BY KEN OKONKWO
I have discovered that the Igbos have continued to gloom, feel melancholic, highly depressed with a despondent atmosphere all over the place, since the pronouncement by Prof. Attahiru Jega, declaring as expected, General Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR) as the President-elect, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Elsewhere such as in Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Delta States, which are core-Niger Delta States, where President Goodluck Jonathan originates from, there is unstoppable celebration and frenzied hikes. The people out there, believe deeply that there is need for change at the helm of our National affairs and of the leadership of this country. The gloom in Imo, Abia, Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi States implies therefore that we are crying much more than the bereaved. This is very absurd and does not speak well of Ndigbo who should be positioning to succeed Buhari in 2023.
Ambassador Felix Oboro, former Ambassador to Venezuela while decamping from PDP to APC last year had told the spectators and supporters who thronged the venue of his declaration, that himself more than anybody else was instrumental to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan joining politics and emerging as the Deputy Governor of Bayelsa state. He added that all through his stint at the corridors of power, Jonathan neither appreciated him nor did anything tangible to develop Bayelsa state, their home town, taking the huge resources, power and authority at his disposal as Executive President into consideration.
It was as a result of such neglect that he advised those who were yet to take a stand never to waste their votes on Goodluck Jonathan bearing in mind that at the end of the day even if Jonathan is re-elected, he will never appreciate those who voted and sacrificed for him, neither would it make a difference in his attitude, character or conduct of the affairs in this country. Those who thought that APC or the opposition was not strong in Rivers state were totally disappointed when on the Election Day they watched hundreds of thousands of APC members and voters protesting against the fact that there were no elections in Rivers state and hence INEC should not accept or declare any results. The scenario which is now history has been recorded and is undergoing investigation but what is important is that at the declaration of General Muhammadu Buhari as President, people living in Port Harcourt and its environs, trouped out in their thousands to celebrate unlike the situation in Imo and Abia where those rejoicing are regarded as bastards and fools.
So why is our case in Imo state an exception? The indifference is unexplainable and shows that we are very unforgiving. Like Barr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) said several years ago, “Ndigbo play crude, timid and primitively a highly deficient politics”. That was in 2003 when Ndigbo refused to grab the golden opportunity presented by the pair of Buhari and late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo to seize the Presidency. Despite the poor showing of support by Ndigbo in 2003, General Muhammadu Buhari courted and lured them in 2007 when he again picked late Chief Edwin Umezuoke as running mate. They were never declared winner in a contest that the ultimate beneficiary and former President, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua declared or admitted was heavily compromised and massively rigged. However, the Umezuoke led ANPP in the South East geopolitical region conspired against General Muhammadu Buhari, collectively, resolved and withdrew support from the presidential elections petitions tribunals and entered into an unholy alliance with late Yar’Adua culminating in the son of Edwin Umezuoke being appointed a Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs. What a treachery by a set of shameless politicians.
Then came 2011, both Ajumbe and Barr. Mike Ahamba who has so far lived long enough to see that the same Chief Sammuel Onunaka Mbakwe he severally attacked, disparaged and abused between 1999 and 1983 has remained a recurring decimal and legend ever, conspired alongside CPC and ANPP Chapters in the South East and also withdrew their support from General Buhari’s petitions at the Election Tribunal and rather threw their weight, support and encouragement behind President Goodluck Jonathan. Like Prince Osagiefo Nwankwo, heir apparent to the Nwankwo Anowi traditional dynasty, Umulogho Obowo, Ndigbo vote money.
All through the processes leading to the formation of the mega APC, the very people who attempted to sabotage the processes of its registration were Igbos. They alone regarded APC as Boko Haram. Even Professors in Viola Onwuliri whose National Chairman is Sharia campaigner and advocate calls it Muslim party to my hearing.
The various cases in court challenging Buhari’s age, legibility and educational qualifications were instituted mainly by Ndigbo or their accomplices. Yet no Igbo man had the rare courage or ability to challenge Goodluck Jonathan as President. The man in late Azikiwe died in all of them. So what is our stake? Why are we crying more than the bereaved? Why are we shedding crocodile tears and killing ourselves, blaming President Goodluck Jonathan for allowing Buhari to emerge President? One very bitter and aggrieved voter was dramatizing while he was bemoaning his frustration when he called Imolites, “saboteurs for giving Buhari more than one hundred thousand votes on Saturday March 28, 2015?” He wished that he knew those who voted for Buhari so that he could eliminate them one after the other. That is the height of the Igbo absurdity. My worry is that Buhari is undeserving of this hatred, animosity and resentment. Like I said before Buhari was the first former Head of State to attend the world Igbo congress at Houston, USA. He was not even a Presidential candidate when he did. During the Odi rumblings in Rivers State in the early 2000s, Obasanjo had admonished the Ikwere and Ijaw people against romancing with Igbos. He reminded them how he saved them from Igbo domination and annihilation during the Nigerian Civil War. Throughout his reign, Obasanjo did everything to pamper the Ijaws and the Ikweres while the Igbos was put at the receiving end. He only enjoyed the public orifices of our delectable ladies but loathed the average Igbo man whom he sought to ruin. One reason the 3rd term Agenda of Obasanjo failed was the insistence of the likes of Distinguished Senator Ifeanyi Araraume that a new state be approved in the proposed amended constitution alongside the proposed 3rd term Agenda. That in itself forced Obasanjo to recant his tenacious demand and grip on power, for a third term which gullible Nigerians almost okayed but for the likes of Hon. Francis Amadiegwu and Uche Onyeagocha who sacrificed their continued political relevance and stay at the National Assembly to challenge the evil portion. What the Igbos did by rejecting Buhari is unpardonable. It is like throwing the bath water and the baby away at the same time. No Igbo man will be President of the Senate President between 2015 and 2019 even if the elections petitions tribunals up turn the defeat of Izunaso, Chris Ngige and Uche Onyeagocha. No Igbo man would be the Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives within the same period under review. Igbos simply voted themselves out of relevance and reckoning. Even when Buhari ought to be angry and furious that the people he loves so much have continued to despise him, is it not enough for us to atone for such disappointment and apathy against Buhari? Even in the social media, the Igbos are still awash with prayers that Goodluck Jonathan goofed by accepting defeat. They would have wished that he dared the consequences and go along to declare himself winner at all cost. Yet at the end of such an effort, the Igbos will suffer the heaviest consequences. Presently, in Rivers State despite the loud preaching that the transition programme is not worth the life of any individual Nigerian citizen, more than 60 members of APC have been hacked to death. Among the victims is a local Ikwere Chief who was killed together with two of his sons while his two daughters who received several gun shots are still receiving treatment at the intensive units of the hospitals in the area. Ikwerres are part of the Biafra enclave and because they are Igbos, their population is gradually decimated.
In Kano State, the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) was burnt alive together with wife and two daughters. In Bauchi State, a Bicycle repairer who challenged a soldier from preventing him from joining others to protest the attempt to tamper with the result of the Presidential election was instantly shot dead. The situation is the same elsewhere; several deaths have been recorded following the declaration of Buhari, elected. In Ekiti State, the situation is worse. Ayo Fayose a well known political gangster has reduced the state to a battle field. It is all because of the influence and presence of many Igbos at Ikole Ekiti. That beautiful community where I served my NYSC, has a lot of beautiful women because they accepted Igbos as one, and intermarry themselves.
This situation could be worse in Lagos where Igbos in their numbers trouped out to vote against the APC Presidential candidate and almost spoilt the day for Alhaji Ahmed Tinubu, the leader of the party. The Igbos in Lagos not minding the fact that Dr. Ben Akubueze, Commissioner for Budget and Planning is one of their own from Anambra State and Engr. Joe Igbokwe, the APC State Secretary for Lagos State is equally of Anambra extraction went all out and voted against APC. They are at the same time squaring up to vote out APC on Saturday April 11, 2015 despite the internationally acclaimed excellent performances of Governor Babatunde Fashola. When confronted by the Oba of Lagos Dr. Rilwanu Akiolu who played host to select Eze Ndigbo who paid him a solidarity visit, for such defiance, they are now claiming equality with the Lagosians and therefore reserve the exclusive right to choose whosoever they wish for as Governor of Lagos State. Under normal circumstances this is how it should be like for Obama who came from Kenya, an African country to become Senator and later the President of USA.
Yet down here in Imo State, precisely Okigwe Senatorial zone, Chief Mike Ibekwe of “Okwelle holdings notoriety” as the custodian of the culture and tradition of the Okigwe zonal people had along with some other so called titled Nze na Ozos publicly proclaimed Mazi Clement Owunna of Aro Umulolo Okigwe Senatorial Zone not an indigene and hence charged their people not to vote for him as a Senator. Earlier one Prof. Chinedun Nwajiuba who equally scored Rochas Okorocha very high in performance ratings and had expressed interest in contesting for Okigwe South Federal Constituency seat vacated by his younger brother Emeka had pronounced Mazi Clement Owunna as a none-indigene of Okigwe zone and ineligible to be voted for or underserving of the support of so-called indigenes. The same insinuation is made of Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha of Aronta Mbutu Mbaise in Aboh Mbaise LGA. He is of the famous versatile and mobile Aro extraction. However, he has successfully shut them up with too much money. Igbo people at home find pleasure and discriminate against indigenes and non indigenes but in Lagos they want equal rights or better still higher rights than aborigines. I wound want to remind Ibekwe and Nwajiuba that the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if they are literate enough to decipher the contents, has a provision on who is an indigene of Nigeria. People who live in glass houses should avoid throwing stones. For the Igbos Buhari has surprisingly extended the hand of fellowship and comradeship. For him t o have visited five times to shop for votes is great. Let us embrace him, give him a chance and promote a successor in 2023, when I will be more positioned if alive to contest against any candidate the rest of the Igbos would support.
