…Says Obi, Atiku, Tinubu re-enacting old culture
In a most dramatic repeat of history, the emergence of Mr. Peter Obi as the Labour Party, (LP,) presidential candidate., Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, People’s Democratic Party, PDP, candidate as well as Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the All Progressives Congress, APC, for the 2023 presidential election, has once again triggered fears among stakeholders of the return of tribal national and ethnic-based politics in Nigeria.
Historically, one of the many maladies ravaging Nigeria and distorting her way towards growth and development is the slogan that the country, at independence, was established on a tripod of Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba nationalities.
The fact that Obi is Igbo, Atiku is Hausa/Fulani while Tinubu hails from the Yoruba nation gives credence to this perceived return of ethnic based-politics in the country. This was how it all started in the run up to independence, in the First Republic as well as the Second Republic.
This brand of politics, according to many observers, did not do Nigerians any good. According to some of them, it encouraged disunity, division and lack of progress. “As we enter into the 2023 general elections, we should do away with all forms ethnic politics and promote presidential candidates that have national outlook as well as ideas on how to move the country forward”, a human rights activist, Immaculate Precious, stated.
Yet, according to some political watchers, ethnic politics is here again. They point out that looking at the top presidential candidates going for the 2023 general elections, the tribal inclination of leading political parties have resurfaced.
The metamorphosis of NPC and NPN to PDP is clear. That is, Bello-led Northern Peoples Congress, (NPC), Shagari supervised NPN (all Fulani, Muslim Northerners), and today, another Muslim-Fulani northerner, Atiku, is in charge of PDP. On the other hand, APC is deconstructed as a lineage of Awo’s Action Group, (AG) and the Unity Party of Nigeria, (UPN); hence it has Tinubu, a Yoruba and an Awo acolyte, as its presidential candidate.
The same allegation of ethnic politics is leveled against the LP presidential candidate, Obi. His LP is said to be an offshoot of NCNC and NPP of Zik’s First Republic and Second Republic periods accordingly.
“The meaning is that, as it was in 1960/66 and 1979/83 general elections, it will still be the Igbo voting for a fellow Igbo, in this case, Obi and LP; the Hausa/Fulani casting their ballots where their own, Atiku and PDP, have interest; and, of course, the Yoruba looking towards the direction of their clansman Tinubu and APC are.
“No matter how you look at it, this kind of template is not healthy for Nigeria”, Precious further stated.
