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“Igbo Presidency”, the tortoise and the hare. by Tunde Adenodi.	Ebitu Ukiwe from the East, Augustus Aikhomu from Edo and Mike Akhigbe all played a secondary role to a northern military politician during their time. They had nothing to show for it. Alex Ekwueme was out- played in the Jos convention that chose Olusegun Obasanjo by no less politician than James Nwobodo who got to the podium to start speaking in Hausa!
The part one of this article was published yesterday. If however you did not read the first part yesterday, we have printed part I and part II today for your fullest consumption. You can also go to my home page to read  part I separately In Yoruba mythology, the tortoise is an ubiquitous animal, cunning and witty. And he is slow! But the hare is straight forward, naïve and fast. Their paths often crossed in day to day living and all of the time, the hare emerged at the short end of the stick.
Once upon a time, there was famine and both had to go out together on hunting expedition.  They killed a squirrel. Tortoise said to Hare: “Hare, this squirrel is small and not enough for one, let alone the two of us. If you let me eat this, you will eat the grasscutter when we kill one.” Hare agreed and Tortoise ate the squirrel. Then, they killed a grasscutter. Tortoise said to Hare: “I told you we would kill a grasscutter, didn’t I? If you let me eat this grasscutter, you will eat the deer which we shall kill next!”  A deer is much bigger than a grasscutter. Hare, hungry, but confused and naïve, agreed reluctantly. Then they killed a deer, and a buffalo, and an elephant! Mr Tortoise ate them all, leaving Mr Hare hungry, tired and emaciated! He never got to eat anything! This has been the story behind the Igbo desire to be President of Nigeria in the last 13 years. No! Their desire is not to be Nigeria’s President. Not even Nigeria’s President of Igbo extraction! No! What they want and have always emphasized ad infinitum, ad nuseam is to become Igbo President of Nigeria! If you want to be “Igbo President”, you may wish to go to Biafra! If you want to be “Yoruba President” may be you should go to Oduduwa or to Arewa, if you really want to be Hausa/Fulani President! All northern presidential candidates have always sought to get their Vice Presidential running mates from the East of the Niger with a promise: You will have the first shot at the presidency next time around! The exception was Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. And it was the influence of Obasanjo that brought about Goodluck Jonathan. Moreover, it was the decent thing to do in order to propitiate the angry people of the Niger Delta! Have you seen what the consensus group of Ciroma has done to Jonathan? Whenever I hear or read “Igbo President”, my mind goes to Biafra! The thought of this motivated my article in Gamji and Nigeriaworld in 2001 titled “Igbo, dating Yoruba but marrying Hausa/Fulani” and many others like in 2007 or thereabouts when I wrote: “Those who will not be President”. All presidents of northern extraction have known the weakness of the Igbo. They know that they are desperate for power and would do anything to get as close as possible to power! All potential presidents of northern extraction know this also and are willing to do anything they can to make them their Vice. But, no more than a Vice! Professor Sylvester Ugoh, who ran with Tofa as his Vice, against MKO Abiola/Kingibe, had insisted then that he would rather play the second fiddle as opposed to no fiddle at all. He was Igbo. Do the Igbo know that no Hausa/Fulani wants to play second fiddle to any one let alone to an Igbo? Awolowo sought for a running mate for more than six months before he got an unknown Alhaji Muhamadu Kusa in his UPN days? No one stepped forward to run with him!  In the context of “Igbo Presidency” which appears to be the battle cry of the Igbo since 2001, the tortoise is the North, the hare is the Igbo, and of course the kill is the Nigerian Presidency that has eluded the Igbo since the civil war. And let me add, to the consternation of my Igbo readers that the Nigerian Presidency will continue to elude the Igbo until they stop talking about “Igbo Presidency”. I have said it before and I am saying again for the umpteeth time, that the Igbo will not be president unless they start campaigning for the post of President of Nigeria and NOT “Igbo President of Nigeria”. Nobody in Nigeria wants Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa or Ijaw President! What Nigerians want is a President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And this is one of the many reasons why Abubakar Atiku of the North will lose the 2011 elections. He is a confirmed consensus representative of the North and therefore will lose the nomination to Goodluck Jonathan. Need I remind you that Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is campaigning to be President of Nigeria and NOT Ijaw President?! Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe had always played the bride to the Hausa/Fulani political class throughout his political career. He took the title of Governor General and then President during the First Republic. This post had no executive responsibility. It was almost like the Vice President but without being a Commander-in-Chief. No! Not quite. A Commander-in-chief can exercise authority over the troops, but Zik could not! He was in every way subservient to Tafawa Balewa, the Prime Minister of Nigeria! At one point Zik was called “Zik of Africa”! Then he became the “bride” of Nigerian politics and died as Owele of Onitsha! Ebitu Ukiwe from the East, Augustus Aikhomu from Edo and Mike Akhigbe all played a secondary role to a northern military politician during their time. They had nothing to show for it. Alex Ekwueme was out- played in the Jos convention that chose Olusegun Obasanjo by no less politician than James Nwobodo who got to the podium to start speaking in Hausa! Ekwueme was Vice President to Shehu Shagari for four years. He also had nothing to show for it. Okadigbo, I believe it was, was Vice Presidential candidate to one of them in 2003? It is hard to imagine why a Ken Nnamani would wish to be Vice President to Atiku Abubakar! Or Soludo or all the other names from which Alex Ekwueme’s committee is to select one to be Atiku’s running mate in the 2011 elections! And is it not a disgrace that Ekwueme is searching for a vice for Abubakar Atiku? Goodluck Jonathan is the President. He is running for President in 2011. Let the Igbo rally round him just like most Nigerians rallied round Abiola to elect him in 1992. Let whoever believes in him and what he stands for campaign for him and with him. Let there be an Igbo with the pedigree of Ezeife, Anyaoku, Ukiwe and many others start getting ready for a bigger role in the politics of Nigeria. Let them join the fray and run for President in 2015 and beyond if Jonathan does not present himself for a second term run and if he is seen by all to have done a good job during his first term in office. But let them NOT talk about “Igbo Presidency” for a ever!

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