Ibos are a primordial family. We are together as Ibos by choice and not by force. When Ibos decide in full agreement of all our authentic leaders and in consensus of all our people to join a party, no matter what it is called, all Ibos will move together. We can never be divided by opportunistic renegades from within or by collusion with rampaging outsiders.—Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, former Imo State Governor.

ELECTION 2015 is very crucial. It was predicted by a Director of CIA some time ago, to be the last Nigeria will have as one nation. Although some may want us to believe that it never happened, we know it was said, and some Nigerians weigh the stand of America over our national survival issues against that prediction. They also watch and follow political developments to see how they fit into that prediction. From developments so far, one disturbing question remains, what becomes of Nigeria after these elections?

First we are in a war with Boko Haram, but most of our political leaders continued to live in denial of the fact until it became too late. Those who lost elections in 2011, are insisting on making a political capital from the war, while those who had issues to grind with President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan,GEJ, have vowed to bring down the government claiming to love Nigeria, yet their words and actions suggest that they have an agenda beyond the elections.The results are that today, we have Nigerian suicide male and female bombers, the President’s campaign team gets pelted with stones, and water in some states in the north of Nigeria, while the contestant from that area coasts around in show of power. A people that can be this hostile to their President, will kill another without asking questions!

Second, for the first time since 1999, we have a vibrant opposition party, which many of us yearned for, but the opposition turned out to be a gathering of men who made their debut and wealth from politics as members of the ruling PDP, crossed over to opposition APC ,wanting to relive their lives, forgetting that they were PDP trained, and cannot really deliver the change they chant in the new party.

Mostly renegades from the ruling party, their frustrations drive them to extreme language and actions capable of setting the country ablaze. They abuse the office of the President with reckless abandon, issue threats of terrible dimensions, and now, for the first time, a former President of this country, in an open show, tore his party membership card to shreds, sending a chilling message about how little our leaders cared about what they did, to overheat the polity.

Third, religion has become engrained into national politics because of prolonged poor handling of Christians in the north of Nigeria. Since 1980s, Muslims had always killed Christians in the north even without provocation. Killing of Christians in the north has continued unabated till the Boko Haram came and started killing every one, as terrorists. Christians themselves present a divided house owing to Mercantile Christianity. They pull each other down, play into the hands of the forces of division, get dragged into issues that could divide the country, completely confused. While some Muslims are targeting Christians, Fulani Herdsmen are killing their neighbours, complicating issues for the common man, creating great tension in the nation.

Fourth, some Nigerians believe that Nigeria is a gift from the colonial masters to them to exploit and enjoy. They say it boldly, and they are Muslims from the Hausa Fulani extraction of the north. Buhari is from Hausa Fulani, and many believe that his quest to rule Nigeria under APC is part of an agenda to rustle power from a South Southerner. As a result, some elements from the South South are determined to cause mayhem if GEJ, is harassed, rigged or cheated out of power. These men are rich, well empowered to carry out their threats, because our oil lies in the bowels of their own lands.

Buhari’s desire to come back as President is further complicated by his Islamic fundamentalist disposition, which alarms many in the south and middle belt areas. As a person, Buhari may be the opposite, but his utterances in the past, and the reality of an OIC agenda to Islamise Nigeria, make the fear genuine .

Should an interplay of any of these key factors result in any conflagration, where will the Igbo man go? Should those who think they own Nigeria, among the Yorubas and the Hausas decide for any reasons to break Nigeria, knowingly or otherwise, what will the Igbo man do? Ibos remain by their spread, the true agents of peace in Nigeria, yet most victimized.

Those who were crying over the postponement of the elections knowing that about 40 percent of registered Ibos had no PVCs were saying in essence that they could carry on without the participation of the Ibos in and the rest in the elections. They wanted to be proclaimed winners even if the country went up in flames thereafter! God forbid!!

Ibos need therefore to wake up to the reality of the fact that they are the ones always targeted in any fracas in the north, the opposition APC does not care for Ibos in their calculations, and Ibos are the ones who must traverse more than six states to get home should anything happen !

Any Ibo man who read of the civil war, and the continued killing of Ibos in the north, should think deeper before voting for APC, because that party needs to stabilise before we can trust them with our votes.

Ibos, have their own history and experience in Nigeria. They lost the war, and feel the pains. If they forget where they have come from, they will not know where they will end up! Ibos who chant change with APC are opportunistic renegades from within, that can be ignored. Let’s vote wisely, for peace and stability.

Mr. Clement Udegbe, a legal practitioner, wrote from Lagos.