By Ikem Okuhu
I have noticed that our historians are natural-born-hero-worshippers. When eventually they decide to ink the story of the 2015 general elections, majority of these historians would either be speaking of how sheer doggedness gave GeneralMuhammadu Buhari a second chance at ruling Nigeria at the fourth attempt, or how President Goodluck Jonathan wrote his name in the history book as the first Nigerian president to lose an election as an incumbent, and probably the first to,willingly, concede victory and congratulate his opponent even before the final tally of the ballot.
I am not saying that these perspectives are incorrect. However, they are about people, not historical milestones. While this isalso appropriate, I wish to early on, put these historians on notice about the most important manifestation of this election as it affects the political history of the nation since independence in 1960.
Let me state that this election made it the very first time that a political bridge would be built between old northern Nigeria and the old west, now known as South West Nigeria. More importantly, it was a success at first attempt and if my prophetic anointing has not left me, may become the watershed for future political relationships and alignments among the multitudinous ethnic and tribal nerves that make up Nigeria.
To appreciate this better, especially for those who may not have read up on the history of independent Nigeria, I will go back through the years, especially from 1960. At independence, Nigeria was running a parliamentary system of government and have a number of major political parties, notably, Northern People’s Congress [which metamorphosed into the Nigerian People’s Congress], Action Group, National Council of Nigerian Citizens [earlier known as National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons] and Northern Elements Progressives Union. There were a number of others but NPC, Action Group and NCNC were notable parties.
These major parties represented regional interests: NPC, representing the north, Action Group, the West; and NCNC, the eastern part of Nigeria. NCNC was the only party with a semblance of a national but following the “carpet-crossing” of elected parliamentarians of the party in the west, NCNC shrank into the eastern regional cocoon.
After the elections, NPC produced majority members of the national parliament but needed a partnership with which to form a broad-based government. It could not happen with ChiefObafemi Awolowo’s Action Group.
Enter Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the leader of NCNC and an accord was reached, which enabled Zik, as Dr. Azikiwe was better known, to become the Governor General and later ceremonial President after Republicanism in 1963. It was at accord level that it all ended before the military took over in 1966.
By 1976, political activity had recommenced, preparatory to handing over to a civilian regime in 1979. Again the parties emerged and still could not rise beyond regional frontiers. The north presented the National Party of Nigeria (NPN); the West had the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) while the East was propelling the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP). If Zik had not had disagreements with the late Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim over who would be the party’s flag bearer, NPP would have been a national party from the word go. But this happened and Wazirileft to form the Great Nigerian Peoples Party (GNPP) which eventually won elections in the old Gongola State.
Shortly before Alhaji Shehu Shagari was sworn in on October 1, 1979, it was still the east and the north that struck an accord, which was merely a working relationship to share political spoils. This relationship enabled Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke to emerge as the Speaker of the House of Representatives then. It was a marriage of convenience that everyone knew was not built to last.
When preparations began for the short-lived 1983 elections, other parties knew that to defeat NPN that had made inroads into the east, the other parties needed to, and eventually agreed,to close ranks. That was when the first real merger of political parties in Nigeria nearly happened.
NPP, GNPP, UPN and Aminu Kano-led Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) agreed to form an alliance to enable them present a single candidate who would confront the behemoth NPN during the elections. The alliance was initially known as the Progressive Parties Alliance (PPA). Just like what God did during the Creation, the elements that constituted the emerging party saw “that it was good.”
The next thing was to move it to the next level – form a single party out of the lot and present a single candidate for the coming elections. So there was a need to have a new name and they agreed to the name Progressives Peoples Party (PPP). However, all the excitement about a viable alternative for NPN fizzled out quickly because Chief Obafemi Awolowo of UPN and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of NPP all wanted to be presidents. The selfish interests of these two leaders scuttled that dream.
With the benefit of hindsight, one can say that had that merger worked then, may be the military coup d’état that ushered in General Muhammadu Buhari and Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon on December 31, 1983 would never have happened. Maybe our democracy would have overgrown diapers to the point where it is no longer “nascent.”
By 1999, the ecosystem has changed totally. The PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP) emerged, which was a truly national party, formed by interests that cut across the country. PDP had roots everywhere but clearly appeared to be motivated by interests from the north. Problem was it was not deep enough in the South West where the elements that congregated to fight the military through the National Democratic Coalition and pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organization, Afenifere, formed the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
It is interesting to note that while this was happening, the South East soaked itself deep into PDP and did not see any reason to support its fledgling regional voice that was the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
While AD in South West grew, APGA shriveled. Under the strategic guidance of Bola Tinubu, AD also died, but Tinubu was clever to resurrect from its ashes, another party known as Action Congress (AC), which metamorphosed into ACN following a short-lived relationship with former Vice President,Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar. From a small party that held sway in Lagos State alone, Tinubu single-handedly spread the party to other states in the southwest and Edo in south-south. In the Nigerian political firmament, a new bride thus emerged.
In the east, it was a struggle to get one state for APGA. The party had contested and lost elections in controversial circumstances but Peter Obi, using the instruments of the courts was able to fight the party back into reckoning by becoming the Governor of Anambra State.
Many thought it was time for the “wise men from the east” to bury their personal political expectations and gather to build a party that Igbos can export to the rest of Nigeria, a negotiating platform of sorts. Luck happened and Rochas Okorocha won the elections for Imo State. Nevertheless, even before he was sworn in, misunderstanding of “tsunamic” proportions had dug a gulf between him and Peter Obi.
Meanwhile, Tinubu stayed in the dugout, building new bridgewhere none ever existed before.
He began to court the north. He knew what he was doing. As time passed, it became clear that APGA was living in abandonment even by people who pretended to be its members.Election after election, APGA refused to produce a presidential candidate, save for late Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu’sfailed attempt in 1999. They, instead, would conveniently align with the PDP, resting in the consolation that at least the ruling party would be slow in wrestling Anambra from it. Well, in all fairness, PDP fulfilled its own end of the bargain.
Apart from APGA’s pretention to be a political party, it was anathema to discuss opposition parties in all the east. I remember a meeting I had with one Special Adviser on Political Matters to Enugu State governor some two years ago in the state capital where the issue of lack of political plurality was the focus.
My friend confidently proclaimed that “any politician playing opposition politics is a fool!” For him, anyone thinking he could push APGA to the point where it could negotiate political relevance for the east was a time-waster who is out to achieve very little.
I worried then whether he was seeing what Tinubu was achieving in Lagos? I worried whether he was actually looking at the future collective interest of the Igbo people? Even if he as an individual was not, it also came as real shock that a people, known to be the only natural born democrats among all the ethnic groups in Nigeria have suddenly become afraid of coming together.
Igbos have always been egalitarian. But increasingly, they have become comfortable living under the shadows, almost feudalistic.
What happened in the recently concluded 2015 Presidential Elections presented a sad commentary on our history as people known to fight for our space; a people who enjoy debates where we fight, disagree but eventually agree; a people who are dogged in negotiating deals.
What has happened to the Igbos? On May 29, 2015, GeneralBuhari will become the President of Nigeria. He achieved that with no real Igbo push. Across the entire Igbo land, onlyRochas Okorocha was the alternative voice. Even then, he was always being hounded by Igbos.
When Buhari would form his government, Igbos have nothing to negotiate. The PDP ignored the Igbos for 16 years not because they believed we had (still have) no alternative to them. For this reason, they “chastised us with whips.” Now what if Buhari decides to “chastise us with scorpions?”
As I said in an earlier article, “The time to wake up is nigh my people! We must, of necessity begin to reappraise the people that have been manning our front lines lest we be the last…”
Ikem Okuhu, journalist and public commentator lives in Lagos
Ndigbo will always miss it because they seem to have a warped sense of history. While Bola Tinubu was building on Awo’s federalist vision using the AD plank, APGA recoiled and did nothing about building on Zik’s republican vision but instead left Ndigbo to rot in their delusion of never wanting to be in opposition to the centre. Yes, you can see that in Peter Obi when he crossed over to PDP after his 8-year tenure as Anambra State governor and APGA leader.
If CPC had aligned with APGA it is feasible that a Yoruba person may be penning this article. So, however you analyze the dynamics of Nigeria’s current political structure, one region (out of North, East and West) will always be in opposition to the center.
Obviously, the reason why each region wishes to align with the center is because of the power and financial resources controlled by the center. So, the question needs to be asked – why don’t we instead push for an equitable solution that suits our multilingual and multicultural nation in such a way that we minimize the power and financial resources controlled by the center and instead ensure that the regions get more of these resources and power while the center manages very little in the nation’s resources?
If we keep the status quo this nation will never develop in a uniform, progressive and equitable fashion as one region will always be shortchanged! The only folks who benefit from the current arrangement are politicians rather than the people they purport to represent.