Seven possible for 2023 presidency

By Emeka Obasi

Those who fail to plan for the 2023 Presidential race can only blame themselves when the chips are down. I am talking to the Igbo nation. Other groups plan 10 years ahead and map out effective strategies. That is the way to go. Enough of the follow follow that does not pay.

The Igbo have every opportunity under the sun to get it right in 2023. At the moment they are playing Fifth fiddle, far from their vantage position in the first and second republics. That I can understand. The civil war has taken enough toll on the people. The good, the bad and the ugly dabbled into politics. Many of the good ones left so soon when they discovered that touts and people who had no means of income were calling the shots.

Except for a few who owned visible businesses, majority  of the post 1998 politicians were village idiots and failures who were not sound enough to represent the Igbo group. They could hardly rub shoulders with more experienced politicians from the West and North.

It was so bad that from May 29, 2007 things began to crumble. Many of them in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stood out like eye witnesses, hands akimbo, while other regions shared the spoils of victory. Ten years on, the Igbo voice disappeared from the national radar for bad. It is therefore little surprise that there are agitations from the younger generation.

The Ohaneze Ndigbo must sit up now and start preparing capable hands for the top job in the next six years. I am going to make my candid contributions towards this.  For starters, I have identified some notable men and women that have what it takes to lead Nigeria. They all have Igbo blood  in their veins.

Mr. Peter Gregory  Onwubuasi Obi.  Lt.General Azubuike Onyeabo Ihejirika. Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo. Mr. Emeka Nwajiuba. Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala.  Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu. Mrs Bianca Odinakachukwu  Olivia Odumegwu Ojukwu.

This is a blend of the old and young. And gender sensitive too. They are from diverse backgrounds but have worked up to the Federal level. That is the experience they require to lead our country. I am just trying to guide those whose tough task it will be to pick from the pack.

I have equally taken my time to

suggest a screening committee, made up of eminent men and women. Professor Ben Nwabueze still has some energy to advise. He could serve as chairman. Other members could be  Professor Uzodinma Nwala, Sir Mike Mbamaonyeukwu Okiro, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba, Justice Valerie Azinge and Mr. Emma Okocha. The list includes Col. Ben Nnanyelugo Gbulie, Mrs Ivy Okoronkwo, Maj. Gen. Obi Umahi and Dame Comfort Obi.

Ohaneze and other Igbo groups must mend fences. They should build bridges instead of walls. It is wrong for any Igbo man to choose to decide the fate of other groups. The will to resist domination is part of the movement of History. To rule Nigeria, the Igbo need Hausa-Fulani support as much as Yoruba solidarity. That is politics.

I want to treat the Seven possible candidates individually. I have included women in deference to our background. The name Nigeria was coined by Lady Flora Louisa Shaw in 1897. The first National Anthem came from Lillian Jean Williams in 1950 and was composed by Francesca Benda. Of course, our first Olympic gold was won by Immaculeta Chioma Ajunwa.

Igbo women have had to show their stuff when called upon. Remember the Aba womens’ riot of 1929. Great names like Margaret Ekpo, Janet Mokelu stood out in politics. Mary Nwametu Nzimiro(nee Onumonu ) controlled British pounds before Independence. Her daughter, Priscilla, was the first Igbo female medical doctor. Flora Nwakuche (nee Nwapa) excelled in the Arts.

Peter Obi will be 62 in 2023. He will be  imbued with more wisdom to tackle the affairs of a nation like ours. Called Okwute (rock) by his admirers, this man emerged from the corporate world to change the equation in politically volatile Anambra State. A graduate of Philosophy from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, he moved on to acquire professional qualifications from Havard and Cambridge.

Obi is more known for turning Anambra around in his eight years as governor from 2006-2014.Denied victory, impeached, ousted. He fought and won remarkable judicial wars. And has affected the landscape positively. In education, Ananmbra has climbed  to the top because of his innovation.

Prudence is his watchword and he knows his way round the economy. For a man who has chaired such boards as Fidelity Bank, Chams, Future View Securities, Data Corporation, Paymaster, Card Centre  and Next International, he could like past American Presidents: Thomas Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, mount the presidential seat as a former governor.

Okonjo-Iweala might turn out to be the Golda Meir of Nigerian politics. Yes, she will be 69 in 2023. The Israeli was 71 when she became Prime Minister in 1969. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf  of Liberia was 68 when she was sworn in  2006. An Economist of global repute it will be ignorance to dismiss her experience.

Like Meir and Sirleaf, Okonjo-Iweala was trained in the United States. She remains Nigeria’s first female finance minister as well as foreign minister. Those who accuse her of mismanaging the economy, have ended up murdering our economy.

Charles Soludo did well as Central Bank Governor. That same job took men like Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan and Gordon Brown to 10 Downing Street in the United Kingdom. Onyebuchi Chukwu will be remembered for the role he played in fighting Ebola.

Ihejirika might be our version of Dwight David Eisenhower, the 16th US Army Chief who later became president. He will be 68 and Soludo, 63. Nwajiuba is much younger. A lawyer and former Member of the National Assembly. Bianca is beauty and brain. She was Ambassador to Ghana and Spain respectively, will be 55. In Argentina a former Night club dancer, Isabel de Peron, became the world’s first female President in 1974.

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