By Hyginus Eze
There is hardly any ethnic group that has paid as much price for the unity of Nigeria as the Igbo have done and are likely to continue to do. Even before independence, Igbo people were already bearing the weight of Nigeria’s unity. The four-day demonstration in Kano in May 1953 over self-government motion was supposed to be a South/North altercation, but the Igbo bore the brunt of it.
Fast forward to June 12, 1993 and the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, NADECO emerged as a coalition of democrats against the military to restore mandate to Chief M.K.O. Abiola. Again, the Igbo were on the frontline. Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Sam Mbakwe, Anya O. Anya, Ebitu UKiwe, Ndubuisi Kanu, just name them, they all fought as NADECO activists. Ndubuisi Kanu staked his life in the struggle to actualize the June 12 election. These are verifiable facts. As fate would have it General Sani Abacha capitulated to nature. Sadly, M.K.O Abiola also submitted to eternity soon after.
The road was then clear for a new beginning. And so the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others emerged out of the ashes of pain, torture and affliction on the hands of the military. When it was time to choose the PDP flag-bearer for the 1999 presidential election, the Igbo politicians surrendered to the interest of the South West to assuage the pain that arose from the annulment of June 12. Alex Ekwueme, who also bided for the ticket, met a stone-wall among fellow Igbo leaders in PDP. In 2007, Umaru Yar’Adua came to power massively supported by South-Easterners. When opposition mounted against the ailing President, especially from the North, including the international wing of the opposition championed by His Excellency Nasir el-Rufai, the South-East formed a bulwark of support that helped to mitigate the weight of the pressure.
Lamentably, Umaru Yar’Adua passed on, may Allah grant him rest in Jannah Firdus. More than a decade after his demise, the former President is still spoken of with great fondness among South-Easterners. Former President Goodluck Jonathan came to power dogged by minority complex. Again South-Easterners led the charge and stood by the Ijaw man to his last day in office. There is hardly any section of Nigeria that can equal the Igbo, in terms of sacrifices for the unity of Nigeria.
The time for reparation is now! In Western societies, the policy of Affirmative Action is a deliberate effort to cater for the interest of those at the margins, and open up opportunities for the peripherised social groups for the sake of social harmony. In a sense, it is Affirmative Action that made Barack Obama President of the most powerful country on earth; it is Affirmative Action that made Kamala Devi Harris, a minority Asian-American, the first female Vice-President, and the highest-ranking female politician in US history. Don’t forget that mainstream Whites still constitute about 70% of the voting public in America.
What is needed for South-Easterners is Affirmative Action. And the most important Affirmative Action for the Igbo is emotional reparation. The time to heal the emotion of South-Easterners is now. In 2019, Peter Obi was chosen as the running mate to Atiku Abubakar. Soon after, video clips circulated of elderly Northerners who were schooling young Hausa/Fulanis not to vote for PDP because Peter Obi is a South-Easterner among other charges that have been repeated over time. Of course, when a lie is repeated too many times it dresses up as truth. There is something referred to as Eshi Ire in some Igbo dialects. Eshi Ire is an unlucky spirit. Once the spirit invests in a person, such a person is likely to be scape-goated and punished for what he or she did not bear a hand in. The time for emotional reparation is now!
In 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae were the presidential flag-bearers for PDP and AD – APP, respectively, a similar thing should be done for the South-East. The South-Easterners have made tremendous sacrifices, and lent their support to every ethnic group in Nigeria, there could not be a better time to pay back than now.
The security situation in the South-East is extremely worrisome. The youths are ramming orders down the throat of everyone. The solution does not lie in handing out infrastructure to the South-East, rather the solution lies in yielding to the South-East the position of President. It is economic and political naivety to believe that what is happening in the South-East has adverse consequences only for the people of the zone. The zone remains the biggest export destination for farm produce from the North.
Come to think of it! Affirmative action is not unprecedented in our journey as a Nation. Prior to Independence, the North feared domination by the South. To allay the fear, the position of Prime-Minister was ceded to the North. Before 1999 election, there were agitations in the South West over the June 12 election and attendant killings.
To address that social anomie in the region, power was ceded to the South-West, and that put paid to such agitations. Amidst youth restiveness in Niger Delta, power was ceded to an Ijaw man and peace returned. We can heal our Fatherland by demonstrating love and fellowship for one another. What is needed in the South-East is not bits of infrastructure, but a re-validation of the Igbo as a major stakeholder in the political leadership of the country. Therefore, the 2023election season is an opportunity to do so. God bless Nigeria.
The time for reparation is now! In Western societies, the policy of Affirmative Action is a deliberate effort to cater for the interest of those at the margins, and open up opportunities for the peripherised social groups for the sake of social harmony.
Dr. Eze writes from Eket in Akwa Ibom State