10TH ASSEMBLY SENATE PRESIDENCY; A CASE FOR SOUTHEAST.
By:
Unegbu, Onyedikachi Victor-Wallace.
Every Igbo man like me living and voting in the south east that stood for Asiwaju from the very beginning actually faced a near death situation. As such the true heroes of the Tinubu/Shetima election victory are the southeast people who reside in igbo land and igbo dominated areas of lagos especially.
With the wave of the biafra secession pioneered by MNK which snowballed naturally to the Obidient movement, it became a matter of life and death for any igbo son or daughter living in the southeast to stick out his neck for Asiwaju.
It may be easier for the northerners from north central and north west, but we in the southeast and our brothers from northeast who had very top contenders like Atiku and Obi it was much more difficult for us.
Worse were the Igbos living in the southeast. For the sake of Asiwaju most of us lost vital relationships, even business relationships. We were hated by our own brothers, we were called names, some of us were beaten and maimed, even in our churches we were disdained by our own blood because of Asiwaju.
The south south had no candidate contesting for president hence the pressure and intensity was not there. In spite of that, the southeast produced two APC governors, whereas south south had only Cross River.
So each time I read anyone attempting to politically profile Igbos in APC taunting the southeast with the lame argument of how many votes did southeast give to Asiwaju and Shettima ticket, I just laugh at that ignominious display of naked ignorance.
Yorubas were there, Asiwaju lost in Lagos and Osun State, yet some of their misguided brothers are busy profiling Igbos politically declaring that the south south deserves the senate presidency because they gave 25% votes.
No presidential candidate from the south south yet all they could get was 25% percent and CrossRiver? Whereas a zone with the most vicious candidate was still able to wrest out two governors.
Do you know what it took Hope Uzodimma to win his local government against Peter Obi with over 17,000 votes?
Assume that Peter Obi was not a Presidential candidate and it was between Atiku and Asiwaju in Imo State, then the entire Southeast will deliver 5 states landslide for Asiwaju.
So I want to plead with the national leadership and members of the APC to drop that lame sentiments against the southeast and know that APC members in southeast truly risked their lives to vote for Tinubu. For instance in my own booth I was assaulted and beaten up yet I didn’t relent I still went ahead to vote Tinubu and all APC candidates and ensured that my vote was duly counted.
The truth is that One Tinubu vote in the southeast is worth more than 1000 Tinubu vote in Southwest, 500 Tinubu vote in South South, excluding Delta where they had Okowa contesting for VP, 1000 Tinubu vote in NorthCentral and 800 Tinubu vote in North West.
As such the Igbos undoubtedly and aside the need to forster national cohesion and unity deserve the position of the Senate President.
