Ngige, Buhari and marginalisation of the Igbo

An impression that had been repeatedly disputed and firmly denied by the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC party has been confirmed by no less a person than a member of cabinet, Nigeria’s minister of Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige.

In an interview with ThisDay Newspaper Ngige gave insight into why there was a deliberate marginalization of the Southeast geo-political zone when he said, “Politics is business in a way, you invest in business and you reap profit. Yes, that is what it is. But all I want to tell you is that we played bad politics; we made a bad investment because they invested in the Jonathan presidency”.

The eastern region, home to Ngige’s Igbo tribe and one of the three main ethnic groups in Nigeria, has been grossly marginalized by the Buhari administration. Even when the President’s propagandists had tried to deny it, the government has not failed in the implementation of its policies to show it, through a lopsided appointment and employment into government agencies.

From the onset, President Buhari’s marginalization of the southeast has been a deliberate one. Buhari while responding to Pauline Baker’s question at a 2015 event organised by the US Institute of Peace, said, “I hope you have a copy of the election results. The constituents, for example, gave me 97 per cent (of the vote) cannot in all honesty be treated on some issues with constituencies that gave me 5 per cent,” and added, “I think these are political reality.”

It is no surprise that Ngige during his interview while alleging that the southeast did not vote for President Buhari, said, “There was no voting in most of the areas in the South-east; they just allocated 5 per cent to APC.” It is clear how President Buhari came about his “97 versus 5 per cent” analogy. Ngige’s comment reinforces the President’s marginalisation policy.

Now that Ngige has confirmed that the marginalization of the southeast by his principal is deliberate let me address some of the ludicrous rationalization in his statement. Even though he claims that how the Igbo’s voted in 2015 is not enough to marginalise them, “or not allow them come in”, and when he brags that he will “continue to speak for them”, truth is Ngige would be damned to confront a President who sees no wrong in marginalising the 5 per cent.

Ngige lacks the clout to standup to his principal and “speak” for the southeast. As a member of the executive, where was he when it was agreed that other parts of Nigeria would get a rail line corridor through a loan to be paid for by the entire country, while the eastern corridor rail would be developed by a concessionaire and paid for by south-easterners alone? Either Ngige is not speaking loud enough or whomever he claims to be speaking to is stone deaf.

Since the APC is attempting to gain inroads into the southeast, owing to the 2017 gubernatorial election in Anambra and the 2019 general elections, it is important that we discuss this issue of Igbo marginalisation by the present administration; reason being that Ngige is one of the ‘mouthpiece’ of the ruling party and would try to “convince” the southeast on why they must vote APC.

Except the APC intends to rig the votes in Anambra and the entire southeast in the coming elections, it is unclear how they intend to win. Ngige’s allegation that some southeast states gave Buhari 5 per cent happened when the APC was not yet in power. Now imagine what the result would be following this deliberate marginalization of the Igbo’s by the Buhari administration.

Do President Buhari and the APC think that by deliberately marginalising the southeast they can bully the zone into voting them this year in Anambra and come 2019? When the southeast did not vote you in 2015 because they rightly feared that your government would not favor them, but then you eventually won and proved their suspicion right, marginalised and denied them of the benefit of governance, do you presume they will vote you in future?

Ngige said the message he will be taking to the Igbo’s in the southeast to convince them on why they should vote for the APC, or maybe Buhari, in future elections is that the present government has ‘fought’ corruption. “…We will show them that first and foremost we have fought corruption to a standstill and that people can no longer steal at will, much less keeping such monies at home.”

Can someone please ask Ngige what would be his response when asked by the electorates on why hundreds of peaceful Biafra protesters were killed by the federal government-controlled forces? He must have a response because he would be asked. For someone who claims to “speak” for the southeast, how many times has he publicly condemned these unjust killings?

There are many Igbos in the southeast and across the country who freely voted for President Buhari, whose votes were part of Ngige’s alleged 5 per cent given to the APC. Like their compatriots who did not vote Buhari, they did this in fulfillment of their constitutional right to vote a candidate of their choice. Since President Buhari chose to marginalize them along with those who did not vote for him, Ngige must have an answer to pacify their disappointment.

Let me end by drawing the attention of Ngige, Buhari and the APC to a statement by the chairman of the World Igbo Congress, Joe Eto: “Inflicting suppressive and repressive policies on the Igbo in Nigeria will continue to trigger the demand for self-rule. It is really the Nigerian government’s prerogative to have one Nigeria where all components of the nation are treated as equal partners.”

An inclusive government would have done the APC a lot of good and increased the party’s political capital in the southeast; rather the party chose to marginalise an entire ethnic group for exercising their constitutional right to freely vote their conscience. Agreed, for the sake of argument that the Igbo’s are reaping their loss from a “bad investment”, the APC and President Buhari (if he runs for a second term) would soon reap theirs for failing to be magnanimous in victory.

Maduekwe is editor at Discussing Africa. Follow on Twitter @Ojo_Maduekwe