Will an Igbo emerge as the president of Nigeria in the nearest future? I have this gut feeling that the answer is no. Why? Are the Igbo not qualified to rule Nigeria? The stated reason is different from the unstated real reason.

In almost all countries of the world, where there has a struggle for freedom or independence, once self-rule was achieved, the leader of the struggle, more often than not, emerged as the political leader of the new free state. Examples are many: the United States, George Washington; South Africa, Nelson Mandela; Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah; Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta; Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe; Namibia, Sam Nujoma; Tanzania, Julius Nyerere; Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda; etc.

However, in the case of Nigeria, the leader of Nigeria’s liberation struggle from the British, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, did not win the election that would have made him take over Nigeria’s leadership at independence like his contemporaries in other African countries then. Victory went the way of the Northern People’s Congress, and Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was chosen by his party to lead Nigeria. Ironically, the NPC had walked out of parliament in 1953 when Chief Anthony Enahoro had moved a motion for the independence of Nigeria. The NPC’s reason was that the North was not ready for political independence yet!

That was a pointer to the fact that Nigeria from independence was a peculiar or unusual nation. Even before independence, most parts of Nigeria put the good of their ethnic region before the good of the nation and their compatriots. Nigeria was, therefore, a nation that was built on cronyism which has hampered its growth all through the years.

If you listen to most Nigerians, including Igbo, you will hear that the reason why Nigeria’s presidency still eludes the Igbo is because they are not united. This excuse has been rehashed so much that many people believe that it is the biggest challenge facing the Igbo presidency. It is passed around as the gospel truth that for Igbo to win the Presidency, they have to unite and present a single candidate. But looking at this reason critically and logically, is it tenable and cogent? No. Let’s compare a few presidents of Nigeria and how they emerged.

In 1979 when Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a northerner, emerged as the President of Nigeria, he contested against one Igbo man (Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe) and one Yoruba man (Chief Obafemi Awolowo), but was he the only Northerner? No. He had two other fellow Northerners to contend with: Mallam Aminu Kano of the People’s Redemption Party and Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim of the Great Nigeria People’s Party. One would have thought that in the spirit of Northern solidarity and unity, Kano and Ibrahim would have stepped down for Shagari, failing which the latter would have lost the election. The same thing happened in 1983 when Shagari sought a second term and still won despite the “lack of Northern unity.”

When Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua was contesting the Presidency in 2007, two strong contenders: Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Nigeria People’s Party and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the then Action Congress did not step down for Yar’Adua to show that the North was united. Yet, Yar’Adua was declared the winner.

In 1999, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo contested the presidency, his people of the South-West did not rally round him. In spite of the fact that the then Alliance for Democracy won all the states in the South-West, Obasanjo still won the presidential election.

The current President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, was never elected on the basis of the excessive display of unity by his Ijaw ethnic group or South-South people.

On the contrary, once any ethnic group shows undue support for its kinsman, the other parts of Nigeria are usually alarmed and on their guards. Therefore, no Nigerian has ever been elected on the basis of the “unity” of his ethnic group. So bandying that point as the reason why the presidency has been eluding the Igbo is not really smart.

The unstated real reason why the Igbo may not rule Nigeria in the nearest future is Igbophobia: most Nigerians are afraid of the Igbo for various reasons, real and imagined.

When Nigerians make diplomatic or political statements, they shroud the real reasons why an Igbo presidency may be a Herculean task. But when you hear many non-Igbo talk among themselves or when online commentators comment under the cloak of anonymity or during bouts of anger, you hear the real reasons why Igbo presidency is still far away.

There is also the fear that since the Igbo already have financial power, that the acquisition of political power would give them too much power. But even though the Igbo middle class may be more financially empowered in the nation, the people who own corporate Nigeria (the corporations) are not the Igbo. So this fear is unfounded.

There is also the fear that comes from the perception that the Igbo have a plan to buy over many Nigerian cities and be in control of them. That is completely unfounded. There is no Igbo meeting where Igbo are told to buy up property in other ethnic zones so as to take them over in the future. The Igbo just don’t like the high cost of rent they pay regularly. They also want to have investment that will yield proceeds for them and their children. But most importantly, the Igbo believe that it is wicked to make money in an area but fail to contribute to the development of that area the way parasites and vampires do. There is an Igbo saying which captures this mindset succinctly: Ebe onye bi ka-na-awachi (one must take care of wherever one lives.) So they buy property wherever they live and make that area better than they found it.

But the more Nigerians deny Ndigbo the presidency for whatever reasons, the more they portray Nigeria as a land of inequity and injustice. But most importantly, given the mediocrity Nigeria has suffered in the area of leadership for decades, the emergence of a Nigerian president from Igboland will be more advantageous to Nigeria than to the Igbo, for in office, they try as much as possible to make a mark and be seen as nationalistic rather than parochial
http://www.punchng.com/viewpoint/reason-the-presidency-still-eludes-ndigbo/