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SOUTHEAST AND POLITICS OF STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
Aligning with the party at the centre is an act of foresight, argues CHIECHEFULAM IKEBUIRO
Recently, the South East Stakeholders’ Meeting of the All Progressives Congress was held in Enugu State. At that gathering, the clear message that stood out was the urgent need for unity across the Southern political corridor to consolidate the gains of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and secure victory for the APC in 2027.
It is a position that deserves sober reflection, not emotional dismissal. In politics, sentiment is a luxury while strategy is a necessity. And for the Southeast, the time has come to invest our votes where they can yield tangible political returns.
For decades, we have demonstrated remarkable loyalty to political causes and parties, often without commensurate rewards. Since 1999, the Southeast largely aligned with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), even when that party controlled the centre for 16 uninterrupted years. Yet, beyond symbolic appointments and occasional infrastructure mentions, the Southeast remained politically peripheral, electorally useful but strategically expendable.
The hard question we must now ask is, what enduring political or developmental gains did that long-standing alignment truly deliver to the Southeast?
Politics, everywhere in the world, is transactional. Regions that negotiate from positions of relevance and leverage reap the benefits of power. Those who consistently vote against the centre, or scatter their influence across losing platforms, consign themselves to the margins. Nigeria is no exception.
This is why the call from the Enugu meeting should be understood as political realism. Aligning with the party at the centre is an act of foresight.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has embarked on far-reaching reforms, some painful, others inevitable. Whether one agrees with all of them or not, one fact is this: this government will shape Nigeria’s economic (and political) direction for the foreseeable future. The Southeast cannot afford to be spectators in decisions that will define Nigeria’s future.
The argument that we should continue to vote symbolically in protest may be emotionally satisfying, but it is strategically hollow. Elections are not moral victories; they are pathways to power. And Power is what translates political participation into tangible outcomes. It is what it is!
It is also time we put to rest the romantic notion of “voting our own” as a sufficient political strategy. Yes, Peter Obi’s performance in the 2023 presidential election was impressive and, to people like me, surprising. However, elections are won not by momentum alone.
Truth be told, there is currently no viable pathway to an Obi presidency in 2027, even with his alignment with the ADC- a home to a mix of aggrieved politicians, including former APC “ power brokers”. An alignment that also exposes a deeper contradiction because if the path forward still requires alliances with the same political class Obi’s movement defined itself against, then the narrative of a clean break from “old order” becomes harder to sustain. Or was it all a ruse?
More importantly, there is the fundamental challenge of the absence of nationwide electoral viability. It is what it is!
The alternative often implied within this coalition is a return to a familiar northern presidential option. But does this choice truly serve Southern or Southeastern interests? After eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani northerner, the informal but widely respected understanding within Nigeria’s power rotation framework is that power should remain in the South.
To jettison that understanding now would not only deepen national distrust, it would also weaken the South’s collective bargaining power in the long run. Aligning behind another northern ticket so soon would amount to political self-sabotage.
The Southeast must therefore think beyond protest votes and sentimental attachments. The real question is not which party makes us feel morally comfortable, but which alignment places us closer to decision-making power, federal presence, and developmental negotiation.
Political relevance is not awarded; it is negotiated. It is what it is!
This does not mean blind loyalty to the APC, nor does it suggest abandoning legitimate grievances. Rather, it calls for pragmatic engagement. Entering the room where decisions are made, influencing policy from within, and positioning the Southeast as a critical stakeholder rather than a perpetual opposition enclave.
As 2027 approaches, the Southeast must choose between symbolism and strategy, between emotional consistency and political consequence. Votes are currency in a democracy. It is time we spent ours wisely.
The future will not reward sentiment. It will reward calculation and strategic alignment.
Lastly, an Igbo presidency will not emerge from isolation or perpetual opposition. It will come from relevance, trust, and negotiated inclusion within Nigeria’s power architecture.
