It Was Under President Buhari That South-East Aligned with North

Following the tribal segregation and the continuous division between the South-East and the North, a lot has been said concerning the relationship between both regions.

But it seems this tribal conflict came to an end under the leadership of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which brought all the regions together, a quest which was unable to be achieved in the past.

So, it was only under President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) in 2015 and 2019 that the South-West mainstream fully chose to align with the North. In 2019, the South-East aligned with the North with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, while Mr Peter Obi was his running mate.

I intentionally omitted military rulers, because soldiers did not consult the people before making their appointments or taking their decisions. From this breakdown, between the South-East and the South-West, who have aligned with the North more? It is obvious that it is the South-East.

The truth is that the three zones of the South find it hard to work together unlike the three zones of the North. And this has been working against the South. The first reason is that the South-East, South-South and South-West does not have any language in common, unlike the North which has Hausa in common. Secondly, they have been in separate regions or zones unlike the North which was administered under one region until 1967.

The second political fallacy is the accusation from some Nigerians who blackmail the South-East or the Igbo as a people who do not like to work with other ethnic groups or support other people’s political ambition. Those who make this accusation are usually Buhari’s supporters (both his Igbo and non-Igbo supporters). This is a spurious claim borne out of frustration of not being able to convince the Igbo to support Buhari. Judging by the elections that have taken place in Nigeria from the First Republic to now, no ethnic group or zone has supported the political ambitions of other ethnic groups like the Igbo. Let’s look at the elections in Nigeria since 1960.

In the First Republic, the Eastern Region (through the NCNC) aligned with the NPC to make Sir Tafawa Balewa from North Nigeria’s first Prime Minister. In the Second Republic, in addition to providing the running mate to Shagari (Dr Alex Ekwueme), the South-East aligned with the NPN to produce the majority in the legislature. In the stillborn Third Republic, they shared their votes between Abiola (South-West) and Tofa (North-West), even though their son was the running mate of Tofa. In the Fourth Republic, their son (Dr Ogbonnaya Onu) handed over his presidential ticket of the APP (which later became the ANPP) to Chief Olu Falae from the South-West. In the PDP, even after Ekwueme from the South-East (who was the leader of the G34 which formed the PDP) lost the presidential primary of the PDP to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, who was not among those who formed the party, the South-East people still supported Obasanjo (South-West) in the election. In 2007, they supported Yar’Adua (North). In 2011 and 2015, they supported Jonathan (South-South). In 2019, they supported Atiku (North).

So, since Nigeria’s independence, even though other parts of Nigeria has not supported the South-East people to be president, they have continually supported other parts of Nigeria to be president and have worked with them while in office.

It is said that opinions are free but facts are sacred. On issues that require perspectives, people can choose whatever side they prefer, but on issues that demand facts, one cannot create one’s facts and figures to support a non-existing position. These issues need to be explained for the sake of people with tenuous knowledge of the political history of Nigeria, who easily get deceived by the rhetoric of those who love to spin tales and create narratives to serve their agenda.

Ayooluwa Joshua