Showing posts with label Igbo Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Igbo Politics. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Organizing At The Intersection Of Culture And Generational Courage
“... when we are comfortable and inattentive, we run the risk of committing grave injustices absentmindedly.” - Chinua Achebe
These powerful words, as well as their author, strike home for me as the eldest of Nigerian immigrants and as a candidate for public office. My core mission and my vision for change as a community organizer, public servant, unionized campaign staffer and now progressive hiring specialist has centered on doing everything I can to make the levers of power more accessible to communities that have been traditionally marginalized.
My name is Nnedi Stephens and I am running a campaign for State Senate District 13 that embodies the core values of accessibility, inclusion and transparency.
This district encompasses the section of the Reno/Sparks metro area one block west of the University of Nevada, Reno down toward the Plumas/Moana area, eastward to the section of Sparks that borders Hidden Valley and upwards toward McCarran Blvd. We are facing devastating challenges that are making it harder to live and raise families here. Median rent and home prices are skyrocketing. The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing issues such as the health care provider and teacher shortages, as well as the lack of access to affordable mental health care — especially for those in crisis.
These are tough issues to properly address because so much of their root causes are systemic. Low wages and long hours for teachers and educational faculty, the stigmatization of seeking treatment for mental illness, and the structural wealth inequality we see between Black, Indigenous, People of Color and their white counterparts are keeping our communities from reaching their truest potential. I am running to bring new energy to Carson City and help build the coalitions of stakeholders needed to tackle these problems head on. The beginning words I shared from Chinua Achebe are a call to action to ensure that none of us are complacent in the face of our neighbor’s suffering, even when it means jumping outside one’s comfort zone to help one another.
Chinua Achebe is often referred to as the “Father of Modern African Literature” for being one of the first African novelists to gain international recognition for sharing the story of Africa’s brutal colonization through the lens of those who suffered it. He talked about the importance of telling your own story and sharing an accurate retelling of history, contrary to the anti-“CRT” crusaders who want to segregate our textbooks and isolate students who look like me from learning about the history made by courageous people who represent and fought for their rights. These words remind me of my Nigerian godfather who worked so hard to build a local small business and a legacy for his children and godchildren rooted in the rich culture and traditions of Igbo culture.
Every time I saw him, he was always sure to remind me never to forget where I come from and to work hard so that the generation after me may prosper. It has been hard to work through the grief of losing him last month while running a campaign, but his example shows me that the work I put in today serves as a foundation for those who will come after me tomorrow.
The immigrant experience is varied based on ethnicity, nationality, belief system (or lack thereof) and so many more identities that shape the way in which we interact and interpret the world around us.
One common thread you will find, however, is courage.
The courage to relocate to a different country and a different culture.
The courage to work as hard as possible to give your kids the best start at life possible.
I will end by sharing a Igbo proverb that reads:
“Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.”
I am running as the candidate willing to stand up for what is right and to create a better world for generations to come.
I humbly ask for your vote in this June 14 primary to be the next State Senator from District 13.
Born and raised in Reno to hard-working Nigerian immigrants, Nnedi Stephens is a graduate of Wooster High School and the University of Nevada, Reno with a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering (biomedical emphasis) and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish.
They are the 2nd vice president of the Young Democrats of America (YDA) and have made history in various different organizations as an openly LGBTQ+ Nigerian-American. As vice president of search for Meso Solutions, Nnedi works directly with organizations across the country to ensure equitable and inclusive hiring practices for executive level positions. They are running for the Nevada State Senate as a Democrat in Senate District 13. Their website is nnedifornevada.com. Connect with Nnedi on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
Atiku’s Emergence Formally Ends The So-Called Rotational Presidency Principle...
BY ALFRED OBIORA UZOKWE
Former Nigeria Vice President Atiku Abubakar adresses the People's Democratic Party delegates during the Special convention in Abuja, Nigeria May 28, 2022 [Afolabi Sotunde/ Reuters]
Yesterday, at the PDP convention, a northerner in the person of Atiku, once again emerged as the presidential flag bearer. This is a party that once acceded to the principle of rotational presidency but still skimmed out other regions with interest in the top spot. Atiku has very strong odds of eventually becoming the president because depending on who the APC fields, the north will vote as a block. With this development, it is now official that Nigeria is a government of the people for the people by ONE region.
Unfortunately, the regions being marginalized lack the political cohesiveness that is necessary to break this hegemonic proclivity of the north. They bicker amongst themselves, gladly play the Brutus from within, readily accept crumbs in exchange for loyalty. But was it not honest Abe that said that a house divided never stands. If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting the same result. Factionalization and infighting has made the south east unable to present a solid political block with a formidable common front.
In the end what is left in the south east? A people with no real say in affairs that govern every facet of their being for the past 50 years. Second Niger bridge, a project that is not only THE eastern gateway, but of national commercial import, is being done at the whims and caprices of those at the helm. The snail speed of work tells the story. Federal roads in the east are all but abandoned, only done at the whims of the helmsman. The people at the helm do projects in the south east with the mindset that they are doing them a favor, not that it is their right as part of the major tribe in Nigeria. Yet, the helmsmanship never gets to that part of Nigeria.
Now, my question is, since the idea of rotational presidency has been jettisoned, will Nigeria also do same to the quota systems in university admissions where candidates from certain regions are admitted with scores so low that one wonders how they will cope in the tertiary institutions? Will the quota system latently practiced in the employment of folks into the army, police and other parastatals now go away? No, it will not. The dominant region has become a master at having things both ways and they are not bashful about it.
While the south easterners spend most of their time pontificating in various outlets(nothing wrong with that); while we verbally joust on platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook; while we engage in the practice of “I can get to my potentials as an individual but will never get along with other south easterners for a better and bigger achievement”; while south easterners play the politics of self-immolation where those elected as governors fall our hand by leaving the states more desolate than they met them, the north has succeeded in perpetual rule of the so called giant of Africa. They have been doing it for 50 or more years and will continue. They know that he who holds power is like a piper that dictates the tune in an ensemble.
Ndi Igbo, as my mother’s people from Asaba would say, loanu ilolo – think deep. You can have all the commerce in Nigeria but without periodic political power and influence, those things that aid commerce like constant electricity to power industries, good roads to ferry goods, enabling environment like loans, etc, will continue to elude the southeast and we will never get to our full potential.
The beat goes on.
Yesterday, at the PDP convention, a northerner in the person of Atiku, once again emerged as the presidential flag bearer. This is a party that once acceded to the principle of rotational presidency but still skimmed out other regions with interest in the top spot. Atiku has very strong odds of eventually becoming the president because depending on who the APC fields, the north will vote as a block. With this development, it is now official that Nigeria is a government of the people for the people by ONE region.
Unfortunately, the regions being marginalized lack the political cohesiveness that is necessary to break this hegemonic proclivity of the north. They bicker amongst themselves, gladly play the Brutus from within, readily accept crumbs in exchange for loyalty. But was it not honest Abe that said that a house divided never stands. If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting the same result. Factionalization and infighting has made the south east unable to present a solid political block with a formidable common front.
In the end what is left in the south east? A people with no real say in affairs that govern every facet of their being for the past 50 years. Second Niger bridge, a project that is not only THE eastern gateway, but of national commercial import, is being done at the whims and caprices of those at the helm. The snail speed of work tells the story. Federal roads in the east are all but abandoned, only done at the whims of the helmsman. The people at the helm do projects in the south east with the mindset that they are doing them a favor, not that it is their right as part of the major tribe in Nigeria. Yet, the helmsmanship never gets to that part of Nigeria.
Now, my question is, since the idea of rotational presidency has been jettisoned, will Nigeria also do same to the quota systems in university admissions where candidates from certain regions are admitted with scores so low that one wonders how they will cope in the tertiary institutions? Will the quota system latently practiced in the employment of folks into the army, police and other parastatals now go away? No, it will not. The dominant region has become a master at having things both ways and they are not bashful about it.
While the south easterners spend most of their time pontificating in various outlets(nothing wrong with that); while we verbally joust on platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook; while we engage in the practice of “I can get to my potentials as an individual but will never get along with other south easterners for a better and bigger achievement”; while south easterners play the politics of self-immolation where those elected as governors fall our hand by leaving the states more desolate than they met them, the north has succeeded in perpetual rule of the so called giant of Africa. They have been doing it for 50 or more years and will continue. They know that he who holds power is like a piper that dictates the tune in an ensemble.
Ndi Igbo, as my mother’s people from Asaba would say, loanu ilolo – think deep. You can have all the commerce in Nigeria but without periodic political power and influence, those things that aid commerce like constant electricity to power industries, good roads to ferry goods, enabling environment like loans, etc, will continue to elude the southeast and we will never get to our full potential.
The beat goes on.
IGBO POLITICS: 2023: This House Has Fallen; To Rebuild It, We Must Break From Our Past
For Immediate Release May 30, 2023
By Kingsley Moghalu, ADC Presidential Aspirant
The desperation of politicians in the 2023 presidential election cycle gives cause for alarm. From N100 million presidential nomination forms to $35,000 delegate bribes and INEC’s shifting of the deadline for primaries, seemingly to accommodate the political party in power today, there are dangerous omens.
It is up to us as Nigerians to decide if we will be fooled again in 2023. To make real progress, we must break from the past. We must now elect leaders who offer us a clear, coherent vision, competence, and a plan.
As an aspirant for the responsibility of President of Nigeria in 2023 on the platform of the African Democratic Democratic Congress (ADC), I offer our country a clear vision and plan, articulated in my book Build, Innovate and Grow (BIG). The high Office of President of Nigeria is a job, not an entitlement based on the number of years a candidate has spent in politics or merely on personal ambition. In 2023 Nigerians should elect a candidate who has the competences, experience and performance track record that is directly relevant to the job. The core functions of the President of Nigeria are (1) Nation-building (managing diversity, building a united nation, and building strong institutions); (2) National Security; (3) Economy; and (4) Foreign Affairs and International Diplomacy.
Based on these requirements, I am the man for the job. A modern, 21st century President of Nigeria. As a United Nations official for 17 years in which I rose by dint of hard work and competence from entry level Officer to the highest career bracket of Director and served on special assignment at the political level of Under-Secretary-General, in New York, Cambodia, Croatia, Rwanda, and Switzerland, I led teams that achieved lasting results in rebuilding failed states such as our country has become today, in international security operations, and in traditional international diplomacy.
I led resource mobilization and the building of global partnerships for the Geneva-based, $20billion Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that has made social investments to support health systems and save lives in 140 countries including Nigeria. And as the founder and CEO of a global investment advisory firm in the private sector, I have advised and guided major foreign investors into Nigeria and other African countries.
As a Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2009 to 2014, I led the execution of extensive reforms that saved the Nigerian financial system from collapse after the global financial crisis of 2008. Our work remains the stabilizing foundation of our financial system today.
I also led the team that developed and introduced the Bank Verification Number (BVN) which now serves nearly 50 million Nigerians in the banking system. My team and I facilitated the introduction of Non-Interest (Islamic) Banking that advanced financial inclusion, as well as the digitalization of the payment system that made it possible for nearly 100 million Nigerians to make and receive payments on their mobile phones. As a member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the CBN, I played an active leadership role, with other colleagues, in economic policy making that successfully crashed inflation from double digits to a single digit 8% by 2014. We managed foreign exchange policy successfully, with the Naira exchanging to the dollar at a rate in the range of N150-N165 to $1 during our tenure in office. These are transformative achievements in which one played a direct, leadership role. The impact of my life’s work so far has been deep, international, national, and local, empowering millions in Nigeria and around the world.
Having been a traditional politician in and of itself, say as a state Governor or Senator, without the knowledge of or exposure to managing complex diversity, sophisticated security operations, national economic management, or foreign affairs, does not prepare such an individual to be an effective president of Nigeria. Our failure to understand this is why we tend to make the wrong leadership choices. This is the lesson we should learn from Nigeria today as the failed state our country has become. The presidency is a unique job, not a mere political promotion or an entitlement.
In 2023, our present national crisis needs us to elect a President of Nigeria that will fix our economy, unite our diverse peoples, secure our territory and our people, and restore our standing in the world. I pledge to build and unify our country into One Nation with a common national ambition on which we all agree. We will proactively secure our country and its people in all of our geopolitical zones. We will build an economy that creates jobs and prosperity for our youth through innovation, manufacturing and skills through education reform that ends ASUU strikes permanently in Nigeria, and access to capital to start new businesses through a state-sponsored venture capital fund that will be managed efficiently by the private sector.
With my knowledge, experience and networks in international relations, my Government will make Nigeria influential and powerful abroad once again, based into the stability and prosperity we will create at home.
Fellow Nigerians, this house has fallen. Together, we will rebuild it to become stronger than it has ever been.
Igbo Fight
BY EMEKA UGWUONYE
It is true that the Igbos fight among themselves more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria. That is judging from my own observations. When the Igbos fight among themselves, they don't know where to draw the line. Every fight among the Igbos is an existential fight - that is, they seek to permanently destroy each other. That is why it becomes impossible for them to reconcile after a fight.
For over 20 years as a lawyer in America, I saw a lot of that. Even a divorce between an Igbo woman and an Igbo husband will, on the average, be more bitter than a divorce between non-Igbos or between an Igbo spouse and a non-Igbo spouse. They don't know how to narrow a fight. They expand every fight into a total war. That is why a divorce case involving two Igbos in America will cost them more than if it were a divorce between two non-Igbos.
It is usually in Igbo-versus-Igbo divorce that one of the spouses will go as far as informing the immigration that the other spouse lied 20 years ago when he filed for his immigration papers. It is usually in Igbo-versus-Igbo divorce that one spouse will seek the deportation of the other spouse. It is usually in Igbo-versus-Igbo cases that one party informs the authorities about some distant crime the other party committed, which nobody else knew about.
I happened to intervene in a lot of Nigerian-versus-Nigerian disputes in America. I knew that it was worse among the Igbos. For instance, it was very difficult for an Igbo union or Association to hand over power from one administration to another peacefully without going to court. Very rarely! Usually, the new administration will sue the outgoing executive and accuse them of stealing and embezzlement (or any worse offense possible). They can do this over $2000 dispute. The Igbos hardly like mediation. They want their opponent to be dead. And he is willing to lose even his own life to achieve that.
It was in one of such cases that the leader of a new Igbo union administration testified in court against the leader of the outgoing administration. In his testimony in court he said:
"We contributed and contributed and contributed and he ate the money totaling $16,538". He had to repeat the word 'contributed' three times in order to show the judge that they made the contributions on more than one occasion. He was not educated enough to use a word that would have avoided repeating the word. Despite his lack of education, he was the most confident and loudest in court. Typical Igbo man.
The judge was so shocked to hear that a human being ate money. So the judge asked: "Do you mean he ate the money?". The man replied: "Yes, your Honor". The judge continued: "Even the change, the 38 cents?". He replied: "He ate every penny of the money we contributted". The judge winced and the jury were visibly confused.
At that point, I asked to approach the bench. The judge was happy. I explained to the judge that the man only meant that the other party embezzled the money, not that he ingested the money. Only then was the tension doused.
You know in Igbo language, the statement: "He ate rice" will be: "Orili rice" or "Orie rice". Also, in Igbo language, the statement: "He embezzled money" is "Orili ego" or "Orie ego". When an uneducated Igbo person wants to say that somebody embezzled money in English, he will likely say: "He ate the money".
Look at the World Igbo Congress! What happened? After the founding executive, there was so much infighting that they had 10 lawsuits in American courts and they were still looking for lawyers to file more suits pro bono. That was a terrible experience. The World Igbo Congress would have been the pan Igbo movement that would have advanced the Igbo interest worldwide and bring the Igbos together. But the moment one Igbo Governor gave them a donation of $15,000, some members wanted to overthrow their executive. And because every Igbo fight is war, they spread the fight as far and wide as possible. They challenged the legitimacy of their constitution. They challenged the ethnicity of some of the executive members and claimed they were no longer Igbos, that some of them were from Benue State. It was so bitter that it was impossible to reconcile them. The World Igbo Congress had to die. But Zumunta (the Nothern union) never had such problem. The Yoruba unions did not have anything like that.
When I say these things, some young Igbo men get upset. But I don't care. Many of them are too young to know history. Many of them are too uneducated to understand what is happening. Many of them lack practical experience they can refer to. For instance, I can refer to World Igbo Congress. One of the Founding leaders of World Igbo Congress is my friend. He is here on DPA and will probably read this. So, am I supposed to worry about what some uninformed Igbo brothers say? Not at all. The Igbos need serious reorientation to be able to make it. If the Federal Government of Nigeria was smart, they would simply have recruited some Igbos and set them against IPOB and watch them destroy themselves. Just get some Igbos. Give them their own radio and tell them to counter Radio Biafra, and they would do it perfectly well.
So, if you are a social scientist and they ask you to evaluate the readiness of the Igbos for anything serious, you will come back and report that they lack cohesion. They lack organizational discipline. An Anambra man will fight an Enugu man any day. Just tell him that Enugu people are backward and Wawa bush men that drink their tea with Okpa, instead of bread. He will fight him. And tell the Enugu man that the Anambra man is an Ijekebee man. (You see: The Igbo people did not invent tea. They did not invent bread. But they will abuse a fellow Igbo for drinking tea with Okpa instead of bread).
So, stop kidding yourselves, guys. You are not ready for anything yet. We need a lot of underground work to prepare our society if that is the direction we want to go. And the first thing we need to do is to be honest to ourselves. We are not the geniuses we think we are. We are actually behind. It is not what you do as an individual that will count, but what you can do as a group. Even the ants are better organized than the Igbos. Ask Nnia Nwodo. Ask Chimaroke and Jim Nwobod. Ask Jim Nwodo and CC Onoh. (Yes, I am aware of Awolowo and Akintola, Tinubu and Funsho Williams. Don't worry, I am well informed).
For over 20 years as a lawyer in America, I saw a lot of that. Even a divorce between an Igbo woman and an Igbo husband will, on the average, be more bitter than a divorce between non-Igbos or between an Igbo spouse and a non-Igbo spouse. They don't know how to narrow a fight. They expand every fight into a total war. That is why a divorce case involving two Igbos in America will cost them more than if it were a divorce between two non-Igbos.
It is usually in Igbo-versus-Igbo divorce that one of the spouses will go as far as informing the immigration that the other spouse lied 20 years ago when he filed for his immigration papers. It is usually in Igbo-versus-Igbo divorce that one spouse will seek the deportation of the other spouse. It is usually in Igbo-versus-Igbo cases that one party informs the authorities about some distant crime the other party committed, which nobody else knew about.
I happened to intervene in a lot of Nigerian-versus-Nigerian disputes in America. I knew that it was worse among the Igbos. For instance, it was very difficult for an Igbo union or Association to hand over power from one administration to another peacefully without going to court. Very rarely! Usually, the new administration will sue the outgoing executive and accuse them of stealing and embezzlement (or any worse offense possible). They can do this over $2000 dispute. The Igbos hardly like mediation. They want their opponent to be dead. And he is willing to lose even his own life to achieve that.
It was in one of such cases that the leader of a new Igbo union administration testified in court against the leader of the outgoing administration. In his testimony in court he said:
"We contributed and contributed and contributed and he ate the money totaling $16,538". He had to repeat the word 'contributed' three times in order to show the judge that they made the contributions on more than one occasion. He was not educated enough to use a word that would have avoided repeating the word. Despite his lack of education, he was the most confident and loudest in court. Typical Igbo man.
The judge was so shocked to hear that a human being ate money. So the judge asked: "Do you mean he ate the money?". The man replied: "Yes, your Honor". The judge continued: "Even the change, the 38 cents?". He replied: "He ate every penny of the money we contributted". The judge winced and the jury were visibly confused.
At that point, I asked to approach the bench. The judge was happy. I explained to the judge that the man only meant that the other party embezzled the money, not that he ingested the money. Only then was the tension doused.
You know in Igbo language, the statement: "He ate rice" will be: "Orili rice" or "Orie rice". Also, in Igbo language, the statement: "He embezzled money" is "Orili ego" or "Orie ego". When an uneducated Igbo person wants to say that somebody embezzled money in English, he will likely say: "He ate the money".
Look at the World Igbo Congress! What happened? After the founding executive, there was so much infighting that they had 10 lawsuits in American courts and they were still looking for lawyers to file more suits pro bono. That was a terrible experience. The World Igbo Congress would have been the pan Igbo movement that would have advanced the Igbo interest worldwide and bring the Igbos together. But the moment one Igbo Governor gave them a donation of $15,000, some members wanted to overthrow their executive. And because every Igbo fight is war, they spread the fight as far and wide as possible. They challenged the legitimacy of their constitution. They challenged the ethnicity of some of the executive members and claimed they were no longer Igbos, that some of them were from Benue State. It was so bitter that it was impossible to reconcile them. The World Igbo Congress had to die. But Zumunta (the Nothern union) never had such problem. The Yoruba unions did not have anything like that.
When I say these things, some young Igbo men get upset. But I don't care. Many of them are too young to know history. Many of them are too uneducated to understand what is happening. Many of them lack practical experience they can refer to. For instance, I can refer to World Igbo Congress. One of the Founding leaders of World Igbo Congress is my friend. He is here on DPA and will probably read this. So, am I supposed to worry about what some uninformed Igbo brothers say? Not at all. The Igbos need serious reorientation to be able to make it. If the Federal Government of Nigeria was smart, they would simply have recruited some Igbos and set them against IPOB and watch them destroy themselves. Just get some Igbos. Give them their own radio and tell them to counter Radio Biafra, and they would do it perfectly well.
So, if you are a social scientist and they ask you to evaluate the readiness of the Igbos for anything serious, you will come back and report that they lack cohesion. They lack organizational discipline. An Anambra man will fight an Enugu man any day. Just tell him that Enugu people are backward and Wawa bush men that drink their tea with Okpa, instead of bread. He will fight him. And tell the Enugu man that the Anambra man is an Ijekebee man. (You see: The Igbo people did not invent tea. They did not invent bread. But they will abuse a fellow Igbo for drinking tea with Okpa instead of bread).
So, stop kidding yourselves, guys. You are not ready for anything yet. We need a lot of underground work to prepare our society if that is the direction we want to go. And the first thing we need to do is to be honest to ourselves. We are not the geniuses we think we are. We are actually behind. It is not what you do as an individual that will count, but what you can do as a group. Even the ants are better organized than the Igbos. Ask Nnia Nwodo. Ask Chimaroke and Jim Nwobod. Ask Jim Nwodo and CC Onoh. (Yes, I am aware of Awolowo and Akintola, Tinubu and Funsho Williams. Don't worry, I am well informed).
Thursday, April 7, 2022
INTERVIEW: Abaribe: I’m Determined To Be The Change In Abia
THIS DAY INTERVIEW
Senate Minority Leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe believes that Abia State, must strive to be the industrial heartland of the nation and he thinks of himself as a governor who can drive this. Segun James reports
Why do you want to become the next governor of the state?
My reason is simple: Abia State deserves the best possible material to lead it and I think I am the best person at this time to lead the state. This is the 21st century; this is also a transition year and this is also a year where so many things are happening both in Nigeria and all over the world. And what Abia needs now is a man that has integrity. Abia needs a man that has credibility, a man that has the capacity to do the job and Abia needs somebody, who at all times the people can go to sleep and say they know that Abia is in very good hands.
I am putting myself forward for Abia people to be the governor for all, not the governor of the North, South, East or West, but the governor for every Abia person. And I think that with the pedigree I have and with what I have done for the people of Abia and indeed, the people of Nigeria, all the oppressed people in this country know that I put them first in everything, that I will do a great job for them.
This will be your fourth or fifth attempt, do you think people will give you their votes this time?
I think that what is important is the adage: if you try and it doesn’t work, then you try again. It doesn’t matter how many times I have made attempts, I think that this is the right time and Abia people know and I have their support and their encouragement. I have had consultations with all persons in Abia, all manner of people; I have had with the leadership, I have had with the led, market women, with the youths, I have had with the political leaders, I have had with academia, I have had with all. At every point I have met with them, Abians asked for one thing: leadership that puts them first and I intend to do that.
As the Senate’s minority leader. What’s your take on the Electoral Act?
It is a good piece of legislation. It was meant to cure some of the problems that were in the previous acts all this while. The basic thing that we have in the Electoral Act today is the fact that it will make rigging almost impossible. There are two things that were done in that Electoral Act. First is the direct transmission of results in each polling unit. Even if you have problems in a polling unit, the cumulative of all the polling booths will give you a near accurate figure. Also, there is a provision in the Act that if you, by any means, force a Returning Officer to announce a result that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) does not have, that set of results will not be processed.
The other thing about the Electoral Act, which is good, is the very famous one, which everyone saw when the Senate rejected President Muhammadu Buhari’s amendment, which is section 84(12). What that section does is that it codified what was already supposed to be the norm of our society. Usually, if you want to run for election, the norm used to be that you would resign. You won’t sit in office and at the same time utilize your office to run and manipulate state resources in running for election.
There is an aspect of that legislation, which people talk about, which I do not think is in the law. I have heard it said that, if you have not resigned by now, you might not be eligible to contest; that you ought to have resigned. No law is made to be retroactive, so Section 84(12) doesn’t say that you ought to have resigned by now. What is actually in the law is that if you are going to be a delegate for the purpose of primary or you are going to be an aspirant or a contestant for the purpose of primary, leading to an election that you will have to resign. The stipulation as to time is what is in the Civil Service Rules because you are a public officer and you are subjected to the same Civil Service Rules, which is 30 days before any contest.
So, it is actually 30 days before primary or 30 days before congress if you are going to be a delegate. It is not for three months. When the parties set their dates, I believe the 30 days will now kick-start from the date the parties put for their elections. That is what is in 84(12).
The President, in his wisdom, has said that it conflicted with the 1999 Constitution, where that particular part of the constitution wasn’t mentioned. So, we didn’t know exactly what he meant. As far as we know, we think that if you are in office and you still want to be in that office and also run or contest for an election, what you are doing is that you are short-changing the country because your office will suffer. And of course, when you are running for office, what it means is that you are going to neglect your official duties, and you swore an oath to fulfil your duty towards the public and towards Nigeria, so you cannot balance the two at the same time. It is not going to be in the interest of the country. The interest of the country should come first.
So when we got that communication from the President, we said some people must have mis-advised him to write that letter. For example, I run the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and I now want to be President and then I want to contest for primary while I am still running the NNPC, something is going to suffer. And what is going to suffer actually is my job for the people of Nigeria in the NNPC. We should not allow that. We just didn’t think that these are things that we ought to codify, but we have found out that because it wasn’t codified people were taking advantage of it and staying in their offices and utilizing the office to run elections and of course, to the detriment of their duties. That was why we declined to put an assent to it.
The All Progressives Congress, APC, is trying to get a foothold in the South-east. What do you think are the chances of the PDP for the presidency and to retain power in Abia?
I don’t think the APC has had a foothold in the South-east. What the APC has done, just like they have done elsewhere, is to poach the leadership that is already there from the PDP and when they poach them, they give them a lot of bogus promises, which they never kept. So, at all times, the PDP will always win the South-east; we have no problem about that. It is obvious that the APC has nothing to offer the South-east and we repeat not just the South-east; the APC has nothing to offer the country. What will they offer you? Is it fuel that is at N600 per litre? You can’t fly, diesel is at almost N800 per litre. And of course the worst, which is that we are in the middle of rising oil prices at the international market, yet we are still crying that Nigeria is not benefitting from the development. This has never happened. At least, everybody can say that when there is rising oil prices, we can no longer borrow; we can pay our debts; we can reduce the deficit but none of that is happening, we are not saving and we are doing nothing. We should ask ourselves one question and that question is this: what manner of economic management does the APC do that has led us to this type of Nigeria where nothing, literally nothing, is working and the country is grinding to a halt? When we asked this question, we were told that the real problem is that we are paying subsidies. Two things we can take from here; this same APC said that there was nothing like subsidy. This same President Buhari said subsidy was a scam, yet subsidy has risen under this government three times or four times more than subsidy under President Goodluck Jonathan’s PDP government that they persecuted so much.
We should ask ourselves another question: how did the consumption of Prime Motor Spirit, PMS, rise under APC from the 28 million to 30 million litres a day under (Dr Ibe) Kachukwu as minister to about 100 million litres a day under the present leadership of the APC? Something is definitely wrong. How can, within three to four years, you tell us that the consumption of petroleum products in Nigeria has quadrupled; how could that be? So, what we see is something that is inexplicable. The United States has an energy department that has the consumption rate of all fuel you use all over the world. If you check their figures, the whole of West Africa doesn’t take up to 35 million of litres a day, the whole of West Africa and you tell me that Nigeria takes over 100 million litres a day and we are paying subsidies on this phantom figures. So, there are things we cannot explain. We all know that the APC has nothing to offer an average man in the South-east, who finds it very difficult to do business, who finds it very difficult to move about, even if he is an importer he has to come to Lagos and the cost of moving his goods to Abia is costlier than what he used to bring it from Europe to Lagos. So, how would anybody survive in this kind of condition? And now after everything they told us that if they remove the PDP from power, they will now give us electricity. I think that was what Mr (Babatunde) Fashola said then.
Now, they are telling us that electricity has fallen because it is the dry season and that the water level has fallen. The same thing they complained about under the PDP. So, you can see that these people came to power on the basis of an issue of propaganda, misinformation, lies and everything, they can no longer sustain it. Therefore, there is nothing for Nigerians to look forward to other than to bring the PDP back so that we can restore the country the same way we restored it from 1999 to 2015.
What is your take on the Igbo quest for the presidency? Will your party, PDP consider the region for its presidential ticket?
Yes, we are clamouring for a president from our zone because we think that every other part of Nigeria has had a shot at the presidency. But beyond that, we think that we have credible, competent and very qualified persons within the PDP from the South-east who can lead Nigeria and take it out of the problem that it has today. And we are also encouraging them that they should come out and contest; they should talk to people from every part of Nigeria because to take the cliché, power is not served a la carte. I am sure that we have many credible people from the South-East that can bring Nigeria back from the brink and the PDP looks good to win the presidency in 2023.
Saturday, April 2, 2022
Peter Obi Brand And New Face Of Nigerian Politics
Peter Obi
The nearest Nigeria had come to the Peter Obi politics of accommodation, was with the late Waziri Ibrahim’s ‘politics without bitterness’, in the 1979-1983 Second Republic.
Waziri, the presidential candidate of the then Great Nigerian Peoples Party (GNPP), abhorred anything associated with violence, in his quest for the presidency. He, really pioneered the dictum that his aspiration did not worth the blood of any Nigerian – a line of action that the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, adopted in 2015, leading to his conceding the presidential election of that year to Muhammadu Buhari, the first of such by an incumbent in the country’s history.
Obi, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) vice presidential candidate in 2019 and 2023 presidential aspirant, has widened the frontiers of that politics of accommodation. In appearing at the Abuja venue where a fellow aspirant, Atiku Abubakar was making public declaration of his intention for the same ticket, Obi took a route that many had considered unusual. It is not normal here, for an aspirant to be seen at a function organised another. They are rather, usually seen as rivals.
Those that were stunned at Obi’s appearance at Atiku’s declaration, were therefore substantially in order – after all, it was the philosophers that defined ethics as the prevailing conduct of a people. By taking the action, Obi had gone off the line.
But he has an explanation. Running for an office, for him, is not a matter of life-and-death, especially with an opponent that has the advantage of age, at least, in an African setting. Obi is 61, Atiku is in his mid-70s. The gap in age is wide. Thus, the only way to contextualize the situation, is the analogy of the relationship between a master and his apprentice in Igbo apprenticeship world view.
I’m an Igbo man and we’re traders. Even an Oga (Master) who settles his boy-boy (Apprentice) can open a shop besides him even when they sell the same products. Most of the people I’ve settled in my business sell the same products and we struggle for the same customers. I’m used to it. I’ll compete against Atiku. But it doesn’t make us enemies”, he said.
That is the Obi brand, a novel disposition in politics that is devoid of acrimony and pettiness. But beneath the advertisement of accommodation, is a mind that sees leadership as serious business. At a recent forum in Lagos, he had taken time to explain to his audience, the need for committed and serious minded leadership as the only way for Nigeria to get at out of its present piteous situation. Leadership for him, is not an engagement for the frivolous or faint-hearted.
In his meeting with the council of Anambra traditional rulers and presidents-general of the 177 communities in the state to inform them of his intention to run for the presidency, he was emphatic that his aspiration was essentially to fix the country that is currently broken in many respects.
He said; “my interest in the presidency of Nigeria is to restore security and revamp our educational sector and also revive the health sector. I have seriously studied our country and I have come to discover that all that we need is to ensure security so that foreign aid local investments would thrive in all parts of the country. I have come to serve Nigeria and I am sure of restoring our country and uniting the country because if there is no unity in Nigeria we cannot move ahead”.
For emphasis, he stated; “I am not contesting because I want a political appointment but to serve this country and unite Nigeria. I am the only person that can unite Nigeria.”
Not even his opponents or critics would take that away from him. Obi falls into the class of leaders, the iconic Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu recommended for Nigerians in his well-received book, “Because I am involved”.
Ikemba had in the text, raised a valid question, ‘What kind of leaders do we need?’ He proceeded with an answer; “We need leaders who are servants of the people, not their masters. We need leaders who will serve first the common man. We require leaders who will ensure fairness and equity to the various groups. We need leaders who must be embodiment and at all times, exemplify the ideas of our nation. We need leaders who will keep alive the flames of our national aspirations. We want leaders who will be trusted friends of the people and protectors of the disadvantaged and oppressed. We require leaders who will have the right judgement both of people and situations. We want leaders who must be accountable to the people and are subjected to the collective will of the people”.
Bill Newman in his “10 Laws of Leadership”, adds, that a leader must have a vision, stressing forcefully, that the vision must be fulfilled by goals that work toward the achievement of the vision.
Obi has these attributes in quantum. His record in human and material resource management while serving as Anambra State governor, remains an open copy. In a system characterized by departing governors leaving their successors with debts and the treasury in red, Obi did the extra-ordinary in maintaining a clean record.
Apart from not owing the workers, contactors or any person or group that had financial dealings with the state, he bequeathed to his successor money to pay three months’ salaries, run schools for a year and start more projects. To cap it, he left in savings, N75 billion ($156 million, and the rest in naira) with documents to prove same.
He has also been staying around with the people, moving from one community to another, preaching good governance, moral rectitude and critical reappraisal of the country’s leadership recruitment process, if we are to get it right – a clear departure from the trend by some of his colleagues who prefer hibernating abroad.
Obi has further challenged the people to do due diligence on the pedigree and antecedents of those coming before them to seek their votes. He has not asked to be excluded from the searchlight. There can be no better definition of transparency.
For a presidency that has been lately bogged by opacity and parochial considerations in the conduct of its affairs, resulting to the country sliding in all indexes of development, Peter Obi comes handy in getting things working. He needs a chance to prove his mettle.
Soludo, Uche Onyeagocha And The Igbo Patriots
Beside the irrepressible elder statesman, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, the other two prominent Igbo men , who have been very consistent and at the forefront of demanding for the unconditional release of ONYENDU, MNK, are Hon Uche Onyeagucha and Governor Chukwuma Soludo ( Charlie Nwa Mgbafor)
Any honest Igbo man , who have followed these great men , will acknowledge without any shades of doubt that unlike other political bandits of Igbo extraction , these men are full blooded Igbo men, who love Ndi Igbo and are working tenaciously to achieve the renaissance of the Igbo heartland.
Over 95% of Ndi Igbo , beside the greedy political bandits and their minions are happy and proud of the emergence of Prof Soludo as the Governor of Anambra state. We all support and pray that he succeeds and pave the way for the emergence of other honest , pragmatic,development minded and sincere Igbo men in the commanding heights of politics and political offices in Igbo land and beyond.
For most honest and sincere Igbo men, the IPOB struggle represents the average quest of Ndi Igbo in Nigeria. IPOB truly speaks the mind of the average Igbo man . We may not all agree on their approach, but the message and reasons behind the struggle are just and unimpeachable.
There is nothing that Onyendu , MNK stated that will happen in Nigeria under bubu in 2014 , that have not happened and more . There is no honest Nigerian , that will not acknowledge the truth that the average Igbo man has been marginalised and denied their right of place in Nigeria .
It is the height of compound foolishness for anyone or group of people to assume that they can hold the Igbo nation of more than 50million people down and have peace and progress . No way !!!.
It may not be politically expedient and convenient now for Prof Charles Chukwuma Soludo to come out swinging on all cylinders on the Igbo question in Nigeria ,but if I am close to him , I will advise him to find back and front door Channels to reach out robustly to MNK, the IPOB leadership and even the hard hitting Ekpa Simon , to dialogue and find a way of bringing peace to Ala Igbo .
We need peace and tranquility in Anambra state and Igbo land to make progress .
The average Igbo youth have been greatly wronged and massacred by the agent of the Nigerian state since 2014 to now . We must start by acknowledging the truth that Nigeria and her agents committed crimes and genocide against umu Igbo and IPOB . And beg them to forgive . You cannot wrong a man, be arrogant and intransigent in your evil and expect peace to reign.
This open acknowledgment and plea for forgiveness by the Igbo intelligentsia and progressive political leadership , led by Prof Soludo will go a long way in assuaging their anger and wrath .
I am happy that Prof Soludo has called for a town hall meeting for us to discuss the way forward for peace to reign in Anambra, and Igbo land . But beyond this public meetings, backdoor and front door channels must be established to court and make peace with our youths , who have been totally wronged . We need to build trust . We need to convince them that we are committed to the course/cause of freedom and self determination and pursuit of the unconditional release of MNK.
Personally, I am convinced that Nigeria as presently structured is not redeemable. I am also convinced that a majority of the current political office holders and gladiators are not ready , willing and able to stand for what is right and just . They are mainly after what they will steal , loot and destroy.
I also want to use this medium to appeal to the leadership of IPOB and Mazi Simon Ekpa Group to call off the sit at home order in Ala Igbo and partner with Honest and sincere Ndi Igbo, like Prof Soludo to push for the release of Onye Ndu MNK. QUEST for Self determination is not a sin . We need to protect our people and industry..we need to create the atmosphere for peace in Ala Igbo . We should never lend ourselves to pronouncements and actions that the enemies of Ndi Igbo and 5th Columnists can leverage upon to create Havoc in Ala Igbo
Onye Ndi Iro gbara gburu gburu na eche ndu ya nche. I truly come in peace.
God help us
------------------STANDARD OBSERVERS
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Ehirim: The Technocrat Who Wants To Be Soludo Of Imo
BY ONYEDIKACHI NKEMJIKA
He holds a doctorate degree from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; young, restless, angry and with huge grudge about how wrong things have gone in his home state, Imo. That may be an attempt at describing Tobechukwu Justice Ehirim, popularly known as TJ Ehirim, the intellectual and erudite don pressing to occupy the Imo State seat of power in the next election.
Ehirim had nurtured the desire more than three decades ago, which had to take on a new life and fresh desire due to the turn of events in the which he feels stultified development. He is disturbed by how bad the affairs of his lovely state have turned.
To him, the abstinence of men of quality has foisted on the state, poor thinkers and non-performers and he feels there is no better way to express his misgivings over the abhorrent state of things in the state than to throw his hat into the ring so as to implement the blueprint he has nursed for so long. He has therefore taken it as a major project, a mission driven by a passion that makes him swear like the Mandelas, Mbekis and Malemas of South Africa- no retreat, no surrender.
It was at the last edition of the Annual Igbo Heritage Lecture series, in Johannesburg, South Africa, that he unfolded his plan and regaled his audience in detail how he would devote all his time and resources to rid Imo State of the current bad government
“The Imo State of the Mbakwes cannot claim to be the heartland of Ndigbo and display such shameful and lacklustre performance in the choices of who governs them. My people must be emancipated, let the best of us lead the rest of us. Allowing the worst of us to lead the rest of us, is to deny ourselves modern freedoms, genuine growth and top quality development (not 419); a fatal error that requires marshal intervention and urgent remedy or we suffer the adverse consequences. The present governor of the state is not only grossly inadequate, he is insufficiently prepared for the job he got from the backyard and he must go,” he fumed.
The youthful administrator and technocrat with the above words, seemed to have served quit notice to present occupiers of the office; further vowing that he was ready as his warrior ancestors, to go the whole hug and ensure the change.
Waxing both historical and philosophical, he opined that his grandfather must have seen tomorrow when he named nwanagankpa, (the child that solves the hard tasks), which has since been upgraded to a chieftaincy title of nwanagankpa n’ Amazano, by his community of Umudim-Akuure, Umuele-Amazano, Umuaka of Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State. He therefore sees his quest as an ancestral command which would not be above his efforts to achieve.
“I have served Governor Hope (Uzodimma) a quit notice and he understands the seriousness that I attached to the notice. It is nothing personal. My state is in the state of emergency and all that is required is speed and urgency and I’m glad that the youths, the churches, the communities the civil society and the sons and daughters of the soil, home and abroad are unanimous in this new thinking that our destiny must only be resided in the hands of the best of us and not in the worst of us.
“I shall be the voice speaking for the millions who are disillusioned by the dismal performances of Uzodimma. It’s all about principle of nemo dat quod non habet, which simply means, you can’t give what you don’t have. Hope Uzodimma is an accidental leader, almost a disaster, who has shown that he is incapable of the high quality leadership that my state yearns”, he insisted.
Of grave concern to Ehirim is the wanton killings in Imo State which blame he on the doorstep of the governor, saying it was the consequence of entrusting people without leadership capacity with power, adding, “No leader worth his salt will supervise the systematic elimination of his fellow men and women, especially the youths and students, who are the critical workforce he requires to compete in the fourth industrial revolution, the way Uzodimma did. We can’t make a governor of men who have no conscience, who are affidavitely educated and whose pasts are not only tainted but riddled with the exact traits that our parents, teachers and Clergies warned us to avoid.
“Who does not know the occupation of our governor before his magical ascendancy into the red chambers and the catapult into the Douglas House? When people in power are those who went to kindergarten institutions, holding short term certificates and with little or no sources of reference are allowed entrance into the arena that is the preserve of the honorables and the celebrated, this is the result you get. It is this shame and hopelessness that I have come to erase and replace with the real hope. It is time to give the Imo situation the Anambra treatment.
“What we have is like a cancer eating deep into the state. The level of decay that I see in my state today cannot be viewed as ordinary. Hopelessness which has filled the air and the obstinacy of the man at the helm can be likened to that of pharaoh and how God used him to give His people freedom.
“Uzodimma is not an easy nut to crack, given the huge amount of wealth he has amassed to himself and the federal might. But I am the David, the only man in Imo State that can bring down the Goliath. He comes with a combination of incumbency power and the federal might but I come with the might of the people and the promise of God. I am the next Governor of Imo State. I have come to liberate my people and the political heavyweights in the state agree with that contention.
“I will be mobilising the greatest civil movement in history and raise a tsunami against the evil enterprise in Imo State. Because of me, the oppressed, the downtrodden and through the power of the Almighty, the courts, the riggers and even the presidency will yield to the will of the people.”
Ehirim who likens himself to former US President, Barack Obama and Chukwuma Charles Soludo, insists that the best in the society, rather than the dregs must occupy the political space and give sound leadership, adding that collaboration between him and Soludo would produce Igbo emancipation in values and development.
“It was on the crest of the same philosophy of the best must step forward and lead, wherever they are that the son of the poor Kenyan father emerged from obscurity to become the leader of the free world. It was with the same thinking that ndi-Anambra were able to dismantle the mafia network to produce the governor they deserve. We will be replicating the same in my state. Obama rose to become a doctor of law, it was not his money that made him the President, it was his quality. Soludo rose to the height of his profession.
It was not his money that made him the Governor-elect in the presence of a very fierce opposition, it was his quality. It was through the same thinking that Thabo Mbeki emerged from exile to become the wonder-working president of South Africa. I have also reached the pinnacle of my chosen career in Health and Public Service. There are lots of similarities between myself and those men. It is only fair that I be given an opportunity to serve my people,” he submitted.
On his pedigree, he said, “Everywhere I go and everything I’ve touched has turned gold. I graduated the best pupil in Umuele primary school in Umuele-Amazano and repeated the feat at St Augustine Grammar school, Nkwerre, a special model school set aside then, for the gifted children, before proceeding to University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study pharmacy, where I also graduated with distinction. I served at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Owerri, where I left as the best graduating intern and later, State Specialist Hospital, Ekiti, where I also came out tops.
“I’m not the only one. Excellence actually runs in my family. My father, Chief Livinus Uzoma Ehirim, was a pioneer staff of the Nigerian Customs, who later fought the Nigeria Civil war on the Biafra side. My mother, lolo Adaeze Ehirim, knew that her son would one day become the leader of people. At birth, my grandfather saw the uniqueness in me and named me nwanagamkpa (the child that is destined to solve problems and resolve challenges. This is the background that influenced my past and is pushing my future. It is a tradition that hates slavery and detests the sight of people in anguish.
“In fact, I can say that my ambition to become the Governor started 32 years ago, when the Ozoigbondu, Chief Arthur Eze visited my school and the honour to decorate him with garlands fell on my little self as the brightest. Chief Arthur Eze, who lowered his frame almost to a breaking point, to facilitate the performance of the job my school gave me, told us how the future was ours to take and that the sacrifices they were making then was to prepare us to become future Governors and Presidents. I retired that day with the conviction that I was going to become a governor. Another prophesy came from a classmate back in 1991, George Ashiegbu, who later became a pastor, that I was going to become a Governor some day. Ashiegbu now leads Dunamis church in Ghana.
Indeed, spiced with a lot of philanthropic activities, his pedigree of excellence, diligence and ability to break new grounds, couple with his grip with the grassroots, may have been responsible for the huge fellowship he seems to be commanding presently, particularly amongst the youths.
“I arrived South Africa in 2003, at a time that going to school was not fashionable for our people. I was told that there is no place for people like me here, which I quickly rejected. I instantly chose the road less travelled and I assured them that I was going to break the glass ceiling. After initial difficulties, I was able to pay and write the qualifying exams that opened the doors and windows for the journey that later ensued. The South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) was swift in confirming my South African Bachelor of Pharmacy, followed by the admission into the prestigious South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC). In 2008, I topped it with a Supply Management Qualifications from the South African Development Institute and later an MBA from the world class institution, the Millark Business School in Johannesburg before crowning it with a Doctor of Philosophy.”
Narrating further, he said he later found himself in another huge medical facility, the Helen Joseph Hospital, where he held various top management positions, including the Pharmacy Manager; Coordinator, Mid-Term Strategic Plan Committee. It was here also, that he was again noticed by the Provincial Government, where he became a member, Department Special Task Force on Quality Pharmacycare and Reduction in Waiting Time for Patients at Gauteng Public Health Facility.
Other positions he held were, Operations and Warehouse Manager/Chief Pharmacist, Gauteng Medical Supplies Depot; Director, Procurement Authority, Gauteng Provincial Medical Supplies; Member, USAID/SCMS Re-engineering; Manager, Pharmaceutical Services, Gauteng Department of Health and many others.
“What is important in all these positions is the fact the South Africans didn’t have a problem handing the keys to their life into the hands of a foreigner. It didn’t matter to them that I am a Nigerian. All that mattered was my quality.”
He added: “In my first one week in office, I will declare a state of emergency on Imo State to atone for the lives of our people that were wasted, to satisfy the desperation and the ambition of one man and offer prayers for the repose of their souls. My Government will also seek compensation to the families of those who died the deaths they shouldn’t die.
“I will also declare state of emergency in health, education, hunger and basic infrastructures, like roads. These are what every responsible government should give to the governed as a matter of human right and without expecting a thank you. No human being should be allowed to suffer the pains and the indignity of the lack of basic necessities of life and that I will pursue.
“In addition, I promise to replicate what I did in the health sector in South Africa in Imo State. I will revolutionise the health sector and bring Primary Health Care to the doorsteps of every person living in Imo State at no cost to them.
“The message of the campaign, let the best of us lead the rest of us is now fast spreading across the Imo and beyond like a wild fire and the people, especially the youths are prepared to take their state back. I am the next governor. I’m the only person that has sufficient capacity to dare this lion and snatch the baton off him. I am the only person he is afraid of because he sees Ihedioha and Okorocha as people he can beat even in a sleep. Another Soludo is coming to Imo.”
Tobechukwu Justice Ehirim
Ehirim had nurtured the desire more than three decades ago, which had to take on a new life and fresh desire due to the turn of events in the which he feels stultified development. He is disturbed by how bad the affairs of his lovely state have turned.
To him, the abstinence of men of quality has foisted on the state, poor thinkers and non-performers and he feels there is no better way to express his misgivings over the abhorrent state of things in the state than to throw his hat into the ring so as to implement the blueprint he has nursed for so long. He has therefore taken it as a major project, a mission driven by a passion that makes him swear like the Mandelas, Mbekis and Malemas of South Africa- no retreat, no surrender.
It was at the last edition of the Annual Igbo Heritage Lecture series, in Johannesburg, South Africa, that he unfolded his plan and regaled his audience in detail how he would devote all his time and resources to rid Imo State of the current bad government
“The Imo State of the Mbakwes cannot claim to be the heartland of Ndigbo and display such shameful and lacklustre performance in the choices of who governs them. My people must be emancipated, let the best of us lead the rest of us. Allowing the worst of us to lead the rest of us, is to deny ourselves modern freedoms, genuine growth and top quality development (not 419); a fatal error that requires marshal intervention and urgent remedy or we suffer the adverse consequences. The present governor of the state is not only grossly inadequate, he is insufficiently prepared for the job he got from the backyard and he must go,” he fumed.
The youthful administrator and technocrat with the above words, seemed to have served quit notice to present occupiers of the office; further vowing that he was ready as his warrior ancestors, to go the whole hug and ensure the change.
Waxing both historical and philosophical, he opined that his grandfather must have seen tomorrow when he named nwanagankpa, (the child that solves the hard tasks), which has since been upgraded to a chieftaincy title of nwanagankpa n’ Amazano, by his community of Umudim-Akuure, Umuele-Amazano, Umuaka of Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State. He therefore sees his quest as an ancestral command which would not be above his efforts to achieve.
“I have served Governor Hope (Uzodimma) a quit notice and he understands the seriousness that I attached to the notice. It is nothing personal. My state is in the state of emergency and all that is required is speed and urgency and I’m glad that the youths, the churches, the communities the civil society and the sons and daughters of the soil, home and abroad are unanimous in this new thinking that our destiny must only be resided in the hands of the best of us and not in the worst of us.
“I shall be the voice speaking for the millions who are disillusioned by the dismal performances of Uzodimma. It’s all about principle of nemo dat quod non habet, which simply means, you can’t give what you don’t have. Hope Uzodimma is an accidental leader, almost a disaster, who has shown that he is incapable of the high quality leadership that my state yearns”, he insisted.
Of grave concern to Ehirim is the wanton killings in Imo State which blame he on the doorstep of the governor, saying it was the consequence of entrusting people without leadership capacity with power, adding, “No leader worth his salt will supervise the systematic elimination of his fellow men and women, especially the youths and students, who are the critical workforce he requires to compete in the fourth industrial revolution, the way Uzodimma did. We can’t make a governor of men who have no conscience, who are affidavitely educated and whose pasts are not only tainted but riddled with the exact traits that our parents, teachers and Clergies warned us to avoid.
“Who does not know the occupation of our governor before his magical ascendancy into the red chambers and the catapult into the Douglas House? When people in power are those who went to kindergarten institutions, holding short term certificates and with little or no sources of reference are allowed entrance into the arena that is the preserve of the honorables and the celebrated, this is the result you get. It is this shame and hopelessness that I have come to erase and replace with the real hope. It is time to give the Imo situation the Anambra treatment.
“What we have is like a cancer eating deep into the state. The level of decay that I see in my state today cannot be viewed as ordinary. Hopelessness which has filled the air and the obstinacy of the man at the helm can be likened to that of pharaoh and how God used him to give His people freedom.
“Uzodimma is not an easy nut to crack, given the huge amount of wealth he has amassed to himself and the federal might. But I am the David, the only man in Imo State that can bring down the Goliath. He comes with a combination of incumbency power and the federal might but I come with the might of the people and the promise of God. I am the next Governor of Imo State. I have come to liberate my people and the political heavyweights in the state agree with that contention.
“I will be mobilising the greatest civil movement in history and raise a tsunami against the evil enterprise in Imo State. Because of me, the oppressed, the downtrodden and through the power of the Almighty, the courts, the riggers and even the presidency will yield to the will of the people.”
Ehirim who likens himself to former US President, Barack Obama and Chukwuma Charles Soludo, insists that the best in the society, rather than the dregs must occupy the political space and give sound leadership, adding that collaboration between him and Soludo would produce Igbo emancipation in values and development.
“It was on the crest of the same philosophy of the best must step forward and lead, wherever they are that the son of the poor Kenyan father emerged from obscurity to become the leader of the free world. It was with the same thinking that ndi-Anambra were able to dismantle the mafia network to produce the governor they deserve. We will be replicating the same in my state. Obama rose to become a doctor of law, it was not his money that made him the President, it was his quality. Soludo rose to the height of his profession.
It was not his money that made him the Governor-elect in the presence of a very fierce opposition, it was his quality. It was through the same thinking that Thabo Mbeki emerged from exile to become the wonder-working president of South Africa. I have also reached the pinnacle of my chosen career in Health and Public Service. There are lots of similarities between myself and those men. It is only fair that I be given an opportunity to serve my people,” he submitted.
On his pedigree, he said, “Everywhere I go and everything I’ve touched has turned gold. I graduated the best pupil in Umuele primary school in Umuele-Amazano and repeated the feat at St Augustine Grammar school, Nkwerre, a special model school set aside then, for the gifted children, before proceeding to University of Nigeria, Nsukka, to study pharmacy, where I also graduated with distinction. I served at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) Owerri, where I left as the best graduating intern and later, State Specialist Hospital, Ekiti, where I also came out tops.
“I’m not the only one. Excellence actually runs in my family. My father, Chief Livinus Uzoma Ehirim, was a pioneer staff of the Nigerian Customs, who later fought the Nigeria Civil war on the Biafra side. My mother, lolo Adaeze Ehirim, knew that her son would one day become the leader of people. At birth, my grandfather saw the uniqueness in me and named me nwanagamkpa (the child that is destined to solve problems and resolve challenges. This is the background that influenced my past and is pushing my future. It is a tradition that hates slavery and detests the sight of people in anguish.
“In fact, I can say that my ambition to become the Governor started 32 years ago, when the Ozoigbondu, Chief Arthur Eze visited my school and the honour to decorate him with garlands fell on my little self as the brightest. Chief Arthur Eze, who lowered his frame almost to a breaking point, to facilitate the performance of the job my school gave me, told us how the future was ours to take and that the sacrifices they were making then was to prepare us to become future Governors and Presidents. I retired that day with the conviction that I was going to become a governor. Another prophesy came from a classmate back in 1991, George Ashiegbu, who later became a pastor, that I was going to become a Governor some day. Ashiegbu now leads Dunamis church in Ghana.
Indeed, spiced with a lot of philanthropic activities, his pedigree of excellence, diligence and ability to break new grounds, couple with his grip with the grassroots, may have been responsible for the huge fellowship he seems to be commanding presently, particularly amongst the youths.
“I arrived South Africa in 2003, at a time that going to school was not fashionable for our people. I was told that there is no place for people like me here, which I quickly rejected. I instantly chose the road less travelled and I assured them that I was going to break the glass ceiling. After initial difficulties, I was able to pay and write the qualifying exams that opened the doors and windows for the journey that later ensued. The South African Qualification Authority (SAQA) was swift in confirming my South African Bachelor of Pharmacy, followed by the admission into the prestigious South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC). In 2008, I topped it with a Supply Management Qualifications from the South African Development Institute and later an MBA from the world class institution, the Millark Business School in Johannesburg before crowning it with a Doctor of Philosophy.”
Narrating further, he said he later found himself in another huge medical facility, the Helen Joseph Hospital, where he held various top management positions, including the Pharmacy Manager; Coordinator, Mid-Term Strategic Plan Committee. It was here also, that he was again noticed by the Provincial Government, where he became a member, Department Special Task Force on Quality Pharmacycare and Reduction in Waiting Time for Patients at Gauteng Public Health Facility.
Other positions he held were, Operations and Warehouse Manager/Chief Pharmacist, Gauteng Medical Supplies Depot; Director, Procurement Authority, Gauteng Provincial Medical Supplies; Member, USAID/SCMS Re-engineering; Manager, Pharmaceutical Services, Gauteng Department of Health and many others.
“What is important in all these positions is the fact the South Africans didn’t have a problem handing the keys to their life into the hands of a foreigner. It didn’t matter to them that I am a Nigerian. All that mattered was my quality.”
He added: “In my first one week in office, I will declare a state of emergency on Imo State to atone for the lives of our people that were wasted, to satisfy the desperation and the ambition of one man and offer prayers for the repose of their souls. My Government will also seek compensation to the families of those who died the deaths they shouldn’t die.
“I will also declare state of emergency in health, education, hunger and basic infrastructures, like roads. These are what every responsible government should give to the governed as a matter of human right and without expecting a thank you. No human being should be allowed to suffer the pains and the indignity of the lack of basic necessities of life and that I will pursue.
“In addition, I promise to replicate what I did in the health sector in South Africa in Imo State. I will revolutionise the health sector and bring Primary Health Care to the doorsteps of every person living in Imo State at no cost to them.
“The message of the campaign, let the best of us lead the rest of us is now fast spreading across the Imo and beyond like a wild fire and the people, especially the youths are prepared to take their state back. I am the next governor. I’m the only person that has sufficient capacity to dare this lion and snatch the baton off him. I am the only person he is afraid of because he sees Ihedioha and Okorocha as people he can beat even in a sleep. Another Soludo is coming to Imo.”
No One Can Possibly Go Through What HE Peter Obi Did Without Snapping.
BY TAI EMEKA OBASI
Deputy governor of Anambra state, Dr Ibezim, wife, Former governor Peter Obi and Bianca Ojukwu during inauguration of Prof Soludo
When I saw the picture of HE Peter Obi sitting calmly at the Slapping Arena last Thursday, I fought hard to hold back the tears. To me, that was the picture that mattered most in all the activities that heralded the coming to power of Governor Chukwuma Soludo.
Ex-Gov Willie Obiano exited in characteristic fashion with his wife exhibiting the rascality that marked their eight very regrettable years in Anambra State Government House. History has a way of shaming liars and propagandists. Mrs Ebele Obiano proved to the visitors that witnessed her madness that most things, if not all, written about her uncultured excesses were fact-based.
But this is not about the Obianos and their weird behaviours.
This is rather mainly about that man that came far ahead of his generation.
Around May 2018, shortly after Obiano was sworn in for the second term in office, I was privileged to be part of the team that went to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu to welcome the man we call Okwute home after about a three-week trip abroad.
We were in a four-vehicle convoy and I was with him in his vehicle. We had passed Four Corner and into the usually lonely stretch through Udi Hills on our way back to Onitsha. I was going through the daily newspapers we bought at the Airport when the Boss suddenly said, "Tai, did you see that?"
I snapped to attention, "what Sir?"
"That Sienna vehicle parked inside the bush?"
"No, Sir. I was busy with the papers..."
Okwute ordered his own driver to stop and turnaround. Only the three of us in the vehicle knew why we were reversing at that very dangerous spot. But the rest, including the DSS and other security personnel in the other three vehicles, knew that odd moments abound when your itinerary involved being part of Okwute's convoy. They all reversed and followed us to the spot.
"She could be in danger," was all that Okwute muttered as we arrived at the scene. I now noticed for the first time that a Sienna vehicle was parked inside the bush, about five metres from the road. A woman was visibly sitting behind the steering, the lone passenger in the vehicle.
Our DSS leader of the security was down from the vehicle in a flash, his right hand behind his back. Knowing where he preferred keeping his gun, I needn't guess what that right hand was romancing.
But because only Okwute's own driver and I knew why we turned and the driver shouldn't leave the Boss' vehicle at such situations, I knew exactly what to do. I came down quickly. The other policemen in the leading and rear Hilux vans had all come down, their AK 47s at the ready.
I quickly told the head of our security, who had already guessed. Give it to Joe, he's as smart as they come.
Arinze, the indefatigable PA was also down from the second jeep. He was approaching to know why we stopped but Joe waved Arinze and I back. Joe now approached the Sienna with professional caution, with all the other security personnel covering him. It was then that I realised how dangerous a mission we had undertaken. If that was an ambush there could have been sad tales.
Joe just ordered the woman to come out of the vehicle. The woman, shaking like a leaf, hastily obeyed.
She was alone in the vehicle as Joe confirmed. She was not being kidnapped or robbed. Her vehicle didn't veer off the road. They were there to harvest vegetables from the farm. We saw two other women doing the harvesting about 50 metres away.
Seeing all was clear, I moved in to reassure the very scared woman.
"Don't be scared. We thought you were in danger and only wanted to help. Have a nice day Madam," I offered, believing she needed such assurance from a civilian.
The woman relaxed for the first time and started thanking us for such thoughtfulness. She must have been a teacher. I noticed she was directly all her nice words at me. We waved bye, entered our vehicles and resumed our journey.
"That was very thoughtful and kind of you, Sir," I told the Boss once we went on our way.
"We should always do what is required of us at all times," he returned.
"But I took your glory, Sir. You should have come down. I'm sure she would have recognised you. That woman's story is incomplete without the man behind such gesture," I countered.
"Tai, I didn't do it for the woman to applaud me personally. I did it because it was the right thing to do. We're privileged enough to be moving with security. It is our duty to use same security to save people who voted us into power when we meet them in such conditions. Always learn to do the right things to enhance the society. Don't bother about the applause. Just do what is right and move on," the Boss educated.
"Thank you for this education, Sir," I returned and went into deep thoughts, the newspapers forgotten. Staying close to Okwute may not improve your bank account balance. But growing in wisdom is a huge certainty.
I suspected before but I affirmed from that day that the former governor was not grieving for any ill-treatment from the man he put into power based on personal basis.
Okwute was deeply pained when he saw the education he had put on the top of the ladder amongst other states in the nation gradually deteriorating while propaganda and outright lies were being used to cover up.
He grieved deeply when he was told to stop visiting and giving money to schools in his state.
He was deeply pained when the projects he initiated for the good of his dear state were all abandoned.
He mourned when SarbMillar relocated a project meant for Anambra State to Ogun State. His only consolation here was that he helped to make sure that the South African Brewers didn't leave Nigeria entirely.
He held back the tears when the money he saved in dollars were withdrawn and squandered.
He grieved when he was stopped from paying taxes that would have helped to develop his state in Anambra. Even though paying in neighbouring Enugu State isn't a sin but that was one IGR generation gone astray.
He felt deep pain that the man he put in office didn't match UBEC's counterpart funding for education and didn't draw from it for eight years.
He mourned when all the ICT and internet facilities he installed in Anambra schools were allowed to rot away.
He mourned...
All through eight years of HE Obiano, Okwute was never invited to any state function. So when I saw him present at Prof Soludo's inauguration, I prayed that the man from Isuofia could do me the favour of going back to all that were damaged by his predecessor and then push Anambra really forward again. That is all he owes Okwute and not even the allowances due him as governor that Obiano seized for eight years.
Nobody could have endured what Obiano did to this great man without one public word to fight back. Okwute is a rare breed. God loves Anambra to have given him to us. Nigeria should be much better to tap from same blessing.
God bless Anambra!
Ex-Gov Willie Obiano exited in characteristic fashion with his wife exhibiting the rascality that marked their eight very regrettable years in Anambra State Government House. History has a way of shaming liars and propagandists. Mrs Ebele Obiano proved to the visitors that witnessed her madness that most things, if not all, written about her uncultured excesses were fact-based.
But this is not about the Obianos and their weird behaviours.
This is rather mainly about that man that came far ahead of his generation.
Around May 2018, shortly after Obiano was sworn in for the second term in office, I was privileged to be part of the team that went to the Akanu Ibiam International Airport in Enugu to welcome the man we call Okwute home after about a three-week trip abroad.
We were in a four-vehicle convoy and I was with him in his vehicle. We had passed Four Corner and into the usually lonely stretch through Udi Hills on our way back to Onitsha. I was going through the daily newspapers we bought at the Airport when the Boss suddenly said, "Tai, did you see that?"
I snapped to attention, "what Sir?"
"That Sienna vehicle parked inside the bush?"
"No, Sir. I was busy with the papers..."
Okwute ordered his own driver to stop and turnaround. Only the three of us in the vehicle knew why we were reversing at that very dangerous spot. But the rest, including the DSS and other security personnel in the other three vehicles, knew that odd moments abound when your itinerary involved being part of Okwute's convoy. They all reversed and followed us to the spot.
"She could be in danger," was all that Okwute muttered as we arrived at the scene. I now noticed for the first time that a Sienna vehicle was parked inside the bush, about five metres from the road. A woman was visibly sitting behind the steering, the lone passenger in the vehicle.
Our DSS leader of the security was down from the vehicle in a flash, his right hand behind his back. Knowing where he preferred keeping his gun, I needn't guess what that right hand was romancing.
But because only Okwute's own driver and I knew why we turned and the driver shouldn't leave the Boss' vehicle at such situations, I knew exactly what to do. I came down quickly. The other policemen in the leading and rear Hilux vans had all come down, their AK 47s at the ready.
I quickly told the head of our security, who had already guessed. Give it to Joe, he's as smart as they come.
Arinze, the indefatigable PA was also down from the second jeep. He was approaching to know why we stopped but Joe waved Arinze and I back. Joe now approached the Sienna with professional caution, with all the other security personnel covering him. It was then that I realised how dangerous a mission we had undertaken. If that was an ambush there could have been sad tales.
Joe just ordered the woman to come out of the vehicle. The woman, shaking like a leaf, hastily obeyed.
She was alone in the vehicle as Joe confirmed. She was not being kidnapped or robbed. Her vehicle didn't veer off the road. They were there to harvest vegetables from the farm. We saw two other women doing the harvesting about 50 metres away.
Seeing all was clear, I moved in to reassure the very scared woman.
"Don't be scared. We thought you were in danger and only wanted to help. Have a nice day Madam," I offered, believing she needed such assurance from a civilian.
The woman relaxed for the first time and started thanking us for such thoughtfulness. She must have been a teacher. I noticed she was directly all her nice words at me. We waved bye, entered our vehicles and resumed our journey.
"That was very thoughtful and kind of you, Sir," I told the Boss once we went on our way.
"We should always do what is required of us at all times," he returned.
"But I took your glory, Sir. You should have come down. I'm sure she would have recognised you. That woman's story is incomplete without the man behind such gesture," I countered.
"Tai, I didn't do it for the woman to applaud me personally. I did it because it was the right thing to do. We're privileged enough to be moving with security. It is our duty to use same security to save people who voted us into power when we meet them in such conditions. Always learn to do the right things to enhance the society. Don't bother about the applause. Just do what is right and move on," the Boss educated.
"Thank you for this education, Sir," I returned and went into deep thoughts, the newspapers forgotten. Staying close to Okwute may not improve your bank account balance. But growing in wisdom is a huge certainty.
I suspected before but I affirmed from that day that the former governor was not grieving for any ill-treatment from the man he put into power based on personal basis.
Okwute was deeply pained when he saw the education he had put on the top of the ladder amongst other states in the nation gradually deteriorating while propaganda and outright lies were being used to cover up.
He grieved deeply when he was told to stop visiting and giving money to schools in his state.
He was deeply pained when the projects he initiated for the good of his dear state were all abandoned.
He mourned when SarbMillar relocated a project meant for Anambra State to Ogun State. His only consolation here was that he helped to make sure that the South African Brewers didn't leave Nigeria entirely.
He held back the tears when the money he saved in dollars were withdrawn and squandered.
He grieved when he was stopped from paying taxes that would have helped to develop his state in Anambra. Even though paying in neighbouring Enugu State isn't a sin but that was one IGR generation gone astray.
He felt deep pain that the man he put in office didn't match UBEC's counterpart funding for education and didn't draw from it for eight years.
He mourned when all the ICT and internet facilities he installed in Anambra schools were allowed to rot away.
He mourned...
All through eight years of HE Obiano, Okwute was never invited to any state function. So when I saw him present at Prof Soludo's inauguration, I prayed that the man from Isuofia could do me the favour of going back to all that were damaged by his predecessor and then push Anambra really forward again. That is all he owes Okwute and not even the allowances due him as governor that Obiano seized for eight years.
Nobody could have endured what Obiano did to this great man without one public word to fight back. Okwute is a rare breed. God loves Anambra to have given him to us. Nigeria should be much better to tap from same blessing.
God bless Anambra!
Thursday, February 24, 2022
What, Exactly, Do Nigerians Want From Ndigbo?
BY IKECHUKWU AMAECHI
THE usual refrain on the lips of Nigerian leaders, particularly those who successfully prosecuted the brutal civil war against the breakaway Biafran Republic is the indivisibility of the country.
One of them, General Ibrahim Babangida, in an interview with Arise Television on August 7, 2021 to mark his 80th birthday anniversary, put it rather bluntly: “When we were in the military, we talked about certain issues about Nigeria: the unity of Nigeria as far as we were concerned was a settled issue.”
While it would have been good if the unity of Nigeria was a settled issue, happenings in the country tend to suggest otherwise unless the unity Babangida and his ilk talk about is the agreement by those who won the war to exclude those that lost.
Otherwise, what kind of unity is it in a country where a people that constitute a significant percentage of the population are hated and despised not for any crime committed but for simply being who they are – Igbo. Two recent events prompted this reflection.
First, was the shameful conversion of the sacred altar of God by a Catholic priest as a launch pad for his vitriol against Igbo congregants in his parish.
On Sunday, February 6, Rev. Fr. James Anelu, the priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Ewu-Owa Gberigbe, Ikorodu, Lagos State, abruptly, without provocation, stopped the singing of soul-lifting Igbo choruses and songs during a service he was conducting.
In a video that went viral, the visibly angry clergy pontificated that the excesses of Ndigbo must be curtailed if they are to be kept from “dominating other people in this parish”.
And what was the crime of the Igbo parishioners? They were joyfully singing and dancing to the altar of God during the second collection.
To the embittered and resentful priest, singing Igbo songs in a Catholic church in Yoruba land is an act of domination.
He was so incensed that he uttered a heresy: The spirit of God in any place recognises only languages indigenous to that geographical location.
It is instructive that Fr. Anelu is not Yoruba. If he had enquired about the history of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, he will probably find out that over 65 per cent of the money used in building the church and running it, including feeding him, was contributed by Igbo parishioners.
Barely 24 hours later, an obviously embarrassed Alfred Adewale Martins, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, issued a “disclaimer” directing Anelu to proceed on “an indefinite leave of absence”.
In the suspension letter which he personally signed, Archbishop Martins urged all “Catholic faithful to hold on to the faith and continue in our worship of God as one big family united in love and not separated by language, culture and race”.
I doubt if Anelu, wherever he is now, is penitent. He is simply consumed by hate. He is a victim of prejudice. And we commit a serious error of judgement if we think he is an outlier.
The second incident happened in Yola, Adamawa State. An Igbo businessman, Vincent Umeh, who lives in the state, bought a house from a willing seller, Ismail Mamman. Today, he cannot live in the property not because of any infraction of the law but simply because he is Igbo.
A Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Ibrahim Baba Zango, currently serving in Lagos, says it is an insult for an Igbo to be his neighbour in Yola.
Umeh should reverse the purchase deal or face bitter consequences, including risking his life, DCP Babazango decreed. “We are a homogeneous community, I don’t want you; you can’t be my next door neighbour, I swear. What sort of insult is this? Can any Northerner move now to the South-East, say Onitsha and just bump into any neighbourhood to buy a property; just like that?” DCP Babazango asked Umeh on phone.
Such chutzpa may strike some as bizarre. But it is not. Just like Fr. Anelu, DCP Babazango is also not an outlier.
That is the humiliation Ndigbo are subjected to in their own country every day. From Lagos to Sokoto; from Bayelsa to Kebbi, they are being harassed every day for daring to invest and own properties in their own country.
Most times, some of these harassments are state-sanctioned. For instance, two weeks ago, the Kano State Sharia police, Hisbah, destroyed nearly four million bottles of beer in a crackdown on alcoholic beverages. The bottles were crushed into the ground by bulldozers in front of cheering crowds. After the bulldozers had done the job, Hisbah operatives then lit the crushed remains on fire and allowed the blaze to burn into the night.
“Kano is a sharia state and the sale, consumption and possession of alcoholic substances are prohibited,” the head of the religious police, Haruna Ibn Sina, crowed after supervising the mindless ruining of people’s lives.
Most of these businesses being destroyed are owned by Ndigbo. There is no law in Nigeria banning alcohol. Nigeria is deemed a secular state, yet Sharia law trumps the Constitution when Igbo businesses are involved. Nobody raises a whimper in defence of the right of the people to do legitimate business in their own country.
The irony is that just like Fr. Anelu who is sustained by offerings made by his Igbo parishioners, Hisbah officials are paid with money raised from the Value Added Tax, VAT, paid on the same alcoholic beverages they destroy with glee.
Those who blame Nnamdi Kalu and his Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, mentees for preaching secession ignore the asinine antics of Fr. Anelu and DCP Babazangos of this country, the same way those who blame Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu for declaring an independent Biafran nation in 1967 conveniently gloss over the waves of pogrom that resulted in the killing of thousands of innocent Igbo folks, patriotic Nigerians, most of them born in the North, with no other place to call home until the well-organised slaughter began in 1966.
Between May and October 1966, more than 30,000 Igbos and other Biafrans were killed in Northern Nigeria, and between October 1966 and June 1967 more than 100,000 more were massacred. In some instances pregnant women were killed, unborn babies pulled out of their wombs and murdered as well. Many of the victims were beheaded.
Those who defend that bestiality by invoking the equally condemnable killings in the January 15, 1966 coup conveniently ignore the fact that the Military Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the cream of the Igbo officer corps were wiped out in the revenge coup of July 29, 1966.
They also forget that long before the January 15, 1966 coup, which was conveniently branded an Igbo putsch by those who had an extermination agenda, pogrom had been the lot of Ndigbo in the North.
A report, “Chronology of recorded killings of Biafrans in Nigeria: From June 22, 1945 to September 28, 2013”, put it this way: “The first incident in which the murder of Igbo people took place in Nigeria was in Jos on June 22, 1945. Hundreds of Ndigbo were murdered by the Hausa-Fulani during the pogrom and tens of thousands of pounds sterling worth of their property either looted or destroyed. No single person was apprehended or charged by the British regime nor an enquiry set to determine the “official” cause of this gruesome act.
“The second mass killing of Igbos and other Biafrans happened in Kano in 1953. In both cases, thousands of Igbo people with their families were brutally murdered and their property looted.”
What those who raise the spectre of Igbo domination simply because Ndigbo are everywhere forget is that the people love adventure. It did not start today and it is very unlikely to end tomorrow. Many Igbo leaders were born outside Igboland. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was born in Zungeru, a town in Niger State, on November 16, 1904, ten years before Nigeria’s birth after the amalgamation in 1914. Odumegwu-Ojukwu was born in the same Zungeru on November 4, 1933.
The fact is that Ndigbo love travelling. They enjoy it. That is who they are. Do they dominate their environments? No. Rather, they help in building up wherever they sojourn. That is a virtue not a vice, which should not call for envy and bad blood.
If all other Nigerians can imbibe that culture, the country will be better for it. Those who don’t want Ndigbo out of Nigeria and yet will not allow them to enjoy their full rights as citizens are the problems of this country, not Ndigbo.
One of them, General Ibrahim Babangida, in an interview with Arise Television on August 7, 2021 to mark his 80th birthday anniversary, put it rather bluntly: “When we were in the military, we talked about certain issues about Nigeria: the unity of Nigeria as far as we were concerned was a settled issue.”
While it would have been good if the unity of Nigeria was a settled issue, happenings in the country tend to suggest otherwise unless the unity Babangida and his ilk talk about is the agreement by those who won the war to exclude those that lost.
Otherwise, what kind of unity is it in a country where a people that constitute a significant percentage of the population are hated and despised not for any crime committed but for simply being who they are – Igbo. Two recent events prompted this reflection.
First, was the shameful conversion of the sacred altar of God by a Catholic priest as a launch pad for his vitriol against Igbo congregants in his parish.
On Sunday, February 6, Rev. Fr. James Anelu, the priest-in-charge of Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Ewu-Owa Gberigbe, Ikorodu, Lagos State, abruptly, without provocation, stopped the singing of soul-lifting Igbo choruses and songs during a service he was conducting.
In a video that went viral, the visibly angry clergy pontificated that the excesses of Ndigbo must be curtailed if they are to be kept from “dominating other people in this parish”.
And what was the crime of the Igbo parishioners? They were joyfully singing and dancing to the altar of God during the second collection.
To the embittered and resentful priest, singing Igbo songs in a Catholic church in Yoruba land is an act of domination.
He was so incensed that he uttered a heresy: The spirit of God in any place recognises only languages indigenous to that geographical location.
It is instructive that Fr. Anelu is not Yoruba. If he had enquired about the history of the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, he will probably find out that over 65 per cent of the money used in building the church and running it, including feeding him, was contributed by Igbo parishioners.
Barely 24 hours later, an obviously embarrassed Alfred Adewale Martins, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, issued a “disclaimer” directing Anelu to proceed on “an indefinite leave of absence”.
In the suspension letter which he personally signed, Archbishop Martins urged all “Catholic faithful to hold on to the faith and continue in our worship of God as one big family united in love and not separated by language, culture and race”.
I doubt if Anelu, wherever he is now, is penitent. He is simply consumed by hate. He is a victim of prejudice. And we commit a serious error of judgement if we think he is an outlier.
The second incident happened in Yola, Adamawa State. An Igbo businessman, Vincent Umeh, who lives in the state, bought a house from a willing seller, Ismail Mamman. Today, he cannot live in the property not because of any infraction of the law but simply because he is Igbo.
A Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, Ibrahim Baba Zango, currently serving in Lagos, says it is an insult for an Igbo to be his neighbour in Yola.
Umeh should reverse the purchase deal or face bitter consequences, including risking his life, DCP Babazango decreed. “We are a homogeneous community, I don’t want you; you can’t be my next door neighbour, I swear. What sort of insult is this? Can any Northerner move now to the South-East, say Onitsha and just bump into any neighbourhood to buy a property; just like that?” DCP Babazango asked Umeh on phone.
Such chutzpa may strike some as bizarre. But it is not. Just like Fr. Anelu, DCP Babazango is also not an outlier.
That is the humiliation Ndigbo are subjected to in their own country every day. From Lagos to Sokoto; from Bayelsa to Kebbi, they are being harassed every day for daring to invest and own properties in their own country.
Most times, some of these harassments are state-sanctioned. For instance, two weeks ago, the Kano State Sharia police, Hisbah, destroyed nearly four million bottles of beer in a crackdown on alcoholic beverages. The bottles were crushed into the ground by bulldozers in front of cheering crowds. After the bulldozers had done the job, Hisbah operatives then lit the crushed remains on fire and allowed the blaze to burn into the night.
“Kano is a sharia state and the sale, consumption and possession of alcoholic substances are prohibited,” the head of the religious police, Haruna Ibn Sina, crowed after supervising the mindless ruining of people’s lives.
Most of these businesses being destroyed are owned by Ndigbo. There is no law in Nigeria banning alcohol. Nigeria is deemed a secular state, yet Sharia law trumps the Constitution when Igbo businesses are involved. Nobody raises a whimper in defence of the right of the people to do legitimate business in their own country.
The irony is that just like Fr. Anelu who is sustained by offerings made by his Igbo parishioners, Hisbah officials are paid with money raised from the Value Added Tax, VAT, paid on the same alcoholic beverages they destroy with glee.
Those who blame Nnamdi Kalu and his Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, mentees for preaching secession ignore the asinine antics of Fr. Anelu and DCP Babazangos of this country, the same way those who blame Chukwuemeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu for declaring an independent Biafran nation in 1967 conveniently gloss over the waves of pogrom that resulted in the killing of thousands of innocent Igbo folks, patriotic Nigerians, most of them born in the North, with no other place to call home until the well-organised slaughter began in 1966.
Between May and October 1966, more than 30,000 Igbos and other Biafrans were killed in Northern Nigeria, and between October 1966 and June 1967 more than 100,000 more were massacred. In some instances pregnant women were killed, unborn babies pulled out of their wombs and murdered as well. Many of the victims were beheaded.
Those who defend that bestiality by invoking the equally condemnable killings in the January 15, 1966 coup conveniently ignore the fact that the Military Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Nigerian Army, Major-General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the cream of the Igbo officer corps were wiped out in the revenge coup of July 29, 1966.
They also forget that long before the January 15, 1966 coup, which was conveniently branded an Igbo putsch by those who had an extermination agenda, pogrom had been the lot of Ndigbo in the North.
A report, “Chronology of recorded killings of Biafrans in Nigeria: From June 22, 1945 to September 28, 2013”, put it this way: “The first incident in which the murder of Igbo people took place in Nigeria was in Jos on June 22, 1945. Hundreds of Ndigbo were murdered by the Hausa-Fulani during the pogrom and tens of thousands of pounds sterling worth of their property either looted or destroyed. No single person was apprehended or charged by the British regime nor an enquiry set to determine the “official” cause of this gruesome act.
“The second mass killing of Igbos and other Biafrans happened in Kano in 1953. In both cases, thousands of Igbo people with their families were brutally murdered and their property looted.”
What those who raise the spectre of Igbo domination simply because Ndigbo are everywhere forget is that the people love adventure. It did not start today and it is very unlikely to end tomorrow. Many Igbo leaders were born outside Igboland. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was born in Zungeru, a town in Niger State, on November 16, 1904, ten years before Nigeria’s birth after the amalgamation in 1914. Odumegwu-Ojukwu was born in the same Zungeru on November 4, 1933.
The fact is that Ndigbo love travelling. They enjoy it. That is who they are. Do they dominate their environments? No. Rather, they help in building up wherever they sojourn. That is a virtue not a vice, which should not call for envy and bad blood.
If all other Nigerians can imbibe that culture, the country will be better for it. Those who don’t want Ndigbo out of Nigeria and yet will not allow them to enjoy their full rights as citizens are the problems of this country, not Ndigbo.
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
Politics Of Bitterness, Cause Of Crisis In Igbo land; Way Out —Igbo Stakeholders
Igbo should reject self-serving, greedy politicians
•Less emphasis should be laid on money politics — Bishop Onuoha
•INEC should play according to rules —Ahamba, SAN
•Winners, losers should embrace dialogue — Abia CAN scribe
•Winners take all should be discouraged — Cleric
•S-East should go for only men of honour — Ex-commissioner
•Politicians should know they must return to the people after political tenure —Enugu monarch
•Politics should not be seen as do-or-die affair — Ebonyi monarch
By Anayo Okoli, Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Peter Okutu, Ugochukwu Alaribe, Chinedu Adonu, Chinonso Alozie, Ikechukwu Odu, Steve Oko & Emmanuel Iheaka
IGBO SOUTH EAST (VANGUARD) -- The security crisis in Imo State and by extension, the South-East region, has unarguably been narrowed down to be politically induced. From some confirmed accounts of political disagreements and power tussle among politicians and bad governance from the political leaders, it is safe to conclude that the cause is rooted in politics of bitterness.
It was, however, unfortunate that some traditional rulers were caught in the crossfire in the fight between politicians and they became part of the victims.
Perhaps, it could be as a result of their sycophantic nature; playing politics against their prescribed role of being apolitical. As we approach another political season and election year, what would Igbo politicians and people do to get it right and avoid politics of bitterness, see it as game not a do-or-die affair?
According to a prominent Ebonyi monarch, Eze Moses Okafor Ngele, the traditional ruler of Ishiagu Kingdom, Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, politicians should not see and treat politics as do-or-die affair but a friendly battle between brothers and sisters. If it does not favour you this time, it could be your luck next time.
‘Politics should not be seen as do-or-die affair’
“We need to be careful and play politics with wisdom and the right counsel from the elders. Politics is an important aspect of humanity. Through the game of politics, leaders at different levels emerge at various seasons and times.
“We should oppose the politics of do-or-die. We are all brothers and sisters created by God in His own image. We should play politics with the mindset that one day, we will also return and reside among and interact with those we have led.
“As monarchs, when politicians come to us stating their political ambition, our own is to advise and pray for them. There is need for us to be apolitical.
“Many crisis and killings going on in the South-East could be seen as politically motivated. So, we need to be careful and play politics with wisdom and the counselling of the elders,” Eze Ngele said.
A clergy, Pastor Brutus Edafe, in his view, faulted the manner some politicians go about the business. He said some of them employ high-handedness, overbearing nature and nefarious activities in their art of politicking, actions that most times, put them at logger heads with their people. He advised politicians to know that there is life after politics.
“We are encouraged to join politics so that we can contribute to leadership and development and cause a change in our society. However, politicians need to play the game according to the rule.
“Some politicians can no longer travel to their respective villages and states because of the evil they committed while playing politics. Politicians need to know that their people are watching them.
“So, they need to know that there is life after politics. 2023 election is not the end of life or the world. There is no need for killing, kidnapping and other evils associated with politics, to be unleashed on the electorate.
“I advise them to be cautious of their actions, be mindful of their language and avoid anything that could cause crisis in their communities, local government areas and states because of the approaching 2023 general elections,” Edafe admonished.
Misplaced priority
The Methodist Archbishop of Okigwe Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Biereonwu Livinus Onuagha, in his response blamed the problem on misplaced priority, saying that Nigeria has made politics the easiest way to become rich, doing little or nothing. He lamented that Nigerians now see politics as the most lucrative and easiest job anyone can do in Nigeria.
According to Bishop Onuagha, because of that, anybody, including criminals and idiots do everything possible, foul or fair, to go into politics as they see it as the only way they can make money quickly and effortlessly, for that matter.
“Unfortunately, almost everything in Nigeria is possible; through any dubious means, one can become anything. Academic excellence is no longer tolerated, it is no longer valid, because a politician can come up tomorrow within one or two years, he becomes a lawyer, becomes anything people struggle and read for years to become, just because he can throw money around. So there is no more regard for excellence in this nation, and that has affected our political landscape terribly.
“Politics in the truest sense of it is to serve the people and not to serve individuals. Unfortunately, Nigeria politics is self-serving or serving few individuals and not the people.
Only few states in Nigeria are serving their people, the rest are filled with people who are serving themselves and unfortunately too, they are clinging to power without letting go.
“The worst part of it is that our traditional rulers who are supposed to be custodians of traditional principles, are bought over by these greedy and money-minded politicians and they simply compromised and could no longer exercise their traditional authority over the politicians.
The politicians threaten their thrones with all manner of insults, ranging from suspension and sack which ordinarily is not in the powers and duties of politicians. That is why what is happening in Imo State is politically-masterminded.
“When people accuse the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, of having hand in the crises in Imo State and other states in the South- East, I laugh. I have to tell you this that IPOB is 100% free from whatever is happening in Imo State and other states in the South- East. I say it again that IPOB is 100% free from whatever is happening in Imo State; what is rather happening in Imo State is just politicians who want to hold sway, feeding their boys and arming them to keep them perpetually in power. They saw IPOB agitation for the restoration of the State of Biafra as an opportunity and propaganda to cover their evils by pointing accusing fingers at IPOB. But their accusations are no more tenable, they don’t hold water any longer as they have started exposing themselves and the roles their compromised security personnel are playing in the crises in Imo and other South-East states.
“IPOB has long defined their aims and objectives; and that is simply, agitating for the restoration of Biafra and they are not for political activities. Even when you talk about governorship and everything, they don’t want it; they will rather ask their people not to be part of it. You talk about Presidency, they don’t want it, so anybody who is talking about IPOB having a hand in what is currently happening in Imo State is only trying to blackmail Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB.
“Every right thinking Igbo man will always understand and have already understood; that it is a game plan by those greedy and money-minded, power-drunk politicians to accuse IPOB and Nnamdi Kanu as a cover, to get whatever they are looking for in the states and at Abuja. Unfortunately, it will surely boomerang one day; some people say it is already boomeranging.
Less emphasis should be laid on money politics — Bishop Onuoha
“So, for me, if there will be peace or if they want peace to reign in Imo State, South-East and by extension, Nigeria, less emphasis should be placed on money politics. America plays money politics but it has not destroyed democracy; it does not destroy individuals, communities and their states. Everybody who is into politics in America is there to serve the people and when you don’t serve the people, you are removed immediately. But in our own case, whatever you do in office as far as you are loyal and friendly to the powers-that-be in Abuja and throw money around, you are there untouched and free to commit anything unlawful and unacceptable, you are covered.
“They have employed divide and rule tactics and sowed seed of discord in the various tribes. Unfortunately, they have divided us to the point that anybody trying to get us together will be seen as an enemy and non-performer and therefore, it will be difficult for us to come together again. But one day, Nigerians will come together against those greedy and self-serving politicians, and that is the day our emancipation will begin.
“However, for the people in Imo State and politicians in Imo State and South-East at large, they should think and work for the people otherwise, I urge the people to sack them. The Imo people, if they know what is good for them and their state, should sack all those politicians causing them sleepless nights, they do not deserve the offices they are occupying.
“Power is in the hands of the people and they should use it against bad politicians, those bad eggs occupying seats in the states and at the federal level; they have the weapons in their votes and they should use it wisely against the politicians and render them perpetually powerless. If they allow the politicians to take away the powers in their votes, they will become slaves forever in the hands of those politicians, if they want to remain slaves to the corrupt and greedy politicians in Imo State and Igbo land, let them continue to remain slaves,” Bishop Onuagha charged.
INEC should play according to rules— Ahamba, SAN
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ahamba, in his opinion, urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to be strict and follow diligently its rules in conducting elections and avoid anyboy manipulating them.
He was of the view that politicians who could not win elections forced themselves on the people by bribing INEC officials to write results for them. The senior lawyer said if the INEC officials refused to be induced with bribes, it would go a long way in curbing the excesses of politicians.
“What I can say, you remember that some people say there will be no election in Anambra State and there was an election. When the time comes, the situation will sort itself out.
“If you are playing and if you see the election as a game, you must stick to the rules for it to be peaceful. The people playing the game and the referee which is the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, must act according to the rules.
“Once that is done, there will be no problem; even when somebody knows he is not good enough; he knows he will not win, what he does is to go to INEC, to write results and declare him winner.
“The point is that if people can play according to the rules, and the law dealing with people who do not, then we don’t need much time to get it to what we all desire on how it should be done right,” Ahamba said.
Contributing, the Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Abia State chapter, Dr. Okey Mgbeahuru, called for the spirit of brotherhood among politicians, urging winners and losers in every election to embrace dialogue to resolve differences between them.
Winners, losers should embrace dialogue —Abia CAN scribe
He explained that the winner-takes-it-all syndrome has continued to bring bitterness and rancour between contenders in every election. To boost peace and smooth governance, Mgbeahuru called on the winner to extend a hand of fellowship to the loser who should also embrace such a gesture and assist the winner in governance.
He further charged the political class to always play politics by the rules and shun violence in a bid to acquire power.
In his word: “In every political game, there must be a winner and a loser. The winner should extend a hand of fellowship to the loser, while the loser on the other hand, should embrace such a gesture and assist the winner in governance, rather than resort to war and strife. We should remain one even after elections because no one has the monopoly of knowledge. No one should be thrown away in the scheme of governance, for two good heads are better than one. We should play the politics of today to see tomorrow.
“The year, 2023 is another remarkable year in the annals of our country, Nigeria. Its significance is not just the number, but it is an election year. It means that Nigeria has successfully completed another four years of democratic rule and set for another general election to elect leaders from different political parties.
“This change in leadership is solely determined by the people. Regrettably, the context of general election in Nigeria is practised on the contrary. The political class heats up the polity with animosity, hatred, malice, bitterness and rancour.
“The assumed elite political class stops at nothing to ensure that their desired objectives are met. In a bid to acquire power, they sponsor thugs who resort to destruction of lives and property of their opponents. But they forget that, according to the scriptures, leaders are made by God. This is evidenced by His choice of leaders during the Old Testament era in the Bible.
“Leadership, politically, is now a do-or-die affair in most countries of the world, contrary to the tenets of the game. Democratic leadership should be the obvious choice of the people and not through the use of force.”
Also, a renowned politician and chieftain of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Chris Ejike Uche, believes that only men of honour can see politics as an opportunity to serve and not a do-or-die affair and admonished that such men should be elected to govern the people.
S-East should go for only men of honour — Ex-commissioner
Uche, an erstwhile Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development in Imo State, described as worrisome what he termed political animosity in South-East Zone, and charged the people of the zone and Nigerians in general to go for professionals with proven track record of leadership training and honour, saying that it is the only way the political narrative could be changed in the region.
“The dice is cast and the political shenanigans are ongoing. The present situation in the South-East is disturbing. Many see politics as a do-or-die affair. They don’t see it as service. I am calling on them to sheathe their swords.
“If we want Igbo Presidency, then we should come together. We can’t get it by being in disarray. The animosity should be shelved and we should know the right person and support him.
‘Life will surely continue after the elections’
“We must appreciate the fact that we are brothers and that life will surely continue after the elections. We need people with deep knowledge of the economy and international relations.
“Nigerians should be wary of robbers camouflaging as politicians. We don’t need people with no record of leadership training; we need technocrats. We don’t need professional politicians, what we need are professionals in politics, men of honour. That is the only way the tension can reduce and the narrative changed,” he submitted.
In his contribution, the traditional ruler of Iggah Ancient Kingdom in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State, Igwe Herbert Ukuta, has cautioned against politics of rancour and bitterness ahead of 2023 elections.
He cautioned violent and bloodthirsty politicians to bear in mind that they would return to their people at the end of their political career, warning that it would not pay them to kill and maim those they were supposed to be leading just to grab political power.
He also frowned at recycling of old politicians in different offices, adding that there should be level-playing field for all political aspirants to contest elections in an atmosphere devoid of intimidation and harassment of any sort.
The monarch also urged the Federal Government to stop interfering with the politics of different states and allow people their fundamental rights to freely choose those that would represent them in political offices.
“What is the point of being violent with your brothers and sisters during elections? It is either you win or lose. If you force yourself into political office, it becomes violence.
“Politicians should remember that their positions are tenured, and that at the end of it, obviously, they must go back to their people. How are they going to live with them if they are turned to enemies in order to force themselves into political office?
“To stop political insecurity in Nigeria, the Federal Government must stop interfering with the politics of the states. Let the elections be free and fair so that the electorate, the people at the grassroots would have a voice because they are the people that suffer the effects of bad governance.
“Another thing that can breed political violence is the politics of recycling political leaders. Nobody has the exclusive right of occupying political office for life. Our politicians should allow level- playing field for all political aspirants because nobody knows who God wants to use for the liberation of His people in politics. Our old politicians should give the younger ones a chance to showcase their political prowess in an atmosphere devoid of intimidation of any kind.
“The violent stock is not supposed to be in politics because one cannot be killing and maiming those he is supposed to be leading. We need serious political orientation in this country for things to work out well. The Ministry of Information and the National Orientation Agency are no longer at their best in their respective duties.
“INEC should also go back and study the meaning of being independent. It cannot continue writing election results in the parlor of any politician who bribed the commission, thereby stealing the people’s mandate; that is another cause of political violence, especially, if the people knew that they didn’t vote the person who was declared winner,” the monarch explained.
‘Politicians should sign a peace agreement’
The Co-Chair of Interfaith Peace and Dialogue Forum, Bishop Sunday Onuoha, stressing on the Imo situation, said there is need for President Muhammadu Buhari to summon all political gladiators in the state to Aso Rock and compel them to sign a peace pact as part of measures to lessen the killings in the state.
The cleric who described the killings as senseless and unacceptable said time had come to hold the political elite in the state accountable.
His words: “These killings are evil and unacceptable. I call on the President to invite all the political gladiators in Imo to the Villa, and not allow them to leave until they sign a peace agreement.”
Bishop Onuoha also challenged faith leaders with unquestionable character to step in and broker peace among the political warlords in the state.
He argued that since the gladiators are members of various faith organizations, faith leaders should help to call them to order.
Still speaking on Imo situation, the National President of the Prime Ministers Association of Nigeria, High Chief Uche Akwukwuegbu, appealed to politicians in Imo to sheath their swords especially as the election come nearer.
He also urged the political players in Imo State to allow the incumbent Governor Hope Uzodinma, a chance to govern, arguing that there can be only one governor at a time.
“The political elite should give the governor a chance to rule. You can’t have two governors at the same time. They should allow him to govern and complete his tenure no matter how he came in”.
Chief Akwukwuegbu advised politicians to eschew politics of rancour and bitterness.
Renowned political scientist, Prof Obasi Igwe, in his opinion, urged politicians to shun hiring youths for political thugs and embrace free and fair election to maintain peace and progress after elections.
He also tasked the youths to learn to hold leaders accountable, condemn and refuse to participate in cultism, bribery and corruption, kidnapping and other social ills.
“Register to vote and be voted for and ensure that the vote counts. The youths must spearhead the struggle for a modern democratic secular state of equal civilized laws and equal applications, a single judicial system based on Common Law and insistence that crimes of any sort, especially those that are electoral or related to corruption, life and property, are severely punished.
“Above all, short of a violent revolution, the youths must insist on good governance, including free and quality education, and well remunerated jobs, as the ultimate guarantors of security in any part of the East and beyond”, he said.
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