Why Igbo people should vote for an Igbo President

Posted by Felix Okoli on Wednesday September 30, 2015 at 9:0:13:

One mistake some Igbo people normally make when voting during presidential elections is by not voting for an Igbo candidate as President especially when such candidates present themselves for office. If Igbo people have been voting massively and in bulk for Igbo candidates, we would have had many Igbo presidents in the Federal capital since Nnamdi Azikiwe but because of our scattered voting pattern, we have been limiting our chances. However, another mistake Igbo politicians have been making is by not presenting at least one Igbo candidate for the election and seriously campaigning for him.

During the 2015, the most popular political party among the Igbos in the South East called APGA chose not to present a candidate but rather chose to support the incumbent President who was an Ijaw from the South South and Igbo people massively voted for him in large numbers. The Igbos voted for the PDP and Jonathan because they believed that he had a better chance of winning and because he seemed to be the best candidate that could protect the interests of the Igbo nation at home and in outside.

One thing Igbo people had been seeking for a long time however is to at least have an Igbo president again and should be one whose roots can be traced to traditional Igbo land, has an Igbo name and values the culture and religion for the Igbo people. Since the 1960s, Nigeria has never had an Igbo person because the only Igbo man that has being in that office was the first President of Nigeria named Dr Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe. It would appear that since the 1960s, Ndigbo have been sleeping politically even though they are among the 3 major ethnic groups in Nigeria. It would appear that Ndigbo have not been interested in politics or have been sidelined by the 2 other major ethnic groups.

Igbos need to recognize that if they keep staying outside the corridors of power, the future of their race would be threatened as they may end up being the victims of government policies which may only favour the tribes that occupy political power in the Federal capital. Government policies may gradually reduce the population of Igbo people and gradually turn them into a minor ethnic group which would ultimately lead to their future extinction in a country like Nigeria which some are already referring to as a zoo where only the strong survive.

In the 2015 Presidential election, even though there seemed to be a sort of ethnic gang-up by Nigeria's 2 major ethnic groups, the solidarity of the Igbo nation behind one political candidate was truly significant and the only difference was just under 3 million votes.

Igbo people need to come together under one political party and support one presidential candidate with their votes in order to increase their chances of winning a Presidential election. Having a scattered voting pattern is less likely to help us achieve a dream that we've not yet achieved in over 50 years. There should be one party, one candidate and one vote.

The Igbo nation may be considered democratic because they consider themselves as free men but we are not as divided as out political enemies try to make us be. Anyone who says that Igbo people are divided is an enemy of the Igbo nation and only seeks to divide us in order to achieve their goal. Igbos are actually more united than they imagined and this is shown in the fact that we like to associate with our own kind through the type of friends, work, business or religion we keep.

The Igbo nation is one but our enemies at times try to use the media to claim we are not united which is not true. We share similar values and behave the way we are because we are Igbo.

During elections, It's not wise for Igbo people to vote for other candidates when an Igbo man is running for the same office. As fellow Igbos, we should vote for our own kind because he is more likely to respect our values and protect out interests which are similar to his own.