Roadmap to Igbo presidency: Patriotic appeal to the nation

Sir: I am pledging before God and my fellow Igbo people my readiness to work tirelessly and for the emergence of an Igbo President after the second term of President Bola Tinubu. I do not say this for political exigencies.

However, my contention and disagreement with my Igbo brothers and sisters is not about goal but about strategies, it is not about the destination, it is simply about the vehicle and the mode of getting to agreed destination. The issue of Igbo Presidency in the shortest possible time is never in contention and cannot be contended by any fair-minded Nigerian who believes in equity, justice and the inalienable rights of the Igbo to Presidency and such other interests in our commonwealth.

My Igbo people must learn from history. Let us follow the Yoruba strategy. When the June 12, 1993 presidential election of Chief MKO Abiola was annulled by the military junta, the Yoruba nation did not go to war. They did not rain insults and abuses on the rest of Nigeria. They strategised, they negotiated, they engaged in principled, peaceful, political struggles that made the nation come to the realisation that justice must be done.

Consequently, the political class was compelled to field only Yoruba candidates; Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae. That was how power was negotiated and won. That strategy of bridge-building, not island-making, is still available to the Igbo nation today.

People fail to learn from history, and that is why history repeats itself. Even the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo, far more intellectually endowed, more administratively proven, more ideologically grounded than Peter Obi, could not win the Presidency of Nigeria through a regional party. Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu tried it. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe tried it. They all failed. You cannot become President of Nigeria by standing on an ethnic pedestal and mobilising one region against the rest. To win the Presidency, you must join the mainstream.

The Igbo must come to the mainstream of Nigerian politics, they must build bridges, build alliances, and negotiate with the North and the Southwest. Presidency is not given by emotional blackmail; it is earned by political collaboration.

At this juncture and to achieve Igbo Presidency, I humbly wish to proffer a three-point roadmap to 2031: The first one is for my fellow Igbo people to end politics of insults and abuse. You cannot insult, abuse and demonise a people in the morning and expect their votes in the afternoon. Politics is a game of persuasion, not war. No tribe votes for those who abuse them. We must cease all forms of online vituperation against other ethnic groups and leaders.

The second one is that it is very imperative to build bridges across tribes, geo-politics, religion, genders and youth groups, not islands and oasis. An Igbo Presidency cannot be achieved through a religion-driven or ethnicity-driven party platform. Nigeria’s Presidency is a national mandate. Ndigbo must strategically return to mainstream national politics and build enduring alliances with the Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani, Niger-Delta and Middle Belt. Power is negotiated, not demanded.

The third point is for them to present a unifying and a nationally presidential candidate who can be sold to any part of the country. After President Tinubu’s second tenure, Nigeria should present a candidate with proven technocratic pedigree, executive experience, and cross-regional acceptability, a healer and unifier not a divider.

In my humble opinion, a man who fits this bill is His Excellency, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, CFR, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and current Governor of Anambra State. Prof. Soludo possesses more national appeal, administrative depth and global credibility than Peter Obi or, in the alternative, Engr. David Umahi. He is detribalised, competent, and not perceived as divisive. He can unite Nigeria.

Now is the moment for all Nigerians to accept the inescapable and the debt we all owe our fellow Igbo people that the next President of Nigeria must be Igbo. It is no longer a necessity, it is a debt we collectively owe in the interest of national healing, unity, fairness, equity and justice. But for it to happen, wisdom must replace emotion, and strategy must replace sentiment. At this auspicious moment, I humbly appeal to my fellow Nigerians from other tribes whether you be Yoruba, Hausa, Ijaw, Tiv or Ibibio, let all of us work together now for Igbo President of Nigeria come 2031. It is a national duty, it is a task that must be done, we can all collectively achieve it. So help us God.

Banji Alabi Esq. is a Lagos-based legal practitioner and public affairs analyst.