Who needs an Igbo president in Nigeria?

As a properly educated Nigerian, I have had the time to live fairly significantly in both the technologically advanced as well as other developing countries outside Nigeria. In one of those developing countries, which also received Nigeria’s Technical Aids Corps service assistances at that time, the Nigerians there meet on alternative months in the house of one of us – FROM ALL OVER THE RELATIVELY SMALL COUNTRY, numerically even if not geographically. There were at any given time then, no less than six to twelve Nigerian families FROM ACROSS THIS COUNTRY at any of those gatherings. Our wives would begin to gather by around 8 or 9 am, on the given Saturday. They do their shopping to add up to the various food items that they individually take to the place.

They cook all the variety of Nigerian foods from across the country, ready for the men and the younger children to arrive between noon and 1pm. Our host would usually be allowed to invite 2 to 3 Non-Nigerians in that country to join us in the get together; the sharing in the variety of Nigerian cuisines and our service experiences in the country to be discussed at these gatherings. Such people were ALWAYS highly impressed about Nigerians and what we are able to accomplish for ourselves individually and in the service of other peoples in that country! But the sooner we get back here, what we see becomes very different indeed!

I must however say that this excellent part of the Nigerian person, had not changed between those of us who had returned from the said country; but on the whole, the Nigeria that we see and know, and especially the ways that the Nigerians who have hardly left this place for reasonable sojourns outside here, is very saddening indeed. This is also the case, of some who had had the chance of travelling around the world but seeming never to have learnt anything about living well, in love, respect and valuation of one another while doing so! The case in point is the types of argument that one hears in Nigeria about our politics and mutual governances. Whenever one listens to it, all that exudes from these are such crass tribalism, religious bigotry and all such myopic reasoning; so apparent that one cannot imagine how such otherwise intelligent people come to such reasoning, arguments and conclusions!

As a world citizen (including Nigeria) of Igbo extraction, I am awfully amazed when I hear people say that Igbo people should go and rest from any meaningful involvement in Nigeria’s political leadership until such and such a time; often, so many decades from the time that they are talking! That they should wait for “their turn” at the Nigerian presidency until such and such a time! To put it in the very raw Nigerian parlance, with all due apologies, with the numerical size and otherwise of the Igbo race in Nigeria, and independence for over 58 years, with the national chief executive of the country rotating only between people of Hausa-Fulani extraction or some peculiar Yoruba people (not of the Awo quality, NATURALLY!) approved by them only (with very few and most easily antagonized exceptions to “the rule”), why do people raise the issues of anybody else “having a turn” at the Nigerian presidency at all? I even hear some Igbos themselves who talk and argue about such very silly things about “an Igbo turn at the presidency of Nigeria”! So, I just wonder: WHO IS IN NEED OF AN IGBO PRESIDENCY IN NIGERIA? What difference will it make to such person, persons, the country, or ANY SENSIBLE PERSON(S) for that matter? Why is THAT PURE BOGEY difficult for anybody to see? As for me, anybody who says such a thing should get a booing from everybody around him or her – for the crass stupidity or insulting deception of it!

What EVERYBODY in Nigeria needs is a reasoning, intelligent, capable and civilized person, a true democrat – but not ANY ethnic bigots, religious fanatics, “honest criminals” and non-reasoning and grossly incompetent people – at the helm of our political leadership and governance at one and all the levels! So, please, let nobody talk of such silly things as Igbo president, Yoruba president, Hausa or Fulani, Tiv, Bini or whatever president in this place! Let us have DEMOCRACY, THE RULE OF LAW, good governance, MUTUAL RESPECT, NO MORE ETHNIC CLEANSING, COMPETENCE IN GOVERNANCE; and not “very humble”, “honest”, “non-corrupt”, etc, people governing us, but who are truly incompetent; and who, obviously “doing their bests”, get or appoint cabals to keep ruining us!

With ALL due respects, we saw this with Shehu Shagari (God bless his soul!), with Jonathan, and now with Buhari! This is not to say that those ruling us in-between these people did not have their faults; many of them far worse that these “innocent”, “humble” and “non-corrupt” people holding the country for other social and political brigands to go on ripping us off to death; and antagonizing every bit of this country with each other!

So, in conclusion, shall we say again to all these so-called educated Nigerians, PLEASE RISE UP AND BE COUNTED IN THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL LIFE OF THIS COUNTRY! Let us stop participating in all these ethnic and religious bigotries, let us stop condoning socio-political incompetence for whatever reasons, let us love all these people; but let us FIRST AND FOREMOST, also say the truth wherever we are or go in this country; and let us contribute to the social and political discussions that produce DEMOCRACY AND COMPETENT LEADERSHIP IN THE COUNTRY! Saying such truths will not be hate speech, even if anybody desires to call it so – to his or her personal fancy! The Americans do so to Donald Trump; so others in the UK, France, Germany, etc; to their leaders! God bless us, all.