The Igbo people around the country and South East political zone in particular will ultimately decide who will be next Nigerian president. The arithmetic is quite easy to understand and the only zone that does not necessary connected directly to the main political actors is the South East political zone. There are no Igbo vying to be president or vice president in any of the major political parties in the country. Therefore the process and the interim development empowers SE zone and Ndi-Igbo to be the centre of attraction and the deciding factor in the election.
The political party, be it Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or All Progressive Congress (APC) that is able to convince the Igbo people and South East political zone will definitely, comfortably and reliably win the presidential election in February 2015.
Geography also favours Ndi-Igbo in the fort coming election. The Igbo people are one group in Nigeria that are evenly distributed and naturally placed around the country. There is no state or geo-political zone in Nigeria that Igbo people are not a secondary major group after the indigenous population. The interesting thing is how the Igbo have methodically and assiduously assimilated in every corner of country, living peacefully and comfortably with rest of other groups and fellow Nigerians. The Igbo love of Nigeria and adaptation is pointing to future of Nigeria that is devoid of tribalism and nepotism. As far as Ndi-Igbo are concern the entire Nigeria is home be it north, south, east or west.
With this patriotism and Nigerian –eccentric comes a unique advantage that Igbo people enjoyed in Nigeria more any other group. They participated in all diverse cultures of Nigeria and speak almost all the major languages in Nigeria. At the core of Ndi-Igbo is a true Nigerian that accepts Nigeria as one nation. Therefore in 2015 election, Ndi-Igbo will reap the benefit for residing in every nooks and corners of Nigeria. For the path to victory must go through the contours of Igbo political landscape.
In Northern Nigeria despite the threat of Boko haram, Igbo people are still residing in all major centers of the northern Nigeria and they are fully assimilated and speak Hausa, Fulani and other indigenous northern languages brilliantly. In the south West Igbo people reside populously in Lagos, Ibadan and other parts of south western Nigeria.
No matter the propaganda in the media and on internet, Ndi-Igbo and SE have not made the final decision on who will get their precious votes and support. The battle ground for election decision and victory will not be in the North or South West because both parties PDP and APC have active presence in those regions and in the geo-political zones. Therefore the final battle ground is in South-East political zone; and whichever political party that sweeps the SE area and have the support of majority of Igbo will ultimately win the presidency in the forth coming election.
Emeka Chiakwelu, Principal Policy Strategist at AFRIPOL. His works have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Forbes and many other important journals around the world. His writings have also been cited in many economic books, publications and many institutions of higher learning including tagteam Harvard Education. Africa Political & Economic Strategic Center (AFRIPOL) is foremost a public policy center whose fundamental objective is to broaden the parameters of public policy debates in Africa. To advocate, promote and encourage free enterprise, democracy, sustainable green environment, human rights, conflict resolutions, transparency and probity in Africa. info@afripol.org www.afripol.org