Though 2023 presidential election is still months away, day after day, the politricking of it is gathering momentum with major political parties permutating how best their party can be victorious come 2023. A game of intrigues between the two major political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) is shaping up over the zoning of their 2023 presidential tickets. The two parties are looking across at one another with the intention of not being outfoxed in the zoning puzzle.
Aside from the zoning puzzle, among the major issues dominating the political space is how the people of south-east region are yet to produce president since inception of this republic in 1999. The cry which some observers and people that are sympathetic to region sees as a fair cry from the people of south-east and people that are sympathetic to their course that; For the sake of fairness and equity, it is only fair if president comes from the south-east extraction in 2023. However in democracy, what is fair politically may not necessarily be just as it will be grave injustice to other regions that plays their politics right. They have the resources to make this happen, but need to do this with utmost humility, respect and hands of friendship to people of other regions.
Just over the weekend, Anambra guber election was conducted in which All progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, Charles Chukwuma Soludo, is leading other contestants from other political parties from the results collated and announced in the 20 LGAs by the Independent National Electoral Commission. It is nothing unusual that APGA candidate was leading ahead of the run-off poll rescheduled for Wednesday due to the inability of INEC to conduct election in some local governments.
The outcome of the poll did not come as a suprise to many observers as APGA as political party has been holding sway in the state for about 16 years, which makes it a party to beat whenever there is election in the state. That hubris, that pride and arrogance that manifest before, during and after Anambra election must be subdued. That is why they must reexamine their strategies.
Prior to the election, the two major political parties of PDP and APC were under enormous pressure to present presidential candidates from the region, they view the election as a testing ground for what can and could be for the 2023 presidential zoning. If APGA eventually returns as winner it is a bad omen for Igbos in their aspirations for the number one position of the country. Immediately the INEC declared the election inconclusive, All Progressives Congress (APC) quickly released a statement that APGA is Igbo party that national spread.
The writing on the wall is clear enough for the blind to see that; the region can not get the ticket without making a valid consultation with stakeholders from other region, they can not keep alienating themselves from the national politics. How can they get the ticket if they keep pushing other regions that can be key to the emergence of their people? While the feeling of force over dialogue must also not come into play ( IPOB sit at home brouhaha), as of now, it seem as if Igbo leaders are banking to ride on the notoriety of IPOB, to become popular candidates.
It’s not bad thing to make mistake in politics but it must not be fatal, the fatal one the people of Anambra did before and during the electioneering was showing to the two major political parties of PDP and APC and the rest of the country that they’re not needed in their region. It is a big hole that they have created which if not quickly amended can make them say goodbye to presidency in 2023. In politics, when you find yourself in a hole, it is only right to quit digging to know that there is no possibility of error. Politics is a game, if it is not played properly, will only yield one outcome, LOSS.
It is also noteworthy that, while the Igbos are still undecided on which strategy to adopt to prosecute their agenda, whether there will be need for them to narrow down on the list they want to pick their presidential candidate from. While they continue with their hostility against themselves and the world, south-west are already doing underground work, lobbying and campaigning to make the candidate from the zone to become the next president in 2023.
The whole world knows that by all standards of fairness, the Igbo of the South east deserves to be President of the country come 2023, however, how this will come to being is solely depends on the Igbos, it is pertinent they re-examine how they have been playing their politics.
