First of all, the Yoruba, led by late Bola Ige, formed the vanguard of
the main opposition to Abacha’s tyranny in what was called NADECO.
Then they joined with Solomon Lar, Ekwueme and others to form the PDP.
Seeing that this group included those whom he perceived as
pseudo-democrats whom he was not comfortable with, he joined with
Shinkafi to form the APP. But this group consisted of the likes of
Arthur Nzeribe whom Ige could simply not be found dead or even alive
with. He fled and formed the party called the AG, excuse me, the AD.
And at every stop, Ige lost a handful of his followers to the group he
had just left. So within a period of 48 hours, Bola Ige moved his
Yoruba group from NADECO, to PDP, to APP and finally to AD! And it
became inconceivable that anyone, other than Bola Ige (since Abraham
Adesanya was not interested in the presidency) could aspire to that
office. And if anyone told you that the AD was registered because it
met all parameters of registration, please be informed that that was
false. It was registered in order to balance the tripod and to assuage
the feelings of the Yoruba.
The Igbo on the other hand, led by Dr Alex Ekwueme,
was a little more circumspect. They realized that the PDP was a party
that had a more national spread and that Bola Ige had just made the
same political miscalculation which was the hall-mark of Awolowo’s
political career, and to a lesser degree, Zik’s career as well. They
stuck with the PDP, and in my judgment, rightly so. And they
participated in the process of picking Obasanjo as the flag-bearer of
the PDP even against the wish of Obasanjo.s own ethnic group.
The choice of Obasanjo was to serve three purposes:
To cover the tracks of all previous
governments, especially Babangida’s, who brought the country to
her knees.
To hold power in trust for the Hausa and Fulani
for one term of 4 years only during which time they had hoped that
the disease of general amnesia would have caught all Nigerians who
would forget their past misdeeds and
To propitiate the angry people of the West who
felt greatly injured by the unprecedented injustice of denying
Abiola the presidency.
It should be noted however, that Obasanjo was
selected for the same reason his own people had rejected him. In fact,
he was supported to spite the Yoruba and in order to be able to say
that the Yoruba people are fastidious and insatiable. Any other reason
given by the Igbo or the Hausa and Fulani, for their choice of
Obasanjo against other more “credible” Yoruba is therefore dishonest.
So the myth that “we supported Obasanjo, or indeed Sonekan’s interim
government” is nothing but a ruse. Let it be said loud and clear that
if the Igbo really, really wanted to support a Yoruba, they would have
supported Olu Falae who was at that time, rightly or wrongly, the
choice of the Yoruba.
Why did the “north” (excluding the northern
mainstream minorities) pick Obasanjo? And why did the “East”,
especially the Igbo, support those who chose Obasanjo even against
their own Ekwueme?
As for the “north”, the three reasons above will
suffice. But not so the “East”: For some curious reasons, the Igbo
believe that the Hausa and Fulani like them and trust them enough to
entrust them with the presidency whenever, and if ever their turn to
occupy the presidency came around. Even the routine murder of hundreds
of Igbo and now Yoruba in the North by the Hausa and Fulani in just
about every two years since 1966 has not dissuaded the Igbo from going
back to the same place and acting as if nothing has happened! They
continue to trust on the promises of the Hausa and Fulani even when it
is clear the promises have never been and will never be fulfilled. Not
so much because the north is unwilling to trust the Igbo, which they
are not, but more importantly because the Igbo have not done anything
to earn the trust of the Hausa and Fulani and indeed of the rest of
the country including the Yoruba. This is manifested in the political
activities of the leadership of the Igbo and the inherent idiosyncrasy
of the mainstream Igbo in business and even in leisure.
Can any serious minded Nigerian of any ethnic group
fail to notice the activities of people like Nzeribe and even Ojukwu
whom Igbo revel as their leader even when the Igbo should and do know
that these two, especially Ojukwu, will not be acceptable to other
Nigerians for obvious reasons? Can the north forget the rhetoric of
the Igbo during the short period it seemed that Nzeogwu succeeded in
capturing power in the north in 1966? Or during the 6 month-rule of
Aguiyi-Ironsi at the Federal level? Can the Yoruba fail to notice that
the only ethnic group in Nigeria contesting the ownership of Lagos are
the Igbo even when the Yoruba are voting in Igbo people as their
councilors into Local Government Councils in Lagos?
In the run-up toward the 2003 elections, the Igbo
increased the anti-Yoruba rhetoric. They found nothing good in
Obasanjo and all Yoruba. They were angry that Yoruba people were
beginning to show some support for Obasanjo. They expected him to
resign and hand over to an Igbo claiming that it was their turn to run
for that office. They claimed that they supported Abiola when he ran
(knowing that Abiola was not allowed to rule even for only one day),
they called Yoruba people all kinds of names and labeled everyone that
expressed a view contrary to theirs - a tribalist. They labeled Yoruba
a people without principles, untrustworthy and cowardly. Peter Opara
wrote personal letters to me calling me “mad” and condemning all
Yoruba for what they are! He said that Yoruba have never “engaged in a
principled fight” for anything and that Bragadier Ogundipe’s inability
(or refusal) to take over leadership during the 1967 coup was the
height of cowardice which Yoruba are known for. In fact Opara wrote
that the Igbo and Hausa have some important attributes in common: they
are both able to fight for what they believe in, much unlike the
Yoruba who fight with their legs in the opposite direction!
The Igbo or the likes of Peter Opara have probably
forgotten that Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi sacrificed himself for Ironsi
and that the man who obtained Biafran surrender was none other than
Obasanjo. In deed, the 3rd Marine Commando which was essentially a
Yoruba brigade was the arrow-head of the final push against Biafra and
their surrender! Sonekan is not less Yoruba than Abiola. Nor Obasanjo
any less Yoruba than Abiola. Yet, the Yoruba engaged in serious war of
attrition against their governments: “Try and rule us if you can“!
They with-held their support for them and worked assiduously for
Sonekan’s government to fail; and even Babangida’s and Abacha‘s. As
for Obasanjo: try and harm a madman in the market place and find out
to your chagrin, that he has relatives! The Yoruba act on high
principles; not only do the Yoruba act on principles, they use their
intellect to fight their fights for them. Yes, there are times when it
is necessary to use force, and contrary to Opara’s erroneous belief,
they believe in the use of force, but only as a matter of last resort!
And when you resort to force, try to see whether you can use force in
your opponent’s backyard! Yoruba should not be blamed for Ojukwu’s
decision to go to war unprepared. And if Yoruba refused to go to war,
it follows that their self interest would not be better served by
going to war.
The last two years just before the presidential
elections and immediately thereafter till date, we have seen the
intense exhibition of hatred to anything Yoruba by Igbo and Hausa and
Fulani people. This is seen from the write-ups emanating from opinion
leaders on the internet and several forums. I have seen write-ups by
prominent Igbo reminiscing on what a true “democrat” Buhari was and
still is! I have heard Abacha called a statesman! And Babangida a
God-sent messiah and Obasanjo referred to as the worst that could ever
happen to Nigeria! In other words, Murtala who led the putsch against
Gowon was wrong. Buhari was wrong to have spear-headed the coup
against Shagari. IBB should not have removed Buhari and Abacha and the
rest should have allowed IBB to reign for ever. And to crown it all,
Abacha’s tyranny should not have been terminated. And there would have
been no room for Abdusalami Abubakar. Not to talk of Obasanjo!
To put it succinctly, the Igbo have abysmally
failed to diagnose their problems in Nigeria and always blame the
Yoruba for everything that has ever happened to them. And when a group
or a person blames others for their problems, they almost always fail
to address the problem effectively. It is like the American blacks
blaming whites for all their problems. They will continue to wallow in
poverty and ignorance until they start holding themselves responsible
for their situation.
The Igbo is at home in all parts of Yoruba land
going about their business unmolested. Their children go to the same
schools Yoruba children attend and are entitled to, just like Yoruba
children, all the rights and privileges of all residents of Yoruba
land. Lagos State teaching staff, without fear of exaggeration, is at
least 30 per cent Igbo and student population is about 30 per cent
Igbo as well. Except for the period of the civil war when some Igbo
left Yoruba land, not out of fear of Yoruba, but out of sympathy for
and solidarity with Biafra, the Igbo is at peace with the Yoruba in
every part of Yoruba land. And until Biafra’s incursion into Ore, in
present Ondo State, the Yoruba was almost completely neutral on the
issue of the civil war. Question: What is the basis for accusing
Yoruba of all crimes, real or imagined? Why did Igbo team up with NPC
in 1964, NPN in 1979 and 1983, ANPP in 2003 against the Yoruba? Why do
they contest the presidency against a Yoruba, but give in to the
notion that it is the turn of the north to present a candidate for
president in 2007 so easily? Where are candidates of Igbo origin for
the post of president of Nigeria in 2007 and beyond? Why do they date
the Yoruba but always end up marrying the Hausa and Fulani even when,
from their own experience, these marriages always fail and always
will? And if they are running, why would they keep on emphasizing
their Igboness and continuously rankle about Biafra in the process of
running? Why do they emphasize “Igbo Presidency” instead of running
for the post of president of Nigeria just like all others have done?
In a Yoruba adage, the goat is asked why he does
not talk to the sheep. And the goat answered: “I would like to be the
sheep’s friend, but the sheep had told me that none of her siblings is
short and black”. Obasanjo, just like Awolowo, is now the most hated.
All efforts of Obasanjo to address the fears of the Igbo have been
rebuffed. Yet, since 1967 till the second coming of Obasanjo, no Igbo
or Yoruba have ever been appointed commander of a major division of
the army. No Igbo or Yoruba or indeed southerner has been Chief of
Army Staff, or Minister of Defense, or Minister of Interior or
Minister of Federal Capital Territory. And generally speaking,
wherever they are appointed ministers or commanders, there is almost
always a junior minister or deputy commander who is invariably more
powerful than the substantive appointee. Obasanjo has changed this.
Every Nigerian ethnic group is represented in his government. The
credit is Obasanjo’s.
The Igbo or someone from the East, in my humble
opinion, must start preparing for the presidency in 2007. They must go
back to the PDP. Ojukwu’s party will end up like AD. Okadigbo’s party
under Buhari is not it. If an Igbo, he cannot be an Ojukwu, nor an
Nzeribe. He should make friend with all groups in Nigeria particularly
the eastern minorities and the Yoruba. He should not talk about “Igbo
Presidency”. He should de-emphasize the rhetoric about nostalgia for
Biafra. He must, absolutely, refuse the post of Vice-President. He
must start planning from this moment. Those who fail to plan are
almost certainly planning to fail!
