An Igbo can not be trusted as President. Nigeria's 419 Constitution. (Part 5)

  In part 4 of this article, I made an assertion that it is a mission impossible for an Ndi-igbo to be Nigeria's President, based on the present constitution and political system. This part explains the reasons for this assertion.
 
  Let us start our analysis from 1979. A layman or somebody who was apolitic knew that Zik and Awo were the better candidates. If we were really interested in building a  strong, prosperous and united nation, we should be interested in choosing the best among us, irrespetive of his tribe or origin , to be our leader. Unfortunately, that reasoning  did not apply in 1979. The excuse the north came up with for not accepting the candidacy of Papa Awo was that he was "a tribalist and a sectional leader"

 Okay, if Papa Awo was not acceptable to the north because he was a tribalist, what about Zik? Was Zik also a tribalist? So, why wasn't his candidacy accepted too? Oh, they suddenly remembered: "Zik was an Igbo man, and the Ndi-Igbos could not be trusted with Nigerian  Presidency!  The civil war was not only still fresh in mind, but the key actors were still around and looking at one another, especially the Ndi-Igbos, with suspiction.

 Permit me some digression, but in a way related to this topic. Sometime last year, I was discussing Nigerian politics with a Yoruba friend  of mine, with a ph.D in chemical engineering. I was very disappointed and angry  with him when he told me that the Igbos could not be trusted with the presidency. I simply told him that if you don't trust them with the Presidency, why is your Nigeria holding them by force. Why not allow them to go! I asked him about the purpose of having as a business partner somebody that you could not trust. I asked him further, so an Hausa man can be trusted with the presidency? Gowon could be trusted with the presidency? Shagari could be trusted? Murtala could be trusted? Buhari could be trusted? Babangida could be trusted? Abacha could be trusted? But, Zik could not be trusted? Enahoro could not be trusted? Ukiwe could not be trusted? Utomi can not be trusted? Soludo can not be trusted? Prof. Dora Akunyili can not be trusted? Iweala can not be trusted? Ezekweli, alias "Madam due diligence," can not be trusted?  However, Yar'adua, a chemistry teacher, with chronic kidney disease, and poor performance as governor of Katsina for 8 years can be trusted! Even ibb - alias, evil genius, after what he had done to Nigeria and Nigerians  can still be trusted the second time. Can't you see how Obj. is sending him on different diplomatic peace missions?

  The north went on to vote for Shagari overwhemingly simply because he was their man, and the only person among the presidential candidates that they could trust. They did not need the ingeniusness and talent of neither Zik nor Papa Awo to develop Nigeria. They just needed their man, plain and simple, even if he is deaf, dumb, blind, handicapped and is dying of leprosy or kidney disease.

 The propaganda that somebody could be trusted and another could not be trusted is a very effective political propaganda and strategy from the north. It was so effective to the extent that even my Yoruba friend with a ph.D in chemical engineering, a couple of years older than me, and presently working for the largest mining company in the world, fell for it. And, mind you, I am talking about somebody who has lived abroad for more than 20 years. What then do we expect from an illiterate or semi-illiterate back at home?

It dawned on me that the north could trust the ingenius Ndi-Igbos as ball boys, errand boys, third class citizens that will do dirty jobs in education, in the central bank and finance, while the north holds on to power.

  Let us move over to June 12, 1994. Abiola emerged the winner in a free and fair election to the disbelief of the establishment. He even defeated Tofa in his state. We all thought that the jinx had been broken at last, and that we were now heading towards building  a united and fair country. We thought that the vicious cycle was over. Unfortunately, it turned out that our celebrations and joy were too early. The northern thugs in military uniforms had other plans for us and Nigeria. The announcement of the remaining results of the election was stopped abruptdly. Consequently, Omo esu refused  to hand over power to MKO, using some stupid, funny, flimsy and unpalatable excuses. In a nutshell, whatever the reasons omo esu had, the bottom line was that the north refused to hand over, and retained power. Protests were mainly from the South. There was not a single protest in the north, neither from the so called northern leaders, elites nor traditional leaders about the day-light fraud and injustice. None of them lost their sleep over it. Afterall, it was a Yoruba man that was denied the presidency, and not a northerner. The rest, as they is now history.

 Let us continue our analysis from 1999. It was unanimously decided that a Yoruba man would be the president. The Yorubas presented Falae as their unanimous candidate. But, what did ibb and his Othman Dan Fodio brothers do? They "lobbied" Obj., a  thug formerly in military uniform into the election. They backed him generously with their money and votes. The rest, as they say, is now history.

 Why did ibb and his evil Othman Dan Fodio brothers pick Obasanjo? Because he is their man. They know him well, and were sure that he would not rock the boat. They knew that he would maintain the status quo. They knew that he would not carry out the necessary political, economical and constitutional reforms that will bring genuine leaders who will move the country forward. They knew that he would not allow a sovereign national conference, talkless of implimenting its recommendations. 

  They turned out to be right. Obasanjo did not disappoint them. All efforts to have a sovereign national conference that will eventually pave way for a new and fair constitution was rebuffed and frustrated by Obasanjo.
The intial anti-north, pro-Nigeria programs or campaigns were just camouflages. Afterall, today, we still have in place, intact; without any amendments, raw, the same constitution that was drawn up by the military, and the same political system that ensured Shagari's victory, is still being used to choose our leaders, and most likely will be used to choose Yar'adua too.

  Moreover, ibb alias omo esu is not only enjoying his loots, loots running into billions of dollars from the Niger delta oil that he never sweat for, but he is also being sent on different national diplomatic missions in the capacity of "senior state man."  To millions of Nigerians, ibb   is a thief and murder (whose 8 years reign of terror brought nothing but tears and hunger) who should be hanged like Saddam Hussein, and buried like a dog. Millions of Nigerians directly and indirectly were sent to the world beyond through hunger, diseases, poverty, stress and frustration due to ibb's economic and political programmes. But to Obasanjo and P.D.P., ibb is a senior state man. He is a king maker, whose approval and finance are sorted by aspirants. Infact, some "eminent Nigerians," including unfortunately "our learned?" Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi are still lobbying him to contest because they believe that he's 'the messiah' that Nigeria is desperately waiting for.

 In 2003, an Ndi-Igbo candidate in the person of highly respected Chief Enahoro slugged it out with Obasanjo for the PDP presidential ticket. It was obvious that Chief Enahoro was the much better candidate. Moreover, to compensate the Igbos for negligence all these years, most especially after the civil war, it would had made sense and be fair to give Enahoro the PDP ticket. Again, the establishment did not see things as  we ordinary mortals saw it.  They suddenly remembered again that Enahoro is an "Okoro man" to the cure. Verdict: "sorry fellow Nigerians, Chief Enahoro being of Igbo extraction can not be trusted with the keys to Aso rock! They did their mago-mago again, and Obj. emerged the winner. As the saying goes, the rest is history.

  The descendants of Othman Dan Fodio can not take the risk of allowing Enahoro who played one of the key roles in securing our independence to spend not even  a night at Aso rock! And, come to think of it, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. Afterall, they know Obasanjo  very well. They went to war together - were in the same front against the poor Ndi-Igbos. Moreso, they have heard Obasanjo many times using any occasion when he is in the midst of the Ndi-Igbos, to remind them not only about the civil war, but also about their defeat and boasts about the key role that he personally played in it.

TO BE CONTINUED ...

abm1900@mail.ru 

Robot  # 1 | 15.04.2007 06:45

An Igbo can not be trusted as President. Nigeria's 419 Constitution. (Part 5) ...Read the full article.

overdryv  # 2 | 15.04.2007 08:58

The last time I checked, Enahoro is an Ishan man from Edo state. Except there is a new boundary adjustment and reclassification of tribes Enahoro remains Ishan and not Igbo. The person you meant could be Alex Ekwueme who was even betrayed by his Igbo brothers during the presidential primaries of 2003. The issue of northern domination has been recurring in our polity. With Obj's exit on 29th of may this year, if it happens, the north would say the south had had its 8 year term when in fact they ruled through Obj by proxy. Obj has confirmed himself that he is more northern than most emirs. The question of Igbo presidency is really pathetic. From the way things are going, Nigerian presidency would continue to elude the Igbo in the next 30 years. When the north is done, they would instal their stooge from SS and after that they would take over. The mood in the SS is that Se would never get a shot at the presidency before them.

akuluouno  # 3 | 15.04.2007 09:41

So in conclusion the North gives and takes the presidency to whomever they want? They literally annoint and disannoint the president and you still call us a federal republic and not a northern republic of Nigeria?. BTW I do not know when you began your Nigerian history seeing that ab initio we do not have one anyway and where we have we take the issues a la carte, but where does Zik's ceremonial presidency from 1960 to 1966 as well as Maj Gen Ironsi's brief interragnum as Supreme Commander square into your circle or were you thinking that they were northerners seeing that to be president is to be northerner? I believe that until we begin to deconstruct our mind from the use of words such as trust, like, love and other emotional/subjective qualifications in the search for leaders and rather focus on rational issues and ideas that would collectively lift us from the morass, we might be making progress akin to the barbers swivel chair and mistaking it for progress. :sad: :sad:

Tony  # 4 | 15.04.2007 09:53

=overdryv;168656>The last time I checked, Enahoro is an Ishan man from Edo state. Except there is a new boundary adjustment and reclassification of tribes Enahoro remains Ishan and not Igbo. The person you meant could be Alex Ekwueme who was even betrayed by his Igbo brothers during the presidential primaries of 2003. The issue of northern domination has been recurring in our polity. With Obj's exit on 29th of may this year, if it happens, the north would say the south had had its 8 year term when in fact they ruled through Obj by proxy. Obj has confirmed himself that he is more northern than most emirs. The question of Igbo presidency is really pathetic. From the way things are going, Nigerian presidency would continue to elude the Igbo in the next 30 years. When the north is done, they would instal their stooge from SS and after that they would take over. The mood in the SS is that Se would never get a shot at the presidency before them. @Overdry: You are right, he must have been referring to Dr Alex Ekwueme. You mentioned that Ekwueme was betrayed by his Igbo brothers in 2003. You Nigerians are very funny to expect that every Igbo must back an Igbo candidate. It is absolutely impossible, and is part of the beauty of democracy. Individuals sometimes have their own self interest. Akintola who seriously opposed Awolowo was a Yorubaman. Abimbola Davies and Kenny Martins who were members of the ABN that scuttled june 12 were Yoruba's. Ernest Shonekan who accepted to serve during the june 12 crisis is also a Yorubaman. The frontman for third term Ibrahim Mantu is a Northerner, so in life people act for their own selfish interests. Even if those guys had backed Ekwueme, he could not have defeated Obasanjo who was already an incumbent. As for the South-south they only came into the political contention a few years ago because of crude oil, and they are a made up of different minority tribes. It is disingenous to say the South-south is of the opinion they must come to power before the southeast, who dash monkey banana? If you understand Nigeria very well, you would know it is even going to be very difficult for a minority from a generally disunited Southern Nigeria, and also disunited south-south to rule Nigeria, except he is going to be an absolute boy boy to the North, if not he cant last in that seat when faced with the contending power play between the 3 major tribes. In my opinion, except Nigeria is restructured, the South cannot smell that sit again, untill Nigeria finally breaks.

overdryv  # 5 | 15.04.2007 10:06

=Tony;168670>@Overdry: You are right, he must have been referring to Dr Alex Ekwueme. You mentioned that Ekwueme was betrayed by his Igbo brothers in 2003. You Nigerians are very funny to expect that every Igbo must back an Igbo candidate. It is absolutely impossible, and is part of the beauty of democracy. Individuals sometimes have their own self interest. Akintola who seriously opposed Awolowo was a Yorubaman. Abimbola Davies and Kenny Martins who were members of the ABN that scuttled june 12 were Yoruba's. Ernest Shonekan who accepted to serve during the june 12 crisis is also a Yorubaman. The frontman for third term Ibrahim Mantu is a Northerner, so in life people act for their own selfish interests. Even if those guys had backed Ekwueme, he could not have defeated Obasanjo who was already an incumbent. As for the South-south they only came into the political contention a few years ago because of crude oil, and they are a made up of different minority tribes. It is disingenous to say the South-south is of the opinion they must come to power before the southeast, who dash monkey banana? If you understand Nigeria very well, you would know it is even going to be very difficult for a minority from a generally disunited Southern Nigeria, and also disunited south-south to rule Nigeria, except he is going to be an absolute boy boy to the North, if not he cant last in that seat when faced with the contending power play between the 3 major tribes. In my opinion, except Nigeria is restructured, the South cannot smell that sit again, untill Nigeria finally breaks. There is no problem when an Igbo votes against the Igbo in a democracy.But which democracy are we talking about? This is the problems with Nigerians, they dont seem to realise that what we have a pesudo-democracy in which the north and military class position their puppets in power. These are the people who engineer Igbo to vote against their own people. These are the people who put people like Odili, Ibori, Igbinedion , Alamiesagha and other looters into power. Nigeria politics has always been one remote-controlled by the ruling cabal.

chubrock  # 6 | 15.04.2007 13:33

My friend you are so myopic. Which North voted for Shagari en masse? Keep to facts. Shagari could not have been president without votes from the South. No matter how you try to tip the scales. I was alive and well then and I know for sure that Shagari did not win Borno, Kano, Gongola, Plateau. He won Niger, Sokoto, Bauchi, Benue, Cross Rivers, Kwara, Rivers. Based on the above you cannot just draw a line and say he was voted voted by the North. If those votes from the only two South South states then were not there. HE COULD NOT HAVE WON. And I am still yet to see a Nigerian President that was voted only from one region.

lara  # 7 | 16.04.2007 07:18

=overdryv;168656>The last time I checked, Enahoro is an Ishan man from Edo state. Except there is a new boundary adjustment and reclassification of tribes Enahoro remains Ishan and not Igbo. =chubrock> My friend you are so myopic. Which North voted for Shagari en masse? Keep to facts. Lara.