Puncturing some political falsehood about the Southeast and Southwest -By Azuka Onwuka

Sometimes when some Igbo people talk about the need for the people of Southern Nigeria to unite, they blame the Southwest for preferring to align with the North more than aligning with the Southeast. The facts from Nigeria’s political history show that it is not true that the Southwest aligns politically more with the North than the Southeast does.

When the political history of Nigeria is x-rayed, the statistics shows that the Southeast has aligned with the North more than the Southwest has done. Let us start from the First Republic and trace the elections till today. In the election that ushered in the First Republic and Nigeria’s Independence, there was a stalemate, as no party met the constitutional requirement to form a government. The Action Group, led by Chief Obafemi Awolowo from the Western Region, and the Northern People’s Congress, led by Sir Ahmadu Bello from the Northern Region, both wanted to form an alliance with the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens, led by Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe from the Eastern Region. Azikiwe and his group eventually chose to align with Bello rather than with Awolowo. Awolowo and his party became the opposition.

With the political alliance between the North and the Eastern Region breaking down, Premier of Western Region, Chief Samuel Akintola, arguing that the Western Region was losing grounds to the Eastern Region because it was in the opposition, decided to resuscitate the Nigerian National Democratic Party as his new party and form an alliance with the NPC in the 1965 election. That attempt was opposed by those in support of Awolowo. It was the first time the Western Region teamed up with the North in politics, but it was only a section of the Western Region that was in support of that.

In the Second Republic, the Southeast and the North teamed up again. The only difference between the First Republic and Second Republic scenarios was that the names of the parties and some of the party leaders changed. After the 1979 elections, the Nigerian People’s Party, led by Azikiwe, chose to form an alliance with National Party of Nigeria, led by Alhaji Shehu Shagari, rather than the Unity Party of Nigeria, led by Awolowo. Awolowo and his UPN remained in the opposition.

In 1993, the Third Republic was stillborn after the annulment of the June 12 presidential election, which was clearly won by Chief MKO Abiola. If judged by the key candidates in the presidential election, the Southeast aligned with the North again, because the running mate of Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention was an Igboman, Dr Sylvester Ugoh. But in reality, the Southeast shared its votes almost equally between Tofa and Abiola. The unofficial results of that election showed that the Southeast gave Abiola (from the Southwest) 49.45% votes and gave Tofa (from the North) 50.54% in spite of some prevailing factors then. Three of the four Southeast states already had NRC governors; Tofa had an Igbo (Dr Sylvester Ugoh) as running mate; Abiola had a disagreement with Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and some Igbo leaders on the issue of power-sharing. Simon Kolawole of TheCableput it in perspective thus: “In my opinion, Igbo pulled one hell of a surprise. Despite having virtually nothing to benefit from SDP, despite the Muslim/Muslim ticket, despite the fact that an Igbo, Dr. Sylvester Ugoh, was the NRC vice-presidential candidate, despite the age-old animosity towards Yoruba over the civil war, south-easterners voted impressively for Abiola, giving him 49.45% of their votes. Tofa, with an Igbo son on his ticket, got just 50.54%. Remember, also, that NRC controlled three of the four states in the south-east. This is the Nigeria that I love.”

In 1999 when the Fourth Republic took off, power finally came to the South. The Southwest (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) and North (Alhaji Atiku Abubakar) were in charge of the affairs of the nation, with the Southeast and Southsouth supporting. The Southeast produced the Senate President, while the Southsouth produced the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In the presidency of Alhaji Umaru Dr Yar’Adua (from the Northwest), the Southeast aligned with the North, if indeed the results of the 2007 election can be relied upon. Under the presidency of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the Southeast aligned with the Southsouth.

It was only under Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and 2019 that the Southwest mainstream fully chose to align with the North. In 2019 the Southeast aligned with the North with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, while Mr Peter Obi was his running mate.

I intentionally omitted military rulers, because soldiers do not consult the people before making their appointments or taking their decisions. From this breakdown, between the Southeast and the Southwest, who have aligned with the North more? It is obvious that it is the Southeast.

The truth is that the three zones of the South find it hard to work together unlike the three zones of the North. And this has been working against the South. The first reason is that the Southeast, Southsouth and Southwest do not have any language in common, unlike the North which has Hausa in common. Secondly, they have been in separate regions or zones unlike the North which was administered under one region until 1967.

The second political fallacy is the accusation from some Nigerians who blackmail the Southeast or Igbos as a people who do not like to work with other ethnic groups or support other people’s political ambition. Those who make this accusation are usually Buhari’s supporters (both his Igbo and non-Igbo supporters). This is a spurious claim borne out of frustration of not being able to convince the Igbos to support Buhari. Judging by the elections that have taken place in Nigeria from the First Republic to now, no ethnic group or zone has supported the political ambitions of other ethnic groups like the Igbos. Let’s look at the elections in Nigeria since 1960.

In the First Republic, the Eastern Region (through the NCNC) aligned with the NPC to make Sir Tafawa Balewa from the North Nigeria’s first Prime Minister. In the Second Republic, in addition to providing the running mate to Shagari (Dr Alex Ekwueme), the Southeast aligned with the NPN to produce the majority in the legislature. In the stillborn Third Republic, they shared their votes between Abiola (Southwest) and Tofa (Northwest), even though their son was the running mate of Tofa. In the Fourth Republic, their son (Dr Ogbonnaya Onu) handed over his presidential ticket of the APP (which later became ANPP) to Chief Olu Falae from the Southwest. In the PDP, even after Ekwueme from the Southeast (who was the leader of the G34 which formed the PDP) lost the presidential primary of the PDP to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was not among those who formed the party, Southeast people still supported Obasanjo (Southwest) in the election. In 2007 they supported Yar’Adua (North). In 2011 and 2015 they supported Jonathan (Southsouth). In 2019 they supported Atiku (North).

So since Nigeria’s independence, even though other parts of Nigeria have not supported the Southeast people to be president, the Southeast has continually supported other parts of Nigeria to be president and have worked with them while in office.

It is said that opinions are free but facts are sacred. On issues that require perspectives, people can choose whatever side they prefer, but on issues that demand facts, one cannot create one’s facts and figures to support a non-existing position. These issues need to be explained for the sake of people with tenuous knowledge of the political history of Nigeria, who easily get deceived by the rhetoric of those who love to spin tales and create narratives to serve their agenda.

Twitter @BrandAzuka