HOW NDIGBO CHOSE OBASANJO OVER OJUKWU

By Akin Ojumu

In this silly season when otherwise educated and reasonable individuals seem to have lost their senses and decency, it’s important they be reminded of the recent past. Even in this period, when some people would not let facts get in the way of their fallacious nonsense, it’s crucial that the truth be told. 

For those armchair historians on social media, who are busy peddling revisionist history and spreading uninformed psychobabble that the Ndigbos never support or vote for Yoruba candidates when it comes to presidential elections in Nigeria, I’m here to set the record straight.

Twenty political parties fielded candidates in the 2003 presidential election. Of those twenty candidates, seven were from the South-East. The Igbo candidates were namely, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Jim Nwobodo, Ike Nwachukwu, Arthur Nwankwo, Emmanuel Okereke, Kalu Ndika Kalu, and Iheanyichukwu Godswill Nnaji. 

These Igbo stalwarts locked horns with the two leading candidates in the election, Olusegun Obasanjo (Yoruba man) and Muhammadu Buhari (Fulani). Obasanjo was the incumbent president seeking a second term.

At the conclusion of the election, Obasanjo garnered 24,456,140 (61.94 percent) of the votes and was declared winner. 

What’s particularly interesting in that election, and relevant to the current presidential election, was how the people of the South-East voted. With Igbo juggernauts like Odumegwu Ojukwu and Jim Nwobodo running, you’d think that Igbos would cast their vote en masse for one of their own. 

Well, wrong!

Here is the breakdown of the results:

Abia

Buhari — 84,305 (11.3%)

Obasanjo — 386,748 (51.7%)

Ojukwu — 260,899 (34.9%) 

Anambra

Buhari — 79,476 (9.2%)

Obasanjo — 466,866 (54.1%)

Ojukwu — 279,378 (32.4%)

Ebonyi

Buhari — 16,308 (2%)

Obasanjo — 752,823 (94.5%)

Ojukwu — 20,525 (2.6%)

Enugu

Buhari — 18,987 (1.7%)

Obasanjo — 897,721 (79.7%)

Ojukwu — 177,050 (15.7%)

Imo

Buhari — 53,983 (5.3%)

Obasanjo — 656,861 (64.6%)

Ojukwu — 281,114 (27.7%)

As you can see for yourself, it was a blowout victory for Olusegun Obasanjo. An uncouth Yoruba man from Abeokuta defeated seven solid candidates of Igbo extraction by overwhelming majority in every single one of the South-Eastern states. The defeat of Ojukwu and his fellow Igbos by Obasanjo was pretty embarrassing.

Instead of playing tribal politics, the Ndigbo chose the son of a Yoruba man from the South-West over their own sons. In an unusual display of magnanimity and patriotism, the Igbos said, “Mba!” to Ojukwu, the leader of Biafra and sided with Obasanjo the architect of the defeat of Biafra during the civil war. These incredible people set aside any lingering animosity, resentment, or distrust. They spiritedly embraced a man who wasn’t their own and for whom they had reasons to dislike.

Unfortunately, some mischievous elements amongst the Yorubas have conveniently forgotten this recent history. As an excuse for their primitive ethnic mindset, they peddle hogwash history that the Ndigbo hate Yoruba people. In their disingenuity, these unserious nincompoops go about with their puny brains whipping up misplaced tribal sentiments.

Sixty odd years since independence, these duplicitous people have chosen to remain stuck in the past. Like immovable mindless statues, they are incapable of moving forward into a modern era and unable to reason differently. 

These unpatriotic morons are enemies of the emergence of a new Nigeria. Even as exasperated Nigerians who are fed up with the status quo are working tirelessly to take their country back from the hands of those who have been destroying it, these selfish regionalists have turned themselves into enemies of progress.

Here is my message for you all irredentist dimwits. The train of change has left the station, you can’t stop what’s coming. If you won’t get on board, better get out of the way. Otherwise, the revolution train will run you over.