The more some of us try to stay away from commenting on the outcome of the 2015 presidential election, the more we are drawn into it by armchair analysts, who do not recognise the role of contraries in human progression. Since March 31 when President Goodluck Jonathan decided to cede power to General Muhammadu Buhari, I have read a number of jejune commentaries, which tended to give the impression that the decision of the Igbo to vote for President Jonathan was wrong. Such commentators have argued that the Igbo should have gone the way of the North and the Yoruba, who joined forces together to deliver Buhari in the March 28 presidential election.
I completely ignored such commentaries because they were lacking in both logic and commonsense. The commentators were largely juvenile enthusiasts, who lack the large heart or the sense of proportion to properly evaluate the outcome of the presidential election. Because they were patently uninformed, I dismissed their interjections and intrusions for what they were – pathetic displays by a band of chorus singers whose brains had been rendered partially dysfunctional in their frenzy to jump unto the victory bandwagon.
The howlers, no doubt, are entitled to their fancies and fantasies and they have had a field day, practising their art. But it has become evident that their theatrics have blossomed into an out of stage concert. That is why they have succeeded in drawing into the fray the likes of Wole Soyinka.
Soyinka, a Nobel laureate and a once respected voice in the affairs of Nigeria, has been quoted as saying that the Igbo put their votes where their stomachs take them. Soyinka was also reported to have accused the Igbo of suffering from incurable money-mindedness, as they would stop at nothing in their quest for personal financial gain. It was also reported that Soyinka said this: “The Igbo remained unrepentant and resolute towards their strategic objective of secession at worst or a Nigerian president of Igbo extraction at best.”
If this tirade actually flowed from Soyinka, then I cannot but conclude that senility can actually shatter the mental composure of someone who was once great. A Wole Soyinka who had, over the years, been ‘resolute’ (to borrow his own word), in his quest for a just and equitable Nigeria, has suddenly become a turncoat. I will elaborate on Soyinka and his ill-advised derision of the Igbo nation. But before we return to him, I must say that it has become absolutely necessary to put the Igbo action in the 2015 presidential election into proper perspective.
The point must be made, regardless of the outcome of the elections, that the best political step the Igbo have taken in recent years is their pattern of voting in the 2015 presidential election. In that election, the Igbo, perhaps, for the first time in recent history, were able to identify their interest, and they went for it. Before now, the Igbo were in the habit of belonging everywhere and belonging nowhere ultimately. They shared their electoral votes among all manner of political contenders so much so that it was difficult to ever identify where the Igbo belonged. Such a situation never helped the cause of the Igbo as a people or as a group. The people could not be associated with any defined or definable political movement.
Significantly, all of that changed in 2015. What that means is that the Igbo are on the road towards self-rediscovery. A people whose republicanism made them behave like sheep without shepherd have finally found the tree for the woods. They have shepherded themselves into a formidable flock and are set to reclaim their God-given destiny. That is the point they made with their votes through the 2015 elections. Today, the Igbo can beat their chest and declare “ this is where we belong”. There is a whole world of dignity in a people knowing where they are coming from, where they are and where they are going. The Igbo have done this much through their votes. There is something noteworthy in the fact that the Igbo are being discussed today for their political decision. It underlines the fact that a people, who want to be respected or reckoned with must be known for something. That is the point of Igbo voting pattern in 2015. The people had never been this cohesive in post-Civil War Nigeria. The lesson to be learnt from this by one and all is that the Igbo are overcoming their disabilities. Certainly those who do not wish the Igbo well are bound to squirm with discomfort in the face of this Igbo Renaissance and that is what is happening today.
Anybody, especially a non-Igbo, who tries to demonise the Igbo for their political decision is saying that he is teaching the Igbo how to be human beings. You cannot, no matter who you think you are, be wiser than the Igbo as a people. Anybody who imagines that is engaging in grand illusion.
I really pity those who are raging that the Igbo voted the way they did. I pity them for lack of knowledge and understanding. I also pity them for their narrow-mindedness. Anybody who has basic knowledge about the way societies function will appreciate the fact that every group or segment of a country cannot toe the same line of action in any issue. Some are bound to look left. Some others may be inclined towards looking right. That is the natural order of things. Tendencies, sympathies and idiosyncrasies must differ from one person to another and from one group to another. To expect that everybody must act alike is to imagine that there is only one shade of colour in the entire universe. The universe has diverse hues and patterns. And so are the human beings in it. To aspire towards uniformity is not only a grand illusion, it is a stupid and senseless quest.
If we apply this to the Nigerian election of 2015, we will be saying that all Nigerians could not have voted in the same way. The North had its reason for voting massively for Buhari. The Yoruba vote for the same Buhari was driven by a certain motive. In the same vein, the Igbo had their reason for voting for President Jonathan. The northern and Yoruba groups could not have been right while the Igbo are wrong. Anybody who says the Igbo are wrong is viewing the world from one lens and that will be the worst form of parochialism. If the Igbo are wrong as some elements in our midst will have us believe, it is because Jonathan lost the election. And if the Yoruba and northern groups are right as is being touted in some quarters, it is because their preferred candidate was returned elected.
Perhaps, there would have been no issue if Jonathan won the election. Those who are deriding the Igbo today for voting for Jonathan would not have seen anything wrong in the action of those who voted against him. It would have been normal for any group to vote the way it wished. When it is convenient to single out a people or group for vilification, then there must be something narrow-minded about the action of those who have made such selective vilification a way of life. There is everything wrong in any judgement that is procured from this lazy stereotyping.
But it is easy to see why the howlers are excited. They are already looking towards a situation where the Igbo will be shut out of the commanding heights of the Buhari administration, owing to the poor votes they returned for the All Progressives Congress (APC). The thinking here is that the Igbo, who have been struggling to find their feet politically are sinking deeper into non-recognition. Again, to see the situation this way smacks of parochialism. The Igbo should lose nothing on account of their voting pattern. In a plural society such as ours, pattern of voting cannot and should not be used for distribution of political offices. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) never did that for the 16 years that it was in the saddle. Key political positions, both at the governmental and party levels, were shared among the six geo- political zones. Each zone had what was due to it. There was no time any zone of the country was discriminated against, let alone shut from government or party administration on account of who they voted for or did not vote for. That was why the greater part of the North, which did not vote for Jonathan in 2011, was not subjected to any form of discrimination or vilification. Nobody criticised or derided them for voting the way they did. If anything, they benefitted more from the administration of the president they did not vote for.
The APC, which will take over the reins of governance in the weeks to come, must borrow a leaf from the inclusive zoning pattern of the PDP. Each geo- political zone must be given what is due to it under the new dispensation. Rather than discriminate against the Igbo for voting massively for PDP, those who feel awkward about it should begin to work hard towards securing Igbo votes in the years to come. Demonising them for voting according to the dictates of their group interest is wrong-headed.
To be continued.
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