BY RICHARD ANYAMELE

President Goodluck Jonathan and General Mahummadu Buhari will soon know their fate, but the truth is that Jonathan’s (South-south) rule is as good as over. In 2011, Igbos voted Jonathan en masse and many were deluded to believe that after him, it would be the turn of Ndigbo. How some Igbos bought the cheap ploy beats imagination but even now, many still hold that after Jonathan, an Igbo man would move in.

In 2003, when Buhari first made his appearance for the presidency, some of us argued that the future of Igbo politics was on hand and that Igbo leaders should discuss with the PDP and ANPP on power rota­tion. Others argued that such was anachronistic, that qualifications (whatever that means) should de­cide who rules. But, only greed and sycophancy spoke thus. More than less, Nigerian politics is balancing ethnic, religious and class inter­ests. No one needs recall the MKO Abiola/Kingibe Moslem/Moslem ticket because it did not test the cause/effect equilibrium.

When we argued in 2003 that 2007/2011 had come, Ohaneze dis­missed it off hand and so President Jonathan/PDP coasted home with­out any commitment on the future of Igbo presidency. Even now, the 2015 presidential election in partic­ular is lost and won without Ndigbo as crown prince but this high place of honour can still be protected as the fair due.

Sixteen years since the return of partisan politics in Nigeria, the highest post Igbos have held is Senate president; i.e., Number Three. The South-West has held President, Speaker (Number Four) and now poised for Num­ber Two. The South-south has Number One; the North-East Number One and now enters the North-West.

Ohaneze talks about cargo air­port in Enugu and Federal roads that Jonathan failed to build and believing that if he assures them now, they would endorse him shows the level of political imma­turity and culture of quick profits dominant in the region.

As 2015 is playing out, Yoruba leaders are thinking of 2019 and beyond. Ohaneze leaders seem short-sighted and lack political strategies that look far ahead. Politics is give and take but Igbo politicians are ever caught in nar­row interests so that the big pic­ture eludes them completely.

Among Nigerian politicians, Buhari is one man that consid­ers others more than average. Since 2003, he has maintained he would run one term only. Many may say he is a politician and would change his mind at the end of one term but one thing I can say for sure is that Buhari is one politician who would support a Nigerian president of Igbo ex­traction on the basis of equity.

After Obasanjo’s eight years and Jonathan’s current six years and another four years if he can, it will be difficult to persuade the North to relinquish power to the South (East) after just one term.

Buhari’s sense of fairness is incomparable. While other for­mer heads of states collect N300 million yearly allowance, Buhari requested and gets N30 million in­stead. I make bold to say that 2019 and beyond is now and the best bet for the Igbo in the national power equation is Buhari. If the matter is presented to him now; not after the elections, he will give it fair hear­ing.

Injustice rules the nations be­cause it is tit for tat everywhere. There is no way Igbos will push Jonathan now as in 2011 and ex­pect support from the North in future national political contests. Politics is mathematics and strat­egy rolled into one. If one miscal­culates, that is it!

Dr. Ekwueme midwifed geo-politics and rotation. Obasanjo killed the idea and Jonathan now oversees the final burial. Yet, the loser is the Igbo nation more than Ijaw or the Niger Delta, for, at the end of the day, both zones will be marginalized after the marriage of the North and the South-west. And while the South-south has been there, same cannot be said of the Igbo nation. And, what a pity for a people that used to be at the commanding heights of Nigerian politics!

It is not enough for Ohaneze to withhold endorsing Jonathan. That will not give Ndigbo a fighting chance in the future power game.

It does not lie with Obasanjo to help Igbo presidency, or with Jonathan, because the south is one when it comes to that. There is no law that says the three southern zones must share rotational power equally or one after the other. It is same for the North. Northern zones will broker deals with the south and vice versa. If Buhari wins and later steps down, there is no law that says the south-west should not push for the presidency and they will and which is already playing out.

From Zik’s time to now, Ndigbo have paid their dues and practised statesmanship at its best.But, no one gives you power and no one gives up power like that. Jonathan will not give up power unless he must, that is, his time expires. All over the country, the roads and the faces tell their stories. For one oiled face you see, 100 wrinkled faces are fixed at you; for two per­sons that speak well, twenty speak ill. In fact, for one PDP member that praises him, two are bitter with President Jonathan.

If Ekwueme says Jonathan took Igbo nation for granted, Obasanjo says the man bit the hand that fed him and Babangida tells us that Jonathan’s government is report­edly more corrupt than his, no one can dismiss the charges as ranting of ants or conspiracy borne of in­jured vanities. Incidentally, the three Nigerian former leaders are PDP fathers. So, we see disillu­sionment coming from within and without.

General Gowon said in 1970 that there was no victor, no vanquished. The world held its breath to see if Nigeria would survive the peace. We have, but Igbos have paid unfair political price. Today, the North has Gowon, Shagari, Bu­hari, Babangida and Abdulsalam as living former heads of state. The South-west has Obasanjo and Shonekan. The South-south has Jonathan while the Igbo nation, one of the three main pillars of Ni­gerian nation and nationalism, has no one to stand for the race at the highest political level. Does this not call for urgent reprieve?

National power game is no sentimental affair. Whether the South-south returns South-east goodwill tomorrow or not is a mat­ter of conjecture but what is not in doubt is that Igbos will need the South-west and the North to oc­cupy Aso Rock in the future if the race thinks seriously in that direc­tion and the time to start cultivat­ing cross border goodwill is now.

Ohaneze is too compromised to rise to this challenge. It is left to Ekwueme to invite two Igbo lead­ers from each of the five states and take Governor Rochas Okorocha and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu to present Buhari the Igbo declaration: Igbos did not survive Biafra to become seventh class citizens in Nigeria. We want equity. Have our votes now and promise us our chance next.

The North is not going to stay out of power for twenty years, and retired generals are not going to watch their own beaten a fourth time. The 2015 presidential race is over and the next contest is being negotiated. Today, not tomorrow is time to start building the bridges – for many bridges must be crossed to get there!

.Anyamele writes from Lagos.

Thi is super story...

But on a serious note, this Wale Adenuga script is too boring to be acted.

I wan sleep, I need someone to show me his certificate and the other his shoe, before doing that.

Thanks for reading this crashed comment