The news report is very clear – Southeast Governors converged on Porthacourt Saturday evening to meet with Wike over his proscription of IPOB in Rivers State – an already proscribed group by the federal government.
The big question here is, did they meet with Governor Wike to convince him to allow IPOB to operate without let or hinderance?
What is the take of the Federal Government on this? Because with this development, it is a clear testimony that the Southeast Governors do support IPOB and it is dangerous for the central government to just keep mute.
The development also puts to rest what most Nigerians have already known – that indeed top politicians in the Southeast have one foot in IPOB and the other in the Nigerian nation.
Yet, they clamour to produce the president in 2023 as if it were a ministerial appointment. If the Igbo want to lead this country, they ought to play politics and work their way in to the hearts of Nigerians, converge through parties and climb up the political ladder.
The Igbo must change their tactics. They cannot rely on half- Nigerian with half patriotism to dictate or determine the politics they play at home.
And contrary to the misguided view held by some from the South that Northerners do not vote for candidates from the other side of the Niger river, Chief Mashood Abiola of the SDP broke that jinx. He beat the Kano-born politician, Bashir Usman Tofa of the NRC by an overwhelming margin before the military cancelled the election.
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was also twice voted in to lead this country in 1999 and 2003. I was at the PDP national convention at the Eagle Square, Abuja, in 2011 when former President Goodluck Jonathan won massively by votes from Northern delegates, against their own son, Atiku Abubakar.
Therefore, there is absolutely no reason why any Igbo nationalist cannot win presidential election in Nigeria. It is up to the individual politician to play his cards right by courting the Northern electorates. The ball is in your court.
