The most memorable political campaign I’ve witnessed was also the most entertaining and was inspired by an Ibo man contesting for the office of a local government chairman. The campaign was not conducted in Nnewi or any place in Anambra but in Bida, Niger State; a Nupe town where the indigene (if those in Plateau will be so generous to allow me borrow their definition) population is 100 per cent Muslim.
The most memorable political campaign I’ve witnessed was also the most entertaining and was inspired by an Ibo man contesting for the office of a local government chairman. The campaign was not conducted in Nnewi or any place in Anambra but in Bida, Niger State; a Nupe town where the indigene (if those in Plateau will be so generous to allow me borrow their definition) population is 100 per cent Muslim.
The Ibo candidate, Anakwe, was not a Muslim but young men in their hundreds filed out behind him in their cars and motorcycles, women sang his song, adults hung his posters in their homes and everybody chanted his slogan: “Anakwe Guta Guta! Anakwe Guta Guta! Anakwe…!”
Did Anakwe win the election? No. But he came close; however, the most important point here is the courage he displayed by contesting for a position in a land that others may consider foreign. This courage, which is common among the Ndigbo is one thing I admire about them.
The second thing is their enterprising spirit. Another story will make my point clear. The first time I met a Nigerian undergraduate at my university, he gave me a flier. The flier stated he’s a barber and the prospective customer could call on him any time a hair cut was needed. Before then I always wondered how any undergraduate student will survive without a scholarship (foreign students can only work during holidays).
Mainly because we’re impressed by his enterprising sprightliness and partly because we as Ph.D. students were paid for reading and writing while he was not, we stopped going to the Indian barber shops and gave him our customs. I even endured his crappy cuts (until he got better) and advertised on his behalf - to anyone who’ll listen. This guy, as you’ve already guessed, is Ibo.
So why is Ndigbo not combining these excellent attributes to deepen the indispensability of their political assets?
I don’t want to analyse what I don’t know because doing that will be arrogant and mischievous. It’s not cool when an ignorant fool tries to analyse your region. For example when the geosciences society confirmed the discovery of oil deposits in Bida, someone posted on the Internet that there’s no way that could be true because Bida is a mountainous area!
So I do not attempt to tell the Ndigbo about their own people. What I can do, however, is to state the obvious (what I can see) as it relates to the South East.
And I can see that none of the vice presidential candidates of the major parties is Ibo. I can also see that it’s not clear who Ndigbo will vote for as compared to, for example, the North West; although entering into a political deal in preparation for 2015 is more important to South East than any other region.
The Ndigbo’s problem is like that of a genius who has many choices. Should I follow my passion and be the greatest artist in the world? Or should I use my considerable brain power to pursue science so that I can make useful inventions? That’s the genius dilemma. He’s interested in everything because, he can excel in anything. And because of these endless choices, he ends up choosing nothing and consequently not becoming the greatest artist or an inventor. In the world of literature, Ndigbo would be reminded that in what’s called the Literary Family of the Brontes, it was the brother, Branwell, who was thought to be the gifted one in the family but the world knows nothing about him because he couldn’t make up his mind soon enough. But we know enough about his sisters (Charlotte's, Emily and Anne) – at least many of us have read Jane Eyre written by Charlotte.
In psychology also, we’ve learnt that – although offering people options gives them perceived power - having too many choices is a bad thing. It’s called choice overload. In her book, ‘The Art of Choosing’ Columbia Business School social psychologist Sheena Iyengar argues that when confronted with a plethora of choices, many people prefer to make no choice at all. Even businesses have started utilizing this startling discovery in their marketing endeavours.
Ndigbo is confronted with so many choices (leaving the country, moving to another part of Nigeria, focusing on business and ignoring the charade, joining the charade, organizing their charade and so forth) including the option of secession. I once asked one of my Ibo friends in Abuja if he favoured the creation of Biafra and without hesitation he answered “Of course!” Ironically, this Ibo friend is Muslim. He’s devoted to the religion (inadvertently called the Hausa religion by the mainstream Ibo) and so knowledgeable in it that he’s my Malam (religious teacher) of sorts.
But South Easterners are not alone in desiring to break away from Nigeria. Every part of Nigeria wants it – including the north, although they may be less vocal about it. Those who maybe against that notion in the north are those on top; by top here I mean the topmost level because even those regarded as elites want it. The only reason (Southerners believe) the North will not want to break is because of oil money. However, the people are not enjoying the money so why would they want to remain because of it?
Although breaking into different parts is a mutual desire, the fulfilment of it is not probable any time soon, so let’s focus on the present politics.
Assuming occupying Aso Rock in 2015 is the immediate goal of Ndigbo, we can say that after plugging numbers into a simple arithmetic model of a game theory, we can objectively conclude that Ndigbo’s best choice is Buhari. This is not because Buhari is the writer’s candidate, which he is, after all I created www.Diaspora4buhari.com. Rather, my reasons are:
One, among the major candidates, those that openly stated they’re only running for one term are Dr Jonathan and General Buhari. Between these two, the most trustworthy is Buhari. No matter where you stand on the zoning wahala, you can’t run away from the fact that Jonathan breached an agreement. First of all they said it was a gentleman’s agreement then Mohammed Haruna pointed out in one of his columns in The Nation and Daily Trust that the zoning clause is in fact in the PDP constitution. Initially the president denied it.
Then he confessed that he didn’t read the PDP constitution and that maybe he should “read it.” Then his camp said that there’s an agreement but it’s always observed in the breach. Then the president said zoning applied to all offices except of the president. The latest is that the convention abrogated any rule on zoning. Sule Lamido, a Pro-Jonathan governor of Jigawa State said in an interview with Sunday Trust of February 13 2011: “Now, let me remind you what I said there also, that because the convention is the highest authority of the party, it would mean that zoning has been formally abrogated if he won at the convention.” But that’s also old news now. The latest is “zoning is alive and well” as stated by Obasanjo during Jonathan’s last campaign rally in Abuja on Saturday.
This is in no way supporting zoning; offices should be merited. But who are we kidding? Zoning is not only ubiquitous in our nation, we’re also enveloped in it; National Assembly, Federal Character, all political parties (it may not be in their constitutions but all offices are zoned) and the national constitution. Thus, Obasanjo was right. Zoning is alive not only in PDP but in Nigeria. So based on this principle alone, Ndigbo deserves presidency not later than 2015. For example, I can’t wait for the day that Professor Pat Utomi will be our president – this is a personal wish by the way, so attack dogs hold your fire. I also admire Rochas Okorocha and pray he wins the governorship election this April. This is because the guy is a giver and even if he becomes governor, he can’t stop giving (i.e. delivering projects to his people).
Second, if Jonathan wins the election, and if he honoured his promise to only stay for one term, do you think he will support in Ndigbo in 2015; after the psychological assault launched by Ciroma and company? If Abba Aji, Jonathan’s adviser, said South East can only taste power in 2023, do you think that came out of nowhere? That’s probably what Jonathan is planning. But if Buhari wins, we know he’s going to honour is promise to stay for one term and because he’s a northerner and because Obasanjo (a Yoruba) recently spent eight years, Ndigbo will have the sympathy and support to produce the next president.
Finally, the 7.5 million voters from the five states in the South East may not sound much but they’re enough bargaining chip. And if the Ndigbo pledge that number to Buhari and enter into an agreement, he’ll be indebted to them and support them in 2015. But if Jonathan wins, we will not only have to revisit Senator Abba Aji’s prediction but the fact that zoning will die, albeit, unnatural death. This is because, although Buhari may not contest again, there’ll be several Ribadus who will come from the North.
It’s comforting that even without this permutations in mind, some Ibos have started supporting Buhari, for example ‘Buhari's Handshake And Handcuff,’ the most objective, convincing and informative article on Buhari, was written by an Ibo, Ebele Chukwu. I think every neutral should read the article here www.kubwaexpress.com/buhari’s-handshake-and-handcuff/
It’s now left for Ndigbo as a nation to declare its support. Will the genius make the choice?
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