Here is yet another edition of “what am I thinking”? And yes, it has been a while since I wrote on my blog. The gap was basically due to pressures from my job and planning for my annual trip home – a pilgrimage that most of us in diaspora make a few times each year to reaffirm our confidence that our country will still be there for us.
My fellow Nigerians, talking about Nigeria is truly exhausting. I often wonder about where anybody will begin when it comes to fixing the plethora of challenges facing Nigeria. Do we begin with our corrupt political class? Do we tackle this constant drumbeat to divide the country? Do we focus on the epileptic electric supply, the bad roads, lack of portable water or storm drain systems? Do we work on our inept leaders who seem not to know what to do, or the masses who are willing to sell their souls to the highest political bidder and willing participants to their own abuses? Do we talk about how to deal with our children who are so confused that they have turned to drugs, prostitution and thievery to deal with the stresses of living in such a chaotic society, or work on their parents who have given up on raising their children? Will we address the fact that despite all these challenges, the population of Nigeria continues to rise at alarming rates?
Folks, should we try to address the mindless waste of time and resources caused by the military and police with all their check points scattered along our roadways and in some cases barely a mile apart, or do we deal with local youth who are taking advantage of the situation on the highways by erecting their own checkpoint on neighborhood road and extorting transporters and weary travelers? How keen are we to address the extortion by our national police and army or the abuse by these individuals supposedly there to protect us? My people are we keen on addressing the ignorance of our people who have opted to spend all their time praying in churches and synagogues while doing nothings to help themselves, or do we worry about all these churches and their false pastors and overseers popping up everywhere and enslaving the minds of an already ignorant society. What about this mindless waste of billions of Naira all in the name of this so-called sit-at-home orders and the wanton destruction of goods and property associated with these mandates?
My people, I was in Nigeria early last year and then back to Nigeria in late December. The transformation from bad to worse was something I could not have imagined would be possible. All the good roads that I used while I was in Aba right after Easter 2021 have all tuned into impassable mudholes. Travelling from Asaba head bridge to Ihiala, a trip that should take no more than 45 minutes is now a five-hour trip, all due to bad roads, disregard for rules of the road and military or police checkpoints. And once you have cleared these checkpoints, then you are confronted with the madness that is our commercial transport buses all clamoring to be the first to get to nowhere. Nowhere because we all are stuck in these unnecessary traffic jams created by our refusal to follow simple rules of the road. My brothers and sisters, if I did not know any better, I would have said that Nigeria is at a point of no return. But are we????
For the first time in my life, I left my dear country and felt that there are no remedies for all the ills that has befallen Nigeria. I have always been that consummate optimist who believe that a messiah is yet to come to our rescue, however with the ever-increasing challenges facing Nigeria, I am beginning to wonder if we should not hunker down and brace for total implosion or maybe another civil war to wake up our senses. Or maybe a total collapse of the economy and or uncontrollable anarchy. But I cannot bring myself to think such ill of my dear country.
The dog once said, if I have only one sore, I would leak it to heal, however, when I have sores all over my body, where do I start licking? Having said that, and regardless of the enormity of our challenges I firmly believe we collectively have what it takes to deal with these challenges and in fact come out of it a stronger and better country. But we all must believe.
First, this matter about sit-at-home has got to stop! It does not matter where you belong in this Biafran conversation, we cannot continue to punish our people for something they absolutely have no hand in or control over. The people of the Southeast did not kidnap Nnamdi Kanu! They are not holding Biafrans hostage by any means – in fact, they have been very respectful of all the orders being issued by IPOB. However, we all know that IPOB despite having rescinded the sit-at-home orders, have lost control of some of their followers who continue to visit madness to the people they claim to protect. We must face the facts that this IPOB phenomenon and the conflict that it created with the federal government has unleashed the worst in our people. A supposedly peaceful area of our country has turned into an arena of the worst atrocities ever recorded in human history when you look at the wanton and ritualistic killings, rape, theft, and other crimes that go unchecked all in the name of agitating for an independent Biafra. I ask you all, is it worth it? We must tell ourselves the truth, the so-called unknown gunmen are your brothers and sister of Igbo origin, who have taken advantage of the chaos and wreaking havoc on fellow Igbo citizens, while the rest of us, like the fools we are, refuse to call a spade by its name. referring to these killers by the term “unknown gunmen” has made accomplices of all of us and has in a way exposed our own ignorance and stupidity. We forget that it our children that are being killed and our daughters that are being raped.
Globally, Nigerian will never change until we all decide that it is time for change to happen. Since independence, we have been engaging on this recycling experiment and it has served us no good purpose. The question is…when will enough be enough? Or is it true that Nigeria will continue to be a country where the worst will never happen, but nothing ever gets better? Maybe so but understand that collectively we own our destinies regardless of what the political class thinks. However, we must understand that until we set aside all these tribal sentiments and focus on what is most beneficial for the average Joe, we will never prosper. Since charity begins at home and all politics is local, let me start with what transpired in Anambra during the last gubernatorial election.
The Anambra election should be a lesson for all people of Igbo extraction. Leading up to the governorship elections, social media and media in general were all agog regarding what my party APC wants or plans to do in Anambra. It started with the rigging of the primaries and lining up all these heavy weights to ensure that the wrong candidate, who has absolutely no plans for the state made it to government house. And what happened? Defying all odds, defying all the killings the military presence, the police scare tactics, Anambra citizens came out and voted the right person into power. Such is the power of the people when harnessed properly. The message was clear, no amount of scare tactics, bullying or intimidation will stop Anambra citizens from doing the right things and the right thing they did. But it was a collective and coordinated effort. Could we transfer such action to a national level? Only time will tell and 2023 is around the corner…only eleven months away!
Let me be clear, changing the calculus at the national level is not going to be a cake walk for the Igbos. We are now agitating for someone of Igbo extraction be the person presented by all political parties in the presidential election next year, but bear in mind that such thought is froth with a lot of challenges. As I mentioned earlier, this game of recycled politicians has gotten us nowhere and it is high time we thought about a different approach. Yes, I am all for an Igbo man or woman being elected the next president of Nigeria, however, I am vehemently and categorically opposed to any of the current crop of the current Igbo politicians to be part of that equation. We must have some kind of paradigm shift regarding who we present as the Igbo presidential aspirants. I am adamant that it cannot be any person who has been part of a previous administration and/or currently holding political office. The truth of the matter is that none of these individuals have shown any iota of reason why we should present them to represent the Igbos. This our populist election mentality must be shoved into the bag, and we look for some fresh blood and preferably someone who has no political connections or baggage whatsoever. We did it in Anambra and we can do it at the national level.
SE For President 2023 Group:
The bush fowl told her chicks…as you feast on the yam tuber, so shall you feast on the yam root. That way, when the farmer harvests the yams, your stomach can make do with the root. I understand that a lot of folks are focused on this shinning object on a hill called Biafra and overlooking some low hanging fruit that could make a difference in the lives of the everyday person. As some of us continue this pursuit for the Biafran utopia, let us take a little bit of time to look at the work of this group called the SE for President 2023 group. I have been following this group for some time and believe in their basic philosophy to ensuring that a person of SE (Igbo) extraction is elected the next president of Nigeria. If you are an Igbo citizen and have not heard of this group, please seek them out and look at what they have to offer. If you like what you see, join, and lend your voice to the fact that we from the SE have been methodically excluded from reaching Aso Rock. I believe in their vision and mission and have committed myself to working with them to actualize this vision of an Igbo presidency. I believe the time has come for us to make the necessary pivot instead of doing the same thing repeatedly expecting a different result. Whether things will change because a person of Igbo persuasion is at the helm only time will tell, but I am here to reiterate that it is worth trying, because the constant recycling and reusing these know politicians have earned us nothing but hardship and regression.
I am encouraging all Nigerians to please join hands with these groups agitating for this paradigm shift to make it a reality. It is a low hanging fruit that we could harness immediately if we put our minds to it. I am aware that the SE For President Group have a Facebook that is worthy of perusing prior to making up your mind regarding this matter of an Igbo presidency.
The New Nigerian Group:
I did a previous article on the New Nigeria Group and employed people to take a good look at Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa and his NNG to see if the new dimension that they bring to the presidency is that paradigm shift that we have been seeking. My bias toward Mazi Ohuabunwa is due to my belief that Nigeria needs to move in a totally new direction. So far, our current crop of politicians has been full of disappointments and if we continue to recycle these politicians, then we can no longer complain because according to Einstein, that is the definition of insanity. The leader of the New Nigerian Group has been canvassing the entire country meeting with prospective constituents and creating dialogue with everyone to not only determine what challenges they are facing locally, but to begin to build solution sets to deal with some of those challenges. I do believe that those solution sets will be the basis for a manifesto to be presented to the entire nation.
The New Nigeria Group (NNG) represents a new direction and dimension in the Nigerian political landscape. We as a people need to escape from the virtuous cycle of recycling our politicians who have done nothing but continue to set the country back decades. These recycled politicians have done nothing but create division among citizens of this great country and making us spend all our time hating each other than seeking solutions to our challenges. I do believe the New Nigerian Group will usher in the fresh perspective we all need at this stage of our political development to move the entire nation forward.
So, what am I thinking? I am thinking that regardless of what you believe is the solution to our woes, bet it creating independent states based on the tribal lines within the country, agitating for a sovereign state of Biafra, devolution of power from the federal government to the states, the force majeure movement, or restructure. The truth of the matter is that all these other options will take time to actualize and to some extent too dramatic a change that could be achieved without a resort to some form of force. However, we do have some options and one of those would be to commit ourselves to this notion of a president from the Southeast and a rejection of these recycled politicians! We were able to say NO to “Business As Usual” in Anambra State elections despite all odds, we can make that same statement nationally with our commitment to move in a totally different direction! And might I recommend that this new direction must include a total rejection of our current crop of representatives both at local and national levels.
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