2015: Jonathan divides Igbo leaders

president Jonathan

EFFORTS by President Goodluck Jonathan’s underground campaign team to mobilise Igbo support for his 2015 presidential ambition have split Igbo leaders, leading to sharp disagreements in the region.

Investigation by The Nation on Sunday shows that the campaign, coordinated by a South-East serving governor, is the cause of the current crisis in the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). Some leaders of Ohanaeze Ndigbo are also worried that the foot soldiers of the campaign have penetrated the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation polarising opinion of its leaders on the chances of an Igbo president in 2015. 

Ohaneze elders who have spoken on the matter are Dr. Dozie Ikedife, the immediate past President General, who reportedly said Ndigbo will contest only if Jonathan is not seeking re-election; Col Joe Achuzie, who said Igbo presidency in 2015 is not negotiable; and Chief Arthur Eze.

 An insider said since Ikedife’s pronouncement on the issue all has not been well with the younger elements in Ohaneze  insisting that the elders  are out  to mislead Ndigbo again. 

In his own stead, former Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju has thrown his weight behind the president. According to him, “The president has done well for Ndigbo. Every good turn deserves another. He has done for us what we never got before. We will repeat what we did in 2011 for him in 2015 by giving him the votes all things being equal.”

In a telephone interview however, Ikedife said his position on the matter is very clear. “I have made my position on this matter very clear. We, Ndigbo supported Jonathan during the last election. If the constitution allows him to contest again and he decides to run, I do not see why we must withdraw our support if he performs. So, I am saying that if he fulfills the promises he made and excels, we may support him, but if he does not fulfill his promises, it will be difficult to support his re-election.” 

A source, close to APGA leadership said the disagreement between Chief Victor Umeh, the National Chairman of the party and Governor Peter Obi’s loyalists would have been resolved  if not for  their alleged differences on the issue of Jonathan’s 2015 presidential bid.

“That is the core area of disagreement between the APGA leaders. While Umeh wants the party to produce a candidate in 2015, Obi and some others want Ndigbo to support the president again so that he would have ample time to complete the vital projects he promised the zone,” the source said.

Although Obi has repeatedly expressed the party’s readiness to present a presidential candidate in 2015, his opponents in the party, mainly from Anambra State, say  he is the problem of the party, alleging that he is the stumbling block to their planned expansion of the party. 

A top official of APGA in Anambra, who would not want to be mentioned, alleged that the disagreement between Obi and Umeh has affected the relationship between Obi and Governor Rochas Okorocha, who, according to him, share the view that APGA should have its own presidential candidate to slug it out with Jonathan.  

But Okorocha who told The Nation that there was no disagreement between him and Obi, however, urged Ndigbo to change their tactics if they want to produce the president. 

Dismissing claims that some other stakeholders outside the South-East, have conspired to stop the zone from producing president, Okorocha said, “It is not Nigeria that is alienating the South-east. It is a wrong statement. Rather, it is the Southeast that is alienating itself. They have not demonstrated enough courage in pursuing this course.” 

He added: “Nobody can donate presidency to you because you are Igbo, Hausa or Yoruba. You have to struggle for it.” 

“You see, we must begin to repackage ourselves so that the entire nation can buy your stories. The Southeast should be able to say to Nigerians, ‘we have a candidate and this candidate is good.’ That’s how to look at the politics of nowadays rather than going back to lick the old wounds of marginalisation.”

Maxi Okwu, top politician and former presidential candidate, in a telephone interview, also said that people like Arthur Eze and co, who go about endorsing people for 2015, are not speaking for Ndigbo. 

According to him, “It is too early to endorse President Jonathan for re-election in 2015. One, because he has not said he would run. Two, we seem to be jumping the gun by crying more than the bereaved. We must learn from our past. As we are talking, most of the promises he made to Ndigbo during the last election, when he got Igbo support, are yet to be delivered. I am talking of the second Niger Bridge, Enugu Airport, and another state for the zone, not mere appointment of some people to certain positions.”

Okwu is of the view that in politics, groups must maximize their advantages, use strong arm tactics to get what they deserve. According to him, the South-West used this strategy, and Ndigbo must do the same.

Dismissing utterances of some Igbo leaders that suggest endorsement of Jonathan, Okwu said, “We the new generation of Igbo out rightly reject such hasty endorsement. Even by PDP arrangement, it is the turn of Ndigbo to produce president, but if for any reason we have to concede, it has to be on the consideration of an iron-cast agreement not the kind of hasty arrangement made by All Progressives Grand Alliance and other Igbo leaders in the past,” he said. 

Mbadinuju added that only a national conference can solve the myriad of problems facing the country and called on government to accept the mounting calls for such a dialogue in the interest of the nation.

 According to him, “Let us do both at the same time by calling a national conference and also the conference serving as the president’s second tenure; we should kill all the birds with one stone. Our interest is that Nigeria remains stable and since the 2011 national elections, the country has not known peace. Democratic set up without opposition is no democracy.

 “Jonathan is not weak, as some people say, but his handicap is that he is presiding over a divided nation. We want to avoid a break- down of the society.

 “If not for his style at the helm of affairs, Nigeria would have gone to a different page. I would like the president to hearken to those who have called for a national conference. It is distracting but at the same time inviting.

 “What is important is that the president with his advisers should see it as vital especially coming from the elders of this country.”