Chapters

Friday, September 14, 2012

Ndigbo and 2015 Presidency a controversial issue.

During the recent official visit to pIgbo support for Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003 ure th respectively.
It was in the same thinking that Ndigbo supported Shehu Shagari in 1979 and 1983. The Igbo nation also supported the regime of Tafawa Balewa through the NPC/NCNC alliance. President Jonathan did not commit any crime by contesting the 2011 general elections.
It is his right to seek for any political office in the land. Those saying that he disrespected his party’s zoning arrangement are hiding the truth. The truth is that death truncated Yar’Adua’s supposedly given eight years on power. Naturally and Constitutionally, Jonathan found himself in the saddle. It is not of his making either. Similar events in Malawi, Ghana, and Ethiopia have exemplified it and yet heaven did not fall and nobody fought over it. 2015 is still far.
To politicians, it is already here hence Eze used the occasion of Jonathan’s visit to publicly urge him to run for the presidency in 2015. Some critics are of the view that Eze said similar thing to the late maximum ruler Gen. Sani Abacha, when the latter was contemplating transmuting himself to life president, a project most Nigerians hate and vehemently opposed. Abacha’s bid to change from military ruler to civilian president and subsequent endorsement by the then five political parties was so odious that the late Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Chief Bola Ige, described the exercise as the five fingers of a leprous hand. Leprosy, in time past and now, was and is still a dreaded disease. Whether Ndigbo had gained from supporting past Nigerian presidents from other ethnic nationalities or not is still a debatable issue. Such theme is never the concern of this essay. Maybe in future, I may examine it.
The position of Ndigbo in 2015 is very clear and simple. It is never complex. Those making it look complex are either misreading the situation or deliberately provoking trouble where none exists. Ndigbo will support Jonathan or another candidate they deem fit in 2015. If the other candidate happens to be Igbo, so be it. If not, life will still go on for there is time for everything.
There is a time to vote and a time to be voted for. And come 2015, President Jonathan can present himself for re-election. It is his right. But if the president would take the plunge again, such a decision will depend on some crucial factors and not necessarily that an incumbent must go for a second term or that the South-South must complete eight years before power goes to the North. Jonathan’s second term bid must purely be based on performance.
If Jonathan can consolidate the improvement in the power sector and make life more secure for Nigerians by providing their basic needs of water, shelter, road, education, health, jobs and food; Nigerians, including members of the opposition, will campaign for him. If Jonathan can fulfill 50% of his campaign promises, Nigerians will endorse his second term bid effortlessly and urge him to come and complete the good works he has started.
Fortunately for the president, he has three more years for his first term to end. Three years is enough to achieve 50% or more of his campaign promises anchored on the transformation format and ideology. Another term for Jonathan will not be based on lofty electioneering campaign slogans tailored to whip our emotions and sentiments. Nigerians will not fall to such a bait as fresh air again or dealing with one of our own, somebody who went to school without shoes and all those emotive phraseology. Winning the 2015 elections should go beyond the current drama of endorsements here and there. Nigerians are much wiser now and have their eyes wide open. Officials of INEC should be informed that Nigerians will not tolerate rigging come 2015.
If you are still in doubt of what will happen should the 2015 exercise be compromised, ask Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Whoever will emerge as Nigeria’s president come 2015 should work and earn it. It should be based on performance or one’s track record of accomplishments and not on someone’s creed or ethnicity. Incumbency factor is not a guarantee for 2015. Only performance will ens e re-election of an incumbent as demonstrated by Edo people recently