educated, and
intelligent. These are people with global influence, strength of
character, élan and self confidence. The Igbo nation has attributes
most other Nigerian nations can only dream of; and are what most other
nations are not. The Igbo made and makes There are no empirical evidences to support all of the aforementioned reasons; and even most of the anecdotal evidence, as presented to me, is just too weak. The only exception is reason number four: the infighting amongst Igbo elites and between centers of power. The chief plausible reason, as to why we do not yet have a Nigerian president of Igbo background, in my view, is simply psychological in nature. This psychological factor has two closely related components: mistrust of the Igbo by other ethnic groups, and the unspoken determination of the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani to deprive the Igbo of their rightful place in the Nigerian polity. In other words: the North and the West have a deep-seated mistrust of the Igbo and so are bent on restricting, containing, and denying the Igbo their political right. Added to this is their subtle message to other minority groups: the Igbo, as a group, are not to be trusted! The West doesn’t think much of the North; and the North has contempt for the West; yet, both regions have found a way to grudgingly do “political business” and engage in “political prostitution” to the detriment of the Igbo nation. This unholy alliance has its root in the 1966/67-1970 Nigerian Civil War. The relationship the Yoruba and the Hausa-Fulani have with the Igbo reminds me of the relationship the Israelis (especially the Likud Party and Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu in particular) have with Yassar Arafat and the Palestinian Authority: distrust, misconception and hatred! The Israeli worldview is shaped by their sense of history, their sense of isolation and sense of persecution. In this case, the Hausa-Fulani and the Yoruba remembers the events of 1966/67-1970, which have negatively affected their thinking and seem to believe the Igbo had and will always have untold aims towards their wellbeing. Essentially, the North and the West have not rid themselves, psychologically, of their prejudices, negative attitudes and misconception of the Igbo. They have been using their jaundiced perception and misreading of history to thwart the Igbo presidential aspiration. It is this psychological rut, in addition to the infighting and unnecessary wrangling between Igbo power centers that adequately accounts for why the Igbo have been denied the presidency. For the Igbo to become the Nigerian President therefore, they first have to devise a way to speak with one voice and unite under a single visionary leader/power center. The most difficult part would be to cure the North and the West of their prejudices and their psychological wounds. It
doesn’t help that the Igbo have all these centers of competing powers
that seems to be doing At
the individual level, some Hausa-Fulani have great relationship with
some Igbo. Same can also be said of Yoruba elites with fruitful
relationship with some Igbo. But that is not enough. These friendships
and relationships should be extended to the presidential arena. The Igbo
have made significant and measurable contribution to every community
they have settled in. And This
article is not suggesting that the colluding groups overtly or covertly
planned to stop the Igbo from become |