The name 'Bulkachuwa' is understandably not in the good books of many Nigerians especially those from the Southeastern part of the country. However, as we look forward to yet another opportunity to change leadership in the country, political realities on ground suggests the next presidential election will be much more tense than the last two before it.
The South-East hasn't tasted power at the very top for decades, and is seeking to end this many years of drought — even if it means doing the 'most difficult thing', going on its knees, at least, according to one of South-East's prominent leaders, Chukwuemeka Ezeife.
While 'begging' is a strange way to go about it, considering no Nigerian is inferior to another, the situation of the Igbo people however, despite being one of Nigeria's major ethnic nationality and also regarded as the most productive people in the country, is seriously a complicated one.
“The Igbo man does not kneel down but this time, we are prepared to kneel down to every part of Nigeria, every group, every ethnic group in Nigeria, we are prepared to even prostrate because we believe in this country.”
"The Almighty God in heaven has agreed that come 2023, a South Easterner will take over power as president of Nigeria. But we as a people must work for it. We must work hard for it.
"We must beg the North, Northeast, Northwest, Middle Belt. We must beg the Yoruba; we must beg the South-south. We must beg all groups in Nigeria, lobbing them, beg them and if it demands kneeling down, the knees will not get stuck on the land. We want one Nigeria," the former Anambra state governor said in a disturbing gesture he hopes could end the many years of waiting for an Igbo President.
It takes extraordinary courage to stoop this low. But why does it have to go this far? Is it an acknowledgement of weakness or inferiority? Perhaps, for all these to make sense, all we need to do is take into account a recent statement by Nigeria's oldest serving lawmaker, and Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Alhaji Adamu Bulkachuwa.
Bulkachuwa in an interview with Daily Trust, said giving South East the Presidency is risky because no one can really tell what they are going to do once they get what they want.
"There are people who feel democracy is not good enough for them and they want to devise their own means of belonging to this entity called Nigeria and if they don’t have their wish, they’ll let Nigeria go to pieces," he said of demands by the South-East.
"Intimidating Nigerians to say, ‘look, give them and let’s see what is going to happen.’ Who will take that risk? They want the presidency to shift to the South East, that is why they are intimidating everybody," he added.
By describing an Igbo Presidency as a 'risk', Bulkachuwa is simply saying the southeast cannot be trusted. This belief can be traced back to the civil war, where the Southeast first attempted to cede from Nigeria under the leadership of Former Governor of the Eastern Region, late Odumegwu Ojukwu.
So, taking Bulkachuwa's words into account, the failure of the South East to produce a President since the end of the civil war, is mostly down to the issue of 'TRUST'.
And his suggestion that the region simply "produce whoever they think is worthy of becoming president" irrespective of political party, for Nigerians to decide for themselves, takes us back to the part of 'earning' the Presidency, not 'given or dashed' the Presidency.
By 'earning', Bulkachuwa surely doesn't mean 'competence' or 'worthiness', since the North has ruled the country the most times, but only succeeded in dragging the over 60 year old nation to its current pathetic state.
So, it is more about winning over the other regions, particularly the North, than issues of competency or worthiness. This perhaps, is what Ezeife is aiming to achieve via humility.
This sentiment is supported by the President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum, AYCF, Yerima Shettima while responding to Ezeife's plea for the southeast to be given a chance.
“We don’t have problem with an Igbo man becoming a president," Shettima said in the statement, "but they should do the needful and not under this circumstances of abuses, threats, and intimidation," he added.
“For me, it’s a good thing that the likes of them have decided to realize that intimidation, blackmail, and harassment can’t give them the Presidency, so they should continue doing and sustaining the tempo by pleading with Nigerians to forgive them for their utterances and abuse of our sensibility as a people. They should retract all the mess they have done to this country, so that at the end of the day; we can have a common front.
“The Southeast are also Nigerians but they must understand that politics is about understanding, negotiating; but not by intimidation.
"Some of them are saying they are ready to beg; but we are not saying they should kneel and beg, but do the needful by reaching out, engage people so as to build trust and confidence in people.
“All the Southeast need now is confidence building, they should go across board and convince Nigerians that they are prepared."