November 6, 2021, A Must for Anambra!
I got a call from a good friend of mine requesting that I watch a video he had shared with me via WhatsApp. He would like me to call him back with my observations about the video and what I thought about the speaker and video content. Folks, the video in question was posted by one Comrade Iyere the founder of Youth Off the Street Initiative and the Civil Society for Anti-Fraud Elections. In the video, he was asking President Buhari to please dialogue with IPOB to get IPOB to call off their latest one week sit-at-home order which will invariably impact the November 6, 2021, gubernatorial elections in the state. He also appealed to the world bodies at large, the prospective gubernatorial candidates and their parties to come together to reach out to IPOB to encourage them to cancel their one week sit-at- home order to enable peace and tranquility to reign in Anambra state. However, and based on attendance, his calls were not headed because only two political parties honored his invitation.
After reviewing Comrade Iyere’s videos, I was saddened and disappointed at the same time. Saddened that first and foremost, Anambra state does not have any leaders capable enough to lead such effort that we must resort to bringing an outsider to champion our own causes. The implication is that; this, idea of “a prophet has no honor in his country” is alive and well in Anambra. Today, as a state that boasts of the likes of Nnamdi Azikiwe and others, to think that we are more inclined today to listen and follow an outsider rather than one of our own is troubling. That this proud people who claim to be the light of a nation cannot carry our own fiduciary touch unless handled by someone outside the state. Nevertheless, my disappointment was that Comrade Iyere was calling on the outside (Europeans to be exact) world for help. I wondered what would any outside organizations do for us in this situation that they have not done in the past with no success? Why would we continue to ask the Europeans for help when they are the people who created this oppressive environment that we find ourselves today? When are we going to learn?
Make no mistakes about this, anyone who believe that president Buhari and his cohorts, whose intent is to hijack this election would dialogue with IPOB is sadly mistaken. They will never mess up their only opportunity to rig the election or take over the state coffers through emergency declaration. So, asking the same president and his political apparatus to dialogue with IPOB would be akin to asking the fox to guard the henhouse. There is a reason only two political parties showed up for Comrade Iyere’s news conference. My only disappointment was that APGA refused to join this news conference as part of ensuring that, at a minimum, elections are conducted in Anambra on November 6, 2021. Let the truth be told, APGA as a political party stands to lose the most should confusion trail this upcoming November election leading to another party rigging their way into Awka.
Please consider for one second that you are President Muhammad Buhari, will you dialogue with IPOB if by maintaining status quo, you stand to gain exactly what you are seeking? The answer is no! Therefore, my people, by declaring this five day sit-at-home, IPOB and the rest of Umu Igbo have indirectly handed our detractors and oppressors, what they have been seeking. By this action if it holds, we have basically degraded our state to a new low by digging our own grave for our haters. All our own making!
Despite the above, Comrade Iyere has some salient points in his video conference. In my last article regarding Anambra elections and titled “Is Anambra Still the Light of the Nation?” I outlined three basic reasons no election in Anambra would not benefit the state. Some of those sentiments were echoed by Comrade Iyere in this news conference and video. I cannot fathom why we are so naïve as to create an environment that will serve nothing but to destabilize our own already chaotic state? Why, as a smart people the best we can do is punishing and depriving our own people of their daily bread. Why are we bent on depriving our own brothers and sisters the “quite enjoyment” of their lives, trade, careers and businesses by these sit-at-home and no elections orders and other pronouncements? How we perceiver these to mean we are doing something good for our people? From all practical perspectives, none of the persons who will suffer financial losses due to the sit-at-home order had a hand in the kidnapping Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya. None of these folks who will be most impacted if this election does not hold, and the federal government takes over Anambra was part of detaining Nnamdi Kanu at DSS. They are all innocent victims of this unfortunate quagmire confronting the Igbos for which we have no credible or articulated response to date.
As we have come to experience these past several years, confronting the federal government is what has led to the chaotic situation that has engulfed the entire eastern region. As most of you would attest, the Igbo land was a quiet and peaceful place prior to operation python dance, and we have not known peace since that time. Additionally, a lot of law-abiding citizens and villagers minding their own business have been caught in this crossfire between IPOB, ESN and the federal government; lending credibility to the term “when two elephants fight, the shrubs and grasses suffer.” In this case the two elephants are the federal government and IPOB and the grass and shrubs are the citizens who gets caught in the crossfire. To me, directly challenging the might of the federal government unprepared is a recipe for disaster. History tells us so, however, why we keep trying to repeat history knowing fully well the outcome is something beyond me and maybe, just maybe, this was what Einstein was referring when he defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result!
My people, most of our challenges are of our own making, as a person who lived through different periods in Nigeria, from our boom to bust, I remember a Nigeria that used to work. We had constant electricity, running water in the yard, good sewer system that worked etc. However, and since our colonial masters left, and mind you, at our own urging, we have been unable to manage our own affairs. Rather, we have engaged in a fruitless war that took over 3 million lives, blamed the British and every other person we could point to as the reason Nigeria has continued to regress. We are not the only country that was colonized, neither are we the only nation with a diverse population. America the most diverse nation in the world, understood the value of their diversity and have tried use it to their advantage. The same country has an abominable past, but have somehow, and on their own figured out a way to live together in peace. However, whereas other nations have found ways to deal (through constructive dialogue) with their problems, we have mastered the art of blaming, finger pointing, rebel rousing and war mongering. None of these will lead to any sustainable solution.
Some of the chaos happening today in Igboland reminds me of the proverb that ”if the ear is warned of impending machete but do not listen, when the head is eventually chopped off, the ear most definitely will follow.” I have warned of the repercussive effects and financial hardship related to these sit-at-home orders. My last article outlined some of the consequences of not conducting an election in Anambra come November 6, 2021. Concurrently, others including Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, various news outlets, Comrade Iyere and concerned Igbo citizens with good intentions have warned of the consequences of the above actions but to no avail. Let us hope that none of our predictions ever come to fruition, however, by any slim chance that it does, we must be sure to lay the blame where it belongs ourselves.
Again, I just cannot believe that IPOB went back on their words regarding Anambra elections. My biggest worry today is that even if IPOB listens to calls from Ohanaeze Ndi Igbo, Comrade Iyere and others by rescinded this order, we all know that the cat is already out of the bag. Heck, IPOB called off the Monday morning sit-at-home order, but the entire eastern region is still a ghost region every Mondays. Rescinding the order now does not mean that people will come out and vote during this election – most people in the eastern region fear IPOB and are fearful of what might befall them if they ventured out for anything regardless. We all know have been witnesses to what atrocities befell those individuals who attempted to go about their personal businesses regardless of who you believe is responsible for those atrocities.
Finally, my people, Anambra elections must hold on November 6, 2021, come hell or highwater, anything to the contrary is not acceptable. If you have not read my last article regarding Anambra election “Is Anambra Still the Light of the Nation” you should endeavor to do so. We cannot afford to bite our noses to spite our face and we all should stop this unproductive behavior of shooting ourselves in the foot. If IPOB finds it in their best interest, and in the interest of the folks they claim to be fighting for and rescind this unfortunate five day sit-at-home order, so be it. If not, I will still encourage all well-meaning Anambra citizens to go out in great numbers and exercise their civil and fiduciary duties by voting on November 6, 2021. We need to send a clear message to the federal government and any others group or persons that we the citizens of Anambra control our own destiny. It is critically important that we see a natural transition at the state house in Awka and anything short of an elective transition would be turning the clock of our progress back a million years.
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