It would be an uphill task to garner Yoruba support for an Igbo presidency in 2023, which is the rightful thing to do, following the rotational presidency that has seen both SW and SS to power. More so, an Igbo presidential candidate that strongly supports the collective aspirations of the Original African majority of South and Middlebelt, which is the restructuring to proper federalism against hegemonic Northern and colonial interests.
There are only two cultural spheres in Nigeria and across Africa – the majority Original Africans and the minority Afroasians with mixed loyalties. If the fracas between Yoruba and Igbo is not resolved, the two most populous Original African groups of the Niger-Congo ethnolinguistic family, will continue to turn to the North for political power at the cost of compromising Original African interests and the Black Race.
Essentially, their continued disunity robs Nigeria of a South and Middlebelt powerbase that should act as a counterbalance to the Northern powerbase, and enable a balanced power structure that can progressively uplift the masses. All past and present grievances within the Original African civilization must be resolved and the tribal groups must subject their tribal interest to that of the Original African Collective, or they will continue to be enslaved and eventually annihilated by the competing Afroasiatic civilization.
When asked, Yorubas will say that they can’t trust or forgive past Igbo misdeeds, and after all it was the Igbos that gave power to the North in at independence when Azikwe shunned the offer of an alliance with Awolowo, whose combined votes would have won power to the South. The Azikwe Northern alliance allowed the North to consolidate power till today.
Some Yorubas further argue that even after Northern excesses became obvious with the jailing of Awolowo, and Awoists and Zikists came to an agreement to boycott the 1964 elections, the NCNC betrayed the Action Group and grabbed seats in AG territory. They continued with the 1979 alliance of Azikwe NPP alliance with Shagari NPN and refusal of Alex Ekwueme to abide by the gentleman’s agreement to give the presidential ticket to Yorubas, following the Retrieval of the dead Abiola stolen presidential mandate. So why should Yorubas now acquiesce to Igbo 2023 presidency?
Zikists vehemently rejected recount of events, arguing that it was unfair to start with the Azikwe Northern alliance 1960 election. Instead, the narrative should start at the beginning of the whole political process that started with Nnmaidi Azikwe bringing the Black Power movement to Yorubas Herbert Macaulay, resulting in the unification of all political and ethnic parties into NCNC independence movement. They state that Yoruba brought tribal politics into the mix with the death of Herbert Macauley, by preventing leadership from rightfully passing to Nnamdi Azikwe, fractionalizing an essentially Black movement into tribal partisanship with Yorubas Action Group.
The die was cast with the 1951 elections whereby Yoruba insisted that Azikwe should go contest for leadeship in the Eastern Region, and when he refused was robbed of the leadership of the West with the cross carpeting of independents and some NCNC to support Awolowo leadership. So could Yoruba have expected Azikwe, essentially a Pan Africanist, to choose Awolowo that used tribal considerations to deprive him of a unified South leadership. This was what caused Nnamdi Azikwe alliance with the North to form a government in 1959, made him reject his own tribal Biafra separatist agitation, and his alliance with Shagari in 1979.
When the Igbo counter argument was recounted Awoists that had since then undertaken two Handshakes across Niger, stated that the need for South and Middlebelt unity towards achieving restructuring is greater than any perceived or real tribal grievance at this in point in time. However, it was clarified that the Yoruba insistence on Azikwe to move his political capital to the East was in the interest of self representation and grassroots politics. They argued that to bring democracy to Yoruba grassroots, it was necessary to involve our traditional institutions from whom the colonists had taken power and still ruled indirectly. Therefore Azikwe should not have felt bad being compelled to go spread the word in Igboland through Igbo institutions.
Moreover, judging from the relegation of Igbo culture, Azikwe won’t have been able to communicate properly with Yoruba traditional institution and the people would have been more culturally derailed, claiming Middle East Origins like Igbos. This was why the Obas moved to save Yoruba culture, the last vestige of Original African culture, from not only Northern Afroasiatic and European imperialism but deculturized Pan Africanism. Following Azikwe refusal to delegate the leadership of Western Region to Alhaji Adegoke Adelabu, a Yoruba chieftain and firebrand campaigner in his party, the Yorubas commandeered six legislators to decamp to AG, to make enable a Yoruba become a leader of the Western parliament.
This failure to take cognizance of our Original African culture is still a problem with Pan Africanists pushing for a single African language, and even mainstream Southern politicians that relegate the importance of culture in politics and continue to be astounded by Northern politics. Even the tribal separatists don’t know or really care about the culture they want to secede, and subjugate their culture to Abrahamist dogma.
There are some Igbos separatists that are against Azikwe Pan Africanism, and hold the grudge against Yoruba for Awolowo involvement in the defeat of Biafra by using food as a weapon. This is an issue that attracts a lot of emotion considering the ravages of war, but should serve as a future warning to all present separatists that any cessation by Yoruba Southwest or Igbo Southeast will force the other 3 Original African regions to join with the 2 Northern regions to reclaim Nigeria territory. The four Original African regions are in this together. We fought against European slavery and colonization together, and must fight Afroasiatic hegemony together.
The selfish withdrawal of one region permanently puts the remaining regions in perpetual colonization since their collective numbers are further reduced. The Middlebelt has made it clear that it is not interested in a separatist adventure that would leave it open to complete domination and annihilation by the Northern Afroasiatic cultural and political imperialism. Neither are the Niger Delta groups inspired by the prospect of being subjugated by an Ndigbo majority in Biafra. A Yoruba-Igbo disunity that prevents a political alliance and powerbase can’t be trusted to form a military separatist alliance, so either of them that firsts steps forward is likely to be stranded as the other joins the other 4 regions to defeat such cessation.
Moreover a separatist alliance between the two largest Original African groups is selfish, unfair and unjust to the smaller groups of their Original African family, leaving the hundreds of Original African groups in the Middlebelt to the Afroasiatic intruders, and dominating the smaller groups in their regions and the South South. An injustice to any Original African group, no matter how small is an injustice to all, and even though if the larger older Original Africans bolt and run, they will eventually fall to an larger Afroasiatic imperialism at their doorstep. This is why the true elders and leadership have put aside the past political grievances aside to unite the South and Middlebelt towards achieving our collective aspirations of restructuring.
We can furnish arguments and counter arguments all day, but for all intents and practical purposes at this point in time, even if found to be wrong Igbos can’t make any amends at this point of time. Yes, Yorubas might say the aces are in their hands to make Igbo 2023 presidential mandate a reality and have a right to draw their pound of flesh for Azikwe 1959 and 1979 Northern alliance and the 1999 Ekwueme contest, but they would be cutting the Original African nose to spite their face.
Those who will push the anti-Igbo rhetoric would be doing so for their own selfish political ambitions, which can only be achieved through an unequal Northern alliance that would sacrifice Southern collective interests of true federalism. It would only continue the status quo of Northern hegemony choosing between two Southern wives : either by allowing the North to back an Igbo anti-restructuring president or a anti-restructuring Yoruba candidate.
Yorubas will be failing their Omoluabi ethos that you don’t because of malice pervert the course of Justice which according to rotational presidency that made Yorubas allow two Fulani go unchallenged in the last election. Fulani atrocities against Yoruba collective from destroying Oyo Empire taking Ilorin, imprisoning Awolowo etc can never be as bad as Igbo misdeeds, yet Yoruba acquiesced to two Fulani candidates, Buhari and Atiku. Awolowo said until his last days that he preferred a brotherly alliance with Ndigbo to a servant master relationship with the North, which is all North can offer. It’s nothing personal, the North has a duty to continously push Afroasiatic interests, it is the Original Africans that need to mature and be civilized to raise their game to push Original African civilization interests.
African civilizational interests which is the decolonization of Africa by starting with the restructuring of Nigeria into a loose confederation whereby every single group has direct control on its culture and economy, which is then spread across Africa, breaking down national boundaries into a continentwide confederacy of self determinated citystates and ethnic groups, which will enable the Black Race operate optimally and will fuel immense economic growth and participative democracy. But this must start with the two largest Original African groups, if not for their sake but the sake of the Black Race, our ancestors and future generations.
The present and future generations can’t continue the fracas started by their grandparents. Apart from suffering for their mistakes of letting Northern hegemony to fester and arrest our collective economic and political development, we are more enlightened with DNA and cultural anthropologival evidence that shows that we share the same genetic and cultural linkages of the Original African civilization, and also helps to clearly defined our Afroasiatic hegemons. Therefore we should unify our cultural foundation to create a powerbase that will push our collective aspiration and survival. Anything else is suicidal.
