Cajetan Mmuta

The theatrics is fierce, the game is the name of politics, and the ground is very slippery. No doubt, Nigeria is presently faced with an arduous task.

The political environment is becoming charged by the day. On the lips of the majority of concerned citizens is the quest for a change of guard as the tenure of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari hop efully winds up at the expiration of his eight years on the saddle and to hand over to the new administration on May 29, 2023.

Ahead of the February 2023 general election, the interplay among the two major parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has become obvious. The eggheads of the ruling APC and its main opposition, the PDP, are at it again to assert their might and power to decide which of the two holds the ace and pace of the 2023 slots.

Although, both parties have yet to make bold their stand on which particular zone in the south is looked up for the number one seat at Aso Rock, the nation’s seat of power. Arguments, however, seem to favour the South-East given the endless cries of marginalisation and inequality in the scheme of things, 55 years after the inglorious 1967 civil war.

But three weeks ago, in what seemed a deliberate challenge of taking the battle to one’s doorstep, the 2023 presidential campaign train of former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar berthed in Anambra state. Atiku’s delegation of Campaign Caretaker Committee led by Chief Raymond Dokpesi had paid a visit to Chief Valentine Ozigbo, the Anambra State governorship candidate of the PDP on November 6, 2021 poll at his country home in Amesi, Aguata local government area of the state.

The visit was to woo Ozigbo, PDP members, and indeed Ndigbo for their support ahead of the 2023 project. Dopkesi during the visit described Atiku as the only person with the capacity to stop APC national leader and presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from becoming the president of Nigeria in 2023.

Dokpesi said the visit was to inform Anambra people that Atiku Abubakar, a former Vice President of Nigeria and 2019 PDP Presidential Candidate was once again aspiring to contest for the president in 2023.

He said, “The Waziri (Atiku) is the right person that could match Bola Tinubu should he eventually emerge as the presidential candidate of APC. If elected, Atiku would ensure that the ‘South-East’s’ interest will be highly protected, as exemplified earlier by Waziri with the choice of His Excellency Peter Obi as his running mate.”

While calling on Ndigbo to rally around the ex-VP and to mobilise massively and join the PDP, to boost the party’s membership ahead of the 2023 elections, Dokpesi said Anambra had been at the forefront of producing leaders of Nigeria and had shown commitment to PDP as a party over the years.

According to him, “We have come to seek and solicit your support for the presidential aspiration of Waziri Atiku Abubakar and to assure you that Atiku Abubakar is in the best position to unify Nigeria and protect the interest of his in-laws (Ndigbo).”

Dokpesi lamented that Anambra missed out on having “the services of a dogged fighter” by failing to elect Valentine Ozigbo during the 2021 gubernatorial election while declaring that the forces that worked against the PDP candidate “cannot stop his light from shining.”

The Atiku team also had in the entourage Olajide Adeniji, who acts as the secretary to the team, Emeka Nwachukwu and Obunike Ohaegbu, Olumide Opeewe, Hajia Hassana Shuaibu, Adai Edwin Adai, Ado Datti, and Bin Abbas.

Speaking, Valentine Ozigbo thanked the Atiku campaign team for finding him worthy of their visit and expressed admiration for Dr Dokpesi’s commitment, noting that he was encouraged by his consistency for the PDP. Ozigbo also appreciated the media mogul’s support during the last Anambra State governorship election.

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While commenting on his perception of Atiku Abubakar, Ozigbo said that he looked out for character and competence in a leader and considers the former vice president as “eminently qualified to vie for the presidency of Nigeria”.

It is worthy of note that Alhaji Abubakar, a true Nigerian with rights and privileges, is not oblivious of the fact that, apart from his timely move to curry the support of Ndigbo in his self-esteemed, exhausted, and overstretched ambition, the Igbo people with rich culture, huge economic and human potentials and political capability, harbour an inexhaustible array of able-bodied men and women with the wherewithal to turn around the fortunes of this country and bring it at par with global trends.

Such calibre of Igbo personalities with the rich and thick fibre of peace, harmony, nationalism, industry, and understanding of the feelings, problems, and challenges facing the different segments of the polity to bind them together in sincere love, progress, and development are not far-fetched.

At the moment, former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim who is also a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, (SGF), Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Kalu, and the governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi are eminently qualified and have shown great interest in the strong desire and willingness by the geopolitical zone to rewrite history by Igbo to take a shot at the Presidency to come next year.

The poise by Ndigbo in the South-East is the singsong and the majority of Nigerians, especially, those determined to change the narrative and reposition the country are not allowing anything to chance in the onerous task. Presently, more aspirants from the zone have shown keen interest in who becomes the peoples’ choice for the 2023 Presidency.

It is instructive, therefore, that the realisation of this depends on how discreet, united and serious the people are at harmonising, working hard, and speaking with one voice towards achieving the set goal.

Already, the ruling APC and opposition PDP are not letting off in their schemes to grip the Also Rock seat. What presently hangs on the neck on both sides is the zoning streak which is now a secret that no side wants to divulge. The ruling party, APC, is webbed in neck-deep crisis in the face of the power game, intrigues of zoning of the Presidential sloth in the face of constant shifts of the goal post, and delay tactics to hold its convention, even though the exercise was just fixed for February 26th.

Speaking on the logjam, Publicity Secretary of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide, Chief Alex Ogbonnia said, “I must say that the Igbo people have demonstrated the greatest sense of solidarity to Atiku Abubakar during his aspiration for Presidency in Nigeria; they demonstrated their solidarity, full support, and enormous sacrifice. Whatever problems we have encountered now is the by-product of the support the Igbo gave to Atiku Abubakar. I am also sure that Atiku Abubakar knows it.

“Secondly, we know him as an influential person and it is only expected that he will reciprocate the Igbo kind gesture to us this time around; it’s expected that he will use that influence to coordinate powerful people in the north to convince them that this is the time for the Igbo. At least, there is no other way to reciprocate the kind gesture that we extended to him, that is what is expected of him.

“Thirdly, the truth buried one hundred feet below the sea or bridge remains the truth no matter how many years even after it remains the truth, higher in value and more than gold. The truth is that it’s the turn of the Igbo to produce the presidency, so you see all these things going up and down they are like a broken leaf from a tree, it must obey the law of gravity.

“It will get to a point when those causing these things will ask what’s the problem and Nigeria will polarize between those who are honest and those who are dishonest, those who are good and those who are bad; it will be between those who want peace and those who want war and those who want Nigeria to move forward and those who want Nigeria to move backwards. And by that time people will begin to ask what the problem is.”

He noted that it’s time both internal and local people will begin to ask what’s the problem and that time the lizard and the snake would be struggling in the battle of who will swallow the other. It’s only if the lizard agrees with the snake to it but if not both of them would be struggling for survival.

The struggle will continue until somebody comes to intervene and most of the time the victim will become the same and the lizard will be loosed to escape.”

The Ohanaeze scribe maintained that all the Igbo groups and personalities are converging and working seriously towards realizing their dream project despite the activities of some characters out to whet their appetite over a paltry sum of money that makes them begin to dance around.

According to him, the Igbo soul and spirit are now together for the Igbo Presidency and that’s how God works in mysterious ways. You must bring in your efforts firstly before God will come to support you. I am very confident that I won’t be easy for anybody, no matter the kind of Abubakar or anybody, Mohammed, Tinubu, or whatever name the person may like to answer, ultimately justice and equity belong to God and God will always take the ultimate victory.

Also, President of Ohanaeze General Assembly worldwide, Mr Onwuora Basil, said, “Nobody should consider the visit of Atiku Abubakar to Anambra state and Ndigbo as a threat; we have to be mindful that he has been in this race for a very long time. So, if Atiku had contested for the first, second, and third time and he did not win what’s it about Atiku that should be a threat to the Ndigbo?

“Atiku Abubakar as a citizen of Nigeria has the right to contest an election and my opinion is that our people should appeal to other ethnic nationalities to lend their support, it’s not something you coarse people to give us. Every reasonable person with vision will like to play his role at the national level which I feel somebody like Atiku Abubakar has not lost his ambition.

“We have seen him contest an election, so, it’s never a threat. Atiku from my little knowledge about him is a very good friend of Ndigbo. We should appeal to him and bring him on board. Our people should reach out to Atiku, he is a Nigerian and is rational.

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“Atiku had no business coming to contest presidential election again. He’s an elder statesman and we are appealing to him to retire, go home and rest. And whatever knowledge he has gathered let him bring it forward for others to utilize.”

“It’s time for Ndigbo to contest this election and we believe that a political party like PDP should not make that mistake of zoning their Presidential ticket to the north again if we are fighting for equity and democracy; democracy, equity, and fairness should start from the parties.”