2015 Presidential elections showed Igbo unity

Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday July 15, 2015 at 10:13:6:

During the 2015 Presidential elections in Nigeria, one of the things that really showed that Igbo people were very united was the way they voted with one mind for a candidate of their choice. They decided to vote for the ruling PDP and for Jonathan Goodluck and he almost won.

Jonathan was the first Ijaw person to be elected president in Nigeria and came from Nigeria's richest and most productive oil region in the Niger Delta geographically tagged as the South-South region. Having showed his friendliness to Ndigbo in the past and being from the former Eastern region, Igbo people thought it would be fitting to support one of their one or at least a close neighbour than supporting someone from the far north and a Fulani for that matter. Naturally, Igbo people don't like voting for Fulanis or Hausas as a result of cultural and religious difference and even more especially when they have the option of voting for a Yoruba, Igbo, Calabar, Ijaw or Itsekiri person.

During the weeks preceding the Presidential elections, there had been many campaigns on the television from both parties and candidates but it seemed that most Igbo people have already made up their minds

Although there was a growing opposition party that was totally serious about taking power from Aso rock and unseating the incumbent President and Igbos probably saw that possibility, they still showed solidarity to Jonathan Goodluck so that it may at least be recorded in history that they voted for Jonathan with one mind. Personally, I did see that possibility especially after Father Mbaka's prophesy against Jonathan but I still voted for him just for solidarity reasons.

Many anti-Igbo writers and learned men who are mostly from other tribes have always used the media to claim that Igbos have always been divided and confused but it was not true and merely a campaign of lies to actually make a people feel like they were really divided even when that was not the case.

The truth is that many Non Igbo Nigerians don't like Igbo unity and are afraid of what it can achieve or is already achieving. Many of them see Igbo as a major competition to their tribe or way of life and so would rather want Ndigbo to remain disunited at least in their own minds but the Igbo spirit is much stronger than that.

Eziokwu bu na Igbo people are not as disunited as some people claim. We are not as divided as they claim we are but on the contrary, Ndigbo are one of the most united tribes in Nigeria and our enemies are afraid of that.

In many cities where Igbo people live and in their home stats in the South East, Igbos votes were massively in favour of the PDP and Jonathan and that goes to show what they can achieve when they agree as one.

The 2015 Presidential election voting pattern showed Igbo unity. The way Igbo people do business and how they do it also shows Igbo unity. They way they invest in real estate in cities they migrate to also shows their unity. They always like doing things in common and in the same way they see their own brothers and sisters doing it.