Since independence, Nigeria has maintained a census tradition so consistent you’d think it was cast in bronze by the colonial masters themselves: the North is always the most populous, the West follows, and the East comes in third. These numbers have survived military rule, civilian rule, fuel scarcity, NEPA darkness, and even the occasional national ID registration stampede. If nothing else works in Nigeria, our population ranking does.
But democracy, as we endlessly remind ourselves, is a game of numbers. Majority wins. Minority complains. And the constitution, in its wisdom—or mischievousness—decided to sprinkle “federal character” across national life, in hopes that every region might feel included as we share the “national cake”, which these days sometimes feels more like puff-puff.
Yet, under this arrangement, the East often feels alienated, prompting the question: Does Nigeria have an Igbo Question?
Ah yes, the famous Igbo Question: part political science, part sociology, part WhatsApp broadcast message, and part emotional lamentation.
Population, Power and the Arithmetic of Democracy
If politics is a numbers game, and one region consistently has the numbers, then the others must do mathematics with strategy. That is why the constitution introduced the legendary requirement: a presidential candidate must win 25% of votes in at least two-thirds of the states. This is Nigeria’s version of saying, “No single region should carry the trophy home simply because they came with the largest cheerleading squad.”
In short: even if the North votes for a northern candidate as if it’s a regional census rehearsal, that candidate still needs friends elsewhere—including the FCT, our political tiebreaker and national landlord.
It’s a safeguard that ensures coalition-building, compromise, and the occasional political cross-carpeting justified by “consultations with stakeholders”.
But What of the East?
The Eastern region (or specifically, the South-East) finds itself in a peculiar position. It often complains of exclusion, yet its political strategy sometimes resembles a party guest who shouts at everyone but brings no drinks, then wonders why nobody is inviting them to the high table.
Is the East:
Playing bad politics?
Acting as a spoiler when it should be a partner?
Or simply paying the price of population disadvantage in a democracy built on arithmetic?
There’s a theory that the East keeps answering a different question from the one the nation is asking. While other regions negotiate, form alliances, trade positions, and occasionally swallow pride like bitter agbo, the East often insists on moral correctness, historical justice, or emotional loyalty—noble ideas, but not always mathematically helpful.
Weighted Voting: A Political Beauty or a Political Beast?
Some suggest we adopt a weighted voting system, where each region gets a balanced electoral weight irrespective of population—something like: “North, please reduce your votes; East, kindly multiply yours by 2.”
Such a system exists in some federations where regions vary dramatically in population (think U.S. Senate vs House). But implementing this in Nigeria may require more than constitutional amendment; it may require divine intervention, ancestral negotiation, and maybe a UN peacekeeping mission.
Would the North ever agree?
Would the West trade its advantage?
Would the East trust that it won’t still be outmanoeuvred?
Weighted voting, while mathematically tidy, may unleash political grievances we didn’t even know we had.
So How Does Nigeria Answer the Igbo Question?
There are a few possibilities:
1. Political Integration – Encourage the East to invest more in cross-regional alliances rather than moral declarations from a distance.
2. Economic Decentralisation – Reduce the pressure on federal power so that even without the presidency, regions can thrive.
3. Constitutional Innovation – Consider rotational presidency or structured power-sharing that isn’t merely gentleman’s agreement.
4. Political Maturity – Understand that in democracy, emotions don’t vote; strategy does.
Ultimately, the Igbo Question is not just about numbers; it’s about trust, inclusion, perception, and political craftsmanship. Every region has grievances; the trick is to avoid converting grievances into identity.
Final Thoughts
Nigeria doesn’t just have an Igbo Question. It has a Northern Question, a Niger Delta Question, a Middle Belt Question, and a Lagos Traffic Question. Yet we remain one complicated family—unruly cousins included.
If the East seeks a bigger piece of the national cake, it must not only ask the right questions but also play the right politics, build the right coalitions, and leverage the constitution instead of lamenting it.
In the end, Nigeria’s political arithmetic is clear:
You need the numbers—or you need the alliances. Preferably both.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 