BEVERLY HILLS, August 07, (THEWILL) – There have been clamours amongst some political leaders on the need to allow the Igbos produce Nigeria’s next president come 2023, with political pundits and opinion leaders calling on the power brokers to heed the call to ensure the unity and stability of the country.
If the political calculations and permutations making the rounds are anything to go by then a president of southern extraction which the south east belongs to is in the offing. But it left to be seen how the Igbos are positioned to avail themselves this opportunity to clinch the coveted seat in Aso rock.
According to the proponents of this agenda, it is high time an Igbo person take a shot at the presidency having been the only geo-political zone that is yet to produce a president since the return to democracy.
Prominent among those that have lent their voices to the ongoing call is a founding member of Arewa Consultative Forum and Activist, Tanko Yakasai and a second Republic governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa who in separate interviews stated that it is time to allow the Igbos produce the next president to ensure equity and fairness.
It is not rational to deny the South East the presidential slot in 2023, elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, has said.
He said: “There is no reason to deny the South East the opportunity to produce the president in 2023. The North, West have had it. It will not make sense to deny the South East.
“But then, the Igbos have to work hard for power and convince people because it is a matter of numbers. They have to convince the rest of the country to accept whoever they put forward to be accepted.”
In a related development, a former PDP chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo during a recent interview spat fire threatening the Igbos may be forced to think a different path by aligning with IPOB to seek the attainment of Biafra.
This came as an Akwa Ibom elder and pioneer National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP, Senator Anietie Okon also said that Nigeria will break up if the North refuses to concede the Presidency to the South in 2023.
Nwodo, who was also the former governor of Enugu State and former national secretary of PDP, said Ndigbo have suffered grievous marginalisation in Nigeria and should be given a chance to produce a president for the sake of equity and national unity.
He said this in an interview with Vanguard, adding that the South East geo-political zone has been persecuted for over 50 years even though the region is more patriotic than any other geo-political zone in terms of economic development of the nation.
However it is becoming very glaring that the clamour for 2023 presidency is gathering momentum as alignments and realignments are ongoing toward the political game that would ultimately shape the outcome of the elections, one would wish to ask, what roles and strategies the Igbos have adopted to break the strongholds.
The political actors and gladiators in Igbo land seem to stand on a tripartite arrangement; those scheming for an Igbo president, those clamouring for restructuring and another group who are interested in seeing the Igbo’s disengagement from Nigeria and stand as a sovereign nation.
As the saying goes, a house divided against each other cannot stand, the Igbos must put their house in order and approach 2023 elections as a united house otherwise the clamour to play a host to other tribes from the Nigerian seat of power will be to say the least another mirage and a mere wishful thinking.
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