Tinubu and Igbo Governors: Who Is Zooming Who? -By SKC Ogbonnia

News flash: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu snubs the invitation of Governor Alex Otti to visit Abia State “to commission projects.” Yes, another round of jamboree by a Southeast governor to celebrate Tinubu which, of course, never includes the commissioning of any major federal project in Igboland! This latest news finally prompted me to wonder: Between the Igbo governors and Tinubu, who is actually zooming who; who is fooling who? Is the chicken finally coming home to roost?

Please grab your popcorn!

Unrelenting terrorism targeted against the Igbo living in Lagos under Tinubu’s watch; Apparent exclusion of the Igbo in the national cake under his regime; The Igbo governors’ odd fraternity with the same Tinubu, and; A mutual selfish interest for re-election.

In his “Slice of soaked bread” comment at a rally in Enugu in January 2023, the then-candidate Tinubu suggested that any failure of the Southeast zone to vote for him would deny them a chance in sharing the national cake. That comment was viewed then as an aberration, an insulting threat, and grossly shameless for a man campaigning to be president of all Nigerians.

Barely two months after that infamous speech came the presidential election of February 25, 2023. Accordingly, the Igbo people rejected him in the entire Southeast zone and elsewhere without hesitation. They went further to humiliate Tinubu in his adopted home state of Lagos, where Peter Obi, an Igbo, won the state with an alarming margin. But Tinubu later gained the presidency.

Once sworn in, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seems to have only one lasting objective in mind: To be addressed as Commander-In-Chief and deploy such power to perpetrate the worst form of retribution politics towards the Igbo people, including naked terrorism and shameless exclusion of the tribe in the share of the national cake. The manner of the distribution of projects and political appointments is so skewed to the point that any objective observer would imply that Tinubu is at a full-scale war with the Igbo.

The worst of the Tinubu onslaught is the grand design to orchestrate ethnic tension between the Igbo living in Lagos and their Yoruba host community. Anti-Igbo rhetoric has escalated since the man took over Nigeria. State agencies are continually being deployed to demolish properties primarily owned by Igbo people in Lagos. The people have never faced this manner of persecution in their long history in the state. Even during the civil war, many Yoruba hosts shielded their Igbo neighbors from attackers and saved their properties.
The Tinubu vendetta against the Igbo has generated strong condemnation across Nigeria. The rank and file of the Yoruba civil society, including the Afenifere, has protested and warned the president of the consequences of his actions. Some of the true Yoruba have gone as far as cautioning Tinubu, whose origin remains a subject of controversy, not to pollute the Yoruba culture that is reputed for justice, equity, grace, and hospitality.

Prominent Northern leaders, including powerful members of Tinubu’s party have also frowned at the escalating injustice against the Igbo people.

A broad stream of scholars have viewed the development from a different dimension, lamenting that Tinubu’s attempt to isolate the Igbo and use their choice of candidate to equate the people with tribal politics is in conflict with history. They cite recent experiences in the 4th Republic, where the Igbo have at different times voted massively for candidates from outside their zone, for example, Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003; Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007; Goodluck Jonathan in 2011; and Atiku Abubakar in 2019.

Sadly, most of the serious criticisms against the former Lagos State Governor are coming from outside the Southeast.

With Igbo politicians totally excluded from the upper echelon of the Tinubu regime, the Southeast governors who have become the most influential leaders in the zone clearly care less. Instead, they have been busy, rolling on top of each other, rolling out red carpets and singing praises for the same Tinubu.

There are five Igbo governors. But it is easy to ignore the two nothingburgers occupying Imo and Ebonyi government houses who will be quick to hide behind the quotodian excuse that they share the same political party with Mr. Tinubu.

The most mindboggling are the three timid bootlickers at the helms in Anambra, Enugu, and Abia States, namely Charles Soludo, Peter Mbah, and Alex Otti, respectively. Despite the fact that Tinubu is oppressing the Igbo people without shame, these three governors are continuing to sing his praises. They constantly denigrate the very parties that brought them to power, ostensibly to look good in the eye of the very man who is oppressing their fellow Igbo people. The trio of Soludo, Mbah, and Otti have offered personal relationships as the sole reason for this morbid support of the former Lagos State governor.

But here is a lesson worth learning: Any instance where a public official is promoting personal interest over public interest is a form of corruption and gross abuse of office.

A prevailing school of thought is that these governors are cozying up to Tinubu for two “strategic” reasons. One is to provoke strong collaboration between the state and federal governments so as to attract projects in their respective states. The other is a ploy to gain Tinubu’s support during their re-election exercises while at the same time promising him a massive vote in Igboland, come 2027.
But none of the propositions above will see the light of the day. In short, these Igbo governors and Tinubu are only fooling themselves.
These very state executives ought to have realized that there is a deeper reason the former Lagos State governor has not rewarded them with any meaningful project over two years in his presidency. As for the Jagaban himself, he appears to be smarter than his Southeast cohorts. He has been able to recognize that these governors have demonstrated nothing but weakness. He recognizes that only fools would be promoting a man who is oppressing their people.
The point is that any thought of a massive vote for Tinubu in Igboland is not only offensive but also a wish for his re-election. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu represents the ultimate lone evil whose motives and actions do not require validation or support from others. The best approach to contain his kind is through strength, not weakness. Therefore, rather than deceiving themselves with wishful thinking, the Southeast governors should unite and join to hold Tinubu squarely accountable for his overflowing atrocities.

SKC Ogbonnia, former APC Presidential Aspirant, writes from Houston, TX.