‘Why Igbo never vote out of fear’ By John Patrick Egesi

In this interview, Mr. John Patrick Egesi, President/Chairman, Nigerian Institute of Shipping and political analyst explains why Igbo’s would always vote in gratitude to those who have been fair to them. Egesi spoke against the backdrop of the statement by Oba Rilwan Akiolu that the Igbo in Lagos should vote the APC candidate ahead of the April 11 gubernatorial poll in the state.Controversy has continued to trail the outcome of the March 28 election.
What is your view on threat by the Oba of Lagos that Igbo should have voted for the must vote for APC in the April 11 election or face the consequences?

Ever since General Buhari won the election, all sorts of people in all sorts of places have been busy telling the Igbo that they should have voted for the winning team, that they voted emotionally which is another way of saying that ultimate wisdom lies in voting for the winner. The latest was that of Oba of Lagos giving the Igbo a marching order to vote for APC or else. Now this piece is not about who the Igbo should vote for or not but to tell the world who the Igbo are.

The Igbo are almost all Christians and their valuation of any situation emanates from their Christian values – which include among other things sacrifices and faithfulness to ‘friends’. That is why the Igbo, in all their dealings with other nationalities keep faith to fairness.

As far as the Igbo are concerned voting for Jonathan is being fair to the man who has shown them genuine brotherliness and support for the Ijaws and South – South people who are producing an executive president for the first time and from whose territory most of Nigerian sustaining wealth comes from.

They reckon that four years is not forever after all. Even when they know that they will suffer unexplainable persecution from their compatriots because of their inclination to fairness, they still went ahead and did what they perceived to be just. Even though they are well known to work hard for money but money usually takes a far second when it clashes with the dictates of conscience. They are probably the only group of Nigerians that you can predict with great accuracy whom they will vote for in an election.

Don’t you think their voting pattern has further exposed them as an endangered specie?

Igbo do not vote out of fear of being marginalized by a predominant race or tribe wherever they reside. They vote in gratitude to those who have been fair to them. When the Igbo complained that Jonathan did not do much for them, it is not in comparison with former heads of state (who did absolutely nothing and left them to starve) but in comparison with what he did in the North and other southern parts of Nigeria.

If Governor Fashola has been fair to Igbo in Lagos, without discriminating against them, over-taxing them, milking them of their hard-earned money, setting up all types of agencies to ensure that they do not do their business in peace, the APC have nothing to fear. Igbo have a way of saying thank you to those who have been fair to them. In my book, Voting with Conscience, what the Igbo do is far superior to strategizing to join the winning team.

But the South-East voted massively for the PDP at the general elections even when they were not very pleased with the party’s performance?

When the Igbo voted massively for President Jonathan, it is because he kept faith with them. Has Fashola been fair to them in the past eight years?

My humble opinion is that he dealt ruthlessly with them.

Igbo should not be afraid of anyone but the Eternal who has been faithful to them in their struggle against injustice. Voting is about choosing a candidate who, given his past record, is likely to be fair and sympathetic to your cause and who has kept faith with you in the past four years. The Igbo should join other well-meaning Nigerians – Yoruba, Hausa, Efik, Fulani, Ibibio, Ijaw, Gwaris etc – in voting for those who will make Lagos truly metropolitan and not a tribal enclave.

Igbo should not behave like other races because we are not other races – we are the NDIGBO and we keep faith with those who have demonstrated spirit of justice, equity and fairness and not those who treat them like aliens in their own country.

Nigerian is not only about presidency. Decamping to the APC by some morally-weak politicians shows that they are in politics for their stomach and not for what they believe in. The only way the APC must be kept on their toes at the federal level is to ensure that they are not totally in control at the states’ level otherwise they will develop the sort of impunity that total control brings. I will advise Nigerians to vote for parties that will keep the APC in check all over the country.

source:vangurd