The politics of opposition and the Igbo nation.

By Uche Aguoru

Going down memory lane from the 1st of October 1960 through Nigeria's independence the first republic saw Alhaji Tafawa Balewa's Northern Peoples Congress the NPC controlling the central government, the eastern region was being governed by the National Council of Nigeria and Cameroun (NCNC) with Dr M.I. Okpara as the premier before the Gen.Aguiyi Ironsi military coup ended that phase of the nations democratic history, again Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo gave us the second republic in 1979 owing to the death of Murtala Mohammed with Alhaji Shehu Shagari's national party of Nigeria heading the central government

between 1979 and 1983 when the Alhaji shagari led National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was the ruling party the two Igbo states of Imo and Anambra were being controlled by Chief Jim ifeanyichukwu Nwobodo and late Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe of the Nigerian peoples party (NPP) in all fairness to the two great Igbo governors as at that time they did marvelous well even more than some of their counterparts in some NPN controlled states as at then.

The general Buhari led military junta ended the second republic in 1983 and the nation had to suffer another 15 years of democratic setback.
the annulment of june 12 1993 election which was widely acclaimed to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola and the death of Gen. Sani Abacha gave rise to Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar hurriedly cooking up what we now refer to as the third republic which officially took off on the 29th of may 1999 and for the first time in the history of the Igbo nation now made up of 5 states we aligned ourselves with the ruling party the peoples democratic party (PDP)

Between 1999 till date it is highly arguable if Ndi Igbo had faired better than we did in the past 16 years that we have romanced with the party at the center than when we were at the opposition, however in 2006 Anambra one of the five eastern states that made up the south east geopolitical zone housing Ndi Igbo broke away from the ruling party and fell into the hands of an opposition party the all progressive grand alliance APGA which incidentally is a 100% Igbo political movement and I may be right to say that the 4 remaining Igbo states still under the umbrella of the ruling PDP have not done any better in terms of human capital, infrastructural and political development of their states than Anambra.

Abia and Imo were two other Igbo states which tried to break away from the central government into an opposition camp through a political party known as the progressive peoples alliance (PPA) but what I will refer to as short sightedness by those who formed the political movement which was fast gaining acceptance across igbo land saw that party losing grip of the two Igbo states which eventually led it into political coma with Abia and Imo states running back into the waiting arms of the party at the center the PDP, Imo state again pulled out of PDP in 2011 through APGA and tactically crept into the APC bringing the number of Igbo states in the opposition to two.

With the PDP losing the presidential election of 28th of march 2015 to the All progressive congress (APC) which automatically gave the once strongest and largest political party in Africa the status of an apposition political party, what next is the fate of the Igbo nation still under the control of PDP, will it not be right that the Igbo nation should come together rally round the PDP and make it a regional party, given the fact that APGA which is a full bred Igbo party has refused to grow?

Since history has proved that the Igbo nation performs better politically as an opposition can't we make the PDP our own, and use it as a bargaining chip to attract development to our region?

Will it not amount to political suicide if our so called Igbo political leaders goes running into the party at the center the APC just for personal favours without thinking of the Igbo nation? I believe that the failure of PDP in the just concluded 2015 election which the PDP lost to APC will act as a wake up call for the Igbo nation and its political leaders to come together and speak with one political voice the way the west did which made their political movement become very attractive to the north and today the result is the success they have recorded from a party in control of only one state to a political movement that has swept across the federation and now in charge of the central government.

it is indeed a big political lesson for Ndi Igbo to look inwards for the Igbo political leadership.

Aguoru
Writes from Umuahia