As the 2023 general election is fast approaching, a lot of dust is being raised by many political gladiators with divergent opinions and permutations. Just like every election seasons, all the six geo-political of the federation would soon be agog with political rallies of one party or the other which can make a reasonable assessment difficult especially in the real interest of the people due to the cacophony of noise.
The Igbo people are concentrated majorly in the five South East states of Abia, Ebonyi, Anambra, Enugu and Imo. Nevertheless, since the inception of this republic in 1999, the position of the number one citizen of this country has been an elusive one to them. this has created a form of agitation from the people of the region and their sympathizers. However, the region can not continue to blame others for their inability to govern the nation when they continue to commit same error over time.
There is urgent need to review the kind of politics they play and how to woo other regions to their side, power cannot be given to them on a platter. From 1999, all the South East states have been governed by the People Democratic Party (PDP) until 2006, when All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA) made inroad in Anambra state by electing Peter Obi as governor of the state that started a pan-Igbo disposition. APGA extended its hold into Imo State through Rochas Okorocha in 2011.
However, APGA has failed woefully to identify what the Igbo interests are; not to talk about championing those interests. This ultimately led Okorocha and a faction of APGA to defect in 2014 to recently formed All Progressives Congress (APC). APC has sustained its grip in the state in 2019 election. Aside from the two states mentioned, PDP has continued to rule the remaining three states of Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi which until recently its governor defected to APC in 2021 thereby making it an APC state. The Progressives Peoples Assembly (PPA) that ruled Abia State between 2003 and 2007 was just another face of PDP which APGA has also become.
They have made a mistake of putting all of their eggs in one basket by believing that it is only PDP that can fully integrate them into the mainstream of Nigeria politics since 1999, and now is not the best time to ditch the PDP ship and jump into the APC ship. How? Let me explain.
2015 would have been a perfect opportunity for the Igbo to go with APC in the choice of who became president since the presidency was zoned to the north which produced the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, while PDP nominated a southerner in the name of Goodluck Jonathan. If the zone has aligned with APC instead of PDP at the time, it would have made them to contest the presidency with other zones of the south especially South West in 2023, since the incumbent president from the north is in second tenure which is permitted by the constitution.
The feelers from the PDP is that the party is going to zone the presidency to the north which if the South East can give their support to the party, can put them in the pole position for the slot come 2031. Given that, PDP will eventually win 2023 presidential election.
