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Who says Akpabio should shut up?
First, let me tell you how much I know about Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital. One Sunday afternoons, during one of my regular visits in the 1980s, my elder brothers, who were actually among the big boys, decided to give me a special treat in town.
Back then, it was a one street town, with the Aba-Ikot Ekpene Road, to show as the best and only major road to give it a semblance of a city.
The Honda CD-195, today’s equivalent of a top-notch Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), which my brothers owned then was demonstrable evidence of this affluence for the middle class where young men of their ilk belonged. Mind you these were ordinary artisans. Their major business was constructing of aluminum water tanks. But because of the thriving economy then across Nigeria, what they made as incomes were enough to make them paint the town red.
They actually started off in Calabar, the Cross River State capital with the workshop at Wapi Junction by Highway, but had to split for business reasons when Akwa Ibom was created, one moving to Uyo and the other retaining the Calabar business.
You know the treat? I’ll tell you shortly. But let me first tell you that when the Akwa Ibom or Cross River man tells you that they own the franchise for the best culinary ability in Nigeria, don’t even argue. No one else comes close.
For instance, I never knew that unripe plantain was such a good delicacy until I ate it in Uyo. I hardly accepted it from my father, the only one that relished it in my family back then. Whenever I did, it was, like other children, with squeezed face. Of course, he’s was prepared roast, with the popular ukpaka, fresh pepper and red oil to go with.
Never mind that I now throw glances and salivate like Pavlov dogs whenever I pass through the streets and see local women preparing the same recipe. But try the Akwa Ibom variant with bush meat and scent leaves mixed with vegetables. That was how I fell inseparably in love.
Come to think of it, was it the white soup at that popular joint in Calabar that I couldn’t recall the name or the ekpang nkukwo or the afang or edikang-ikong that I didn’t fall in love with? Or the fisherman soup?
So, the treat! Atop our ride, we soon arrived at the spot and a table was quickly arranged for the three of us. It was obvious that my brothers were quite popular with the owner of the joint who saw them as prized customers, hence the special treatment. It was also obvious that he knew their purpose and specialty.
We were actually in our third bottle of ukot, the brown-coloured variant of palm wine, quite different from what I used to know, when it arrived.
You would have thought, like I used to think that ishi-ewu was the best thing on earth after rice and banga stew until you have tasted a steaming hot head of J5 the euphemism for the delicacy, surrounded with periwinkles as I did that day.
Those and many other escapades, were the experiences that drew me to Uyo like a bee to the nectar. Not anything else and certainly, not the attraction of a city! There was actually no part of the town that I didn’t traverse in search of the good life in the company of those my brothers. That was how I got to know every nook and cranny of it.
But go to Uyo today. I have on many occasions. I could testify to the sharp contrast. The grand transformation is clearly not contemplatable. Who could imagine that the nondescript enclave, no more than a vintage Nigerian village, or at best the local government town, it actually was, would transit into the modern town that it is today?
Who could contemplate the exquisite edifices that have now replaced those weather-beaten structures that hitherto dotted the town or the glittering streets that practically bring it close to some of the celebrated cities of the world in terms of beauty?
Who would have thought that after Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, the next city on the cards today in Nigeria is Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital? That is why I enjoin anyone that sees Godswill Obot Akpabio to greet him. Hail him wherever he is sighted. His good deeds are certainly more than his sins. He is the one that did the magic.
I actually told the story above to underscore that I met Uyo at its virgin state and now its present status as a mega city. As an undergraduate in the 80s and a journalist two decades later I wasn’t only deeply into this town, but witnessed the instant revolution in a matter of few years.
Of course, while not denying credit to Obong Victor Attah, his predecessor, who started the process of moving the state away from the inglorious era the late Vice President, Alex Ekwueme described as the years of the locusts, with some ambitious projects, the trophy belongs to Akpabio. He breathed life into the state. Visiting the two at their own times, I knew when the wine fermented into its rich taste.
He was the one who took the gown to town not only in physical development, but doing the work of the salesman. He virtually sold it not only to Nigerians, but the world.
You may have heard about the legacy projects – the Ibom Tropicana Resort, a five-star hotel, which boasts of Nigeria’s best golf course and other facilities that makes the city the attraction for billionaires and playground for tourists both locally and foreign or the Uyo Township Stadium, which during Akpabio’s time became the home-ground to the Super Eagles of Nigeria and other top football and sporting events.
You may have heard about the first-grade roads across communities in and outside the state capital and the highways that crisscross the state. In fact, in one of the occasions I was in the state, the campaign and focus of his government, was operation zero potholes in the whole of Uyo.
Yes! You would certainly must have heard about the multi-purpose Akwa Ibom Ecumenical Centre – that grand edifice that was supposed to cater for religious activities, conferences and other local and international events.
But what about the little details of that government? Did you know that Uyo, was never ever supposed to be flooded in Akpabio’s visionary thinking? He took care of that. In one of my trips, I saw the huge underground pipe jacking drainage facility that was meant to collect storm water in the state capital. I learnt the project, then under construction by Julius Berger slashed the purse of the state by a whopping N13.6billion. It was the epitomic demonstration of Yo shinai, Yo kangai, the popular Toyota advert in the 90s, meaning Good thinking, Good product.
There are so many similar projects like that gives impetus to those, inclusive of yours truly, who see Akpabio as a man of vision and mission, regardless of the other side of his political story.
So, when I hear Pat Utomi, Nigeria’s most respected political economist, asking Akpabio to shut up the other day and Reuben Abati, prolific journalist following suit, by injuncting him to speak less, and after taking a cursory look at the entire park of the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Bola Tinubu, the abiding question I ask myself is who else is qualified to speak from there outside Akpabio?
In my view, Akpabio is the most highly rated official in that government with tangible things to show in his political years. I have provided the basis for my assessment. In fact, save for the uncanny penchant for reversal of roles in Nigeria, where the tail wags the dog rather than the reverse, what is the explanation for Tinubu being the President with Akpabio as the Senate President?
But Nigeria is already what it is. Is it not evident that Akpabio is the real visioner in that APC house of commotion? For one, he is an orator extraordinaire. On the many occasions I had encountered him, then as a governor, I never saw him read a prepared speech.
Yet, he would speak for two hours, still making sense and presenting figures. It was that immense gift of the garb and general carriage that made him practically sell Akwa Ibom to the world. It was like the recreation of Michael Iheonukara (MI) Okpara of Eastern Nigeria.
Indeed, has anyone wondered the sudden dim surrounding that state since Akpabio left as governor? Who is still remembering that state now? Why is Akwa Ibom no longer in the national spotlight as it used to be? Does it mean the state is getting less money than it used to, since many people seemed to suggest that the sudden high profile it attained was as a result of the high revenue accruing to it? Isn’t it obvious that it has to do with that extra shine, the debonair air around him, which his successors have failed to replicate or sustain?
The major snag, if not the only one, is that he has found himself in bad company. APC is a bad product, in fact and in deed. Since Nigerians bought into it through former President Muhammadu Buhari, who should not have risen beyond the Emir of Daura, it has continued to decay.
With Tinubu’s listlessness, the rot and degeneration have since worsened. How does anyone defend this President and his underwhelming performance and still come out smelling roses? This is Akpabio’s dilemma and not the inability to say the right thing. As long as he remains in that crowd, nobody is qualified more than him to speak. So, speak, Akpabio must!
My name is Sunny Igboanugo and I’m The Tiny Voice!
By Sunny Igboango
Very Dark Man, you’re right to take umbrage against Obi Cubana for being coopted into the Tinubu campaigns. You’re right to have felt the way you did that a whole Obinna Iyiegbu would be reduced to singing that On Your Mandate we shall stand mantra.
Like you, many Nigerians are utterly disappointed! Now, who wouldn’t be? Obi Cubana has not only come to represent the grass to grace narrative every youth in Nigeria should emulate, but a special and specific brand, and like the golden serpent, ought to be mounted on a standard where each youth suffering from the snake bites the scotch-earth policies of the APC government has spread on the Nigerian landscape, should look up to for healing.
So, to see him descend from that Olympian height to kowtow to the level of renditioning that awful song, must be as disgusting as it is gutting. I’m equally gutted as I’m sure most Nigerians are.
But then here is where you’re wrong. You’re wrong when use that singular act to define the Igbo people. You gave the impression that Obi Cubana, by signing into that notorious project, represents Ndigbo and that, that gamble will make an impact in deciding where the pendulum of Ndigbo will swing in the 2027 presidential election. Nada! Negative. Not at all!
Now, let me tell you from the outset that it is a wasted effort – I mean that gambit. As far as what the political decision of the South East will be in that election – it is completely wasted without mincing word.
Speaking the way you did confirms that you VDM know very little about Ndigbo. But what you don’t know you’ll learn and some of us are here to teach you.
Now, let us take just a little peek into history to help you understand a small bit about the Igbo persona – I mean the character of Ndigbo either individually and collectively.
VDM! I don’t know how much you know about The Igbo Landing. Have you heard about it? Let me give you a snippet – not the whole story – just a scratch of it. It was about a group of Igbo men captured from their land and transported by ship into slavery in America.
But right there in the ship, they had discussed among themselves that instead of becoming slaves in a foreign land death was the better option. They plotted their operation in whispers as they lay like sardines inside the ship.
You know what they did? Immediately they emerged, even still bounded in chains, they lounged on their captors, not only fought and defeated them, but knowing that there was no escape despite their temporally victory, they collectively plunged themselves into the sea and sunk deep down.
In case you believe I just told you a fairy tale, go and read up the details. Most of the story was written by the white man. It is there available.
The Igbo tribe is the only people in human history known to have carried out such an escapade. VDM! Did you know why Igbo slaves were the cheapest at that time? Simple! They were the ones that questioned the orders of their masters and in many cases, refused to carry them out, choosing punishment or even death as a result.
So, for the slave merchants, whenever the products on sale were Igbo, they were sold last as cheap commodities, some as giveaways. Yes! As gbanjo! Why? Oyibo wanted those who could work without question with minimal resistance and Igbo slaves were not with those qualities. To them, resistance was bad for business and the Igbo spelled resistance and therefore, bad business.
What are we even talking about? Certainly, you’re not born during the war. But you could ask your parents to tell you. Look at that war? Is it not enough example to indicate who Ndigbo really are? This was a dot in the circle, as Buhari once described them – a group of people on a tiny space in Nigeria. But look at how they were able to hold on.
Within that tiny enclave came enough resistance, enough resilience and enough power that contained the combined fire power from entire Nigeria with Egypt, UK, US and Russia providing all the supports they could muster. Who else is capable of doing so?
Som, you talk about Obi Cubana when there is no stake that requires the collective Igbo spirit. That is when such characters matter in the scheme of things.
In the instant case Ndigbo have identified Peter Obi as the go-man and there is no going back. What will surprise you is that the choice of Obi, has very little to do with tribal thinking. It has more to do with the larger picture before them. In that picture, Tinubu doesn’t count.
The way things stand today, go and get 10 more Obi Cubanas, add 20 Charles Chukwuma Soludos and 50 more South East governors and combine them, Tinubu will not get 10,000 votes in the entire South East in 2027. I’m not exaggerating! From where will he get it? Who would do the voting and what would be the person’s convictions?
Yes! If you want to the Tinubu capable of competing with Obi in Igboland, then go and get the Tinubu of 2003-2007 or even Tinubu of 2014. That’s the Tinubu they will identify with and not the Tinubu that has been tainted and inherited the Buhari spirit. As I said, it has very little to do with tribe. Tribal politics means very little to the Igbo man.
In fact, to prove this, put a Yemi Osinbajo on the ballot today and see how the Igbo will react to him. He’s a Yoruba man. He has even worked with Buhari. But put him on the ballot and see Obi struggling to beat him in the South east.
So, don’t worry yourself VDM. You saw what happened to Soludo during the inauguration of the Nnewi Catholic Church Cathedral when Obi’s name was mentioned. Is it such people that you’re going to tell to vote for Tinubu. Soludo cannot even convince his own siblings or his household to join him in that odious project, no matter what he uses.
In fact, the mistake the APC and those engaging in this lost project are making today is the same NPN made ahead of the 1983 election when they believed that bringing back the late Ikemba Nnewi Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu would swing the Igbo votes for them. They wanted to ride on the wings of Ojukwu’s war record. But it was a futile attempt.
In the same vein, relying on that playbook in 2027 will backfire. In fact, go and bring out Nnamdi Kanu today – he is about one of the most popular Igbo currently – stand him on a podium and let him make a positive comment on Tinubu, let alone a suggestion that Ndigbo should vote for him and witness how everything about him crumbles.
I repeat, if Tinubu is able to garner up 10,000 votes in Igbo land, it will be a miracle! So, the only option available is toeing the rigging templates that NPN resorted to, which gave them the infamous landslide victories of 1983 and we all saw how that ended. As for organic votes of Ndigbo, that one is a no-go area.
Even Obi Cubana knows that much. He’s aware that even that young boy he started business for or the young girl he saw through school would disappoint him on election day if it comes to a choice between Obi and Tinubu.
Ndigbo have rejected the Jagaban the same way they rejected Buhari. So, the acquiescence of Obi Cubana in that wacky project, is purely a business decision. Of what use would it be to waste his resources or jeopardise his business for something he knows won’t bear any fruit?
It is not that he is dealing with an Obafemi Awolowo or Lateef Jakande government that favour physical development and economic enhancement over politics. Those in charge today, will think nothing of it to send bulldozers to level down the Cubana Nightclub at GRA Ikeja overnight if it comes to that. They’re that vicious. They’ve done worse than that already.
All it will take is to remind him that he is Igbo and accuse him of trying to take over Lagos or find any other flimsy or convenient excuse to latch on. Whether it makes any sense or not is another kettle of fish altogether. A mindset that decided to change all streets bearing Igbo names overnight, regardless of the history behind them, what will it take them to destroy that imposing structure and forget the revenue and other important purposes it serves.
They’re that desperate. Afterall, haven’t they started with the same Cubana in Abuja? That was a test-run to show him that they mean business.
So, VDM, instead of disappointment or disgust, let us show pity to our brother, Obi Cubana! What is greater than the cricket has visited it in its hole. Even Peter Obi will not encourage him to be too reckless with his choices knowing the consequences.
If it is about Igbo votes, forget about that one.
Obi Cubana’s attempt will be as effective as the fingernails of the lizard on the trunk of an iroko tree. Recall that Ojukwu contested presidency twice, without making any impact. That the late Ikemba could be given such a cold shoulder despite his gripping influence on Ndigbo, is an indication of how the Igbo man thinks.
As for an Igboman becoming President. The possibility has already been proven. Obi won the 2023 election with wide margin across the country. But for the machinations of Yakubu Mahmoud’s INEC with their technical glitches, he would be President today.
He will win again, ceteris paribus. In fact, if he secured 90 per cent in South East in 2023, expect him to up the stakes to 99 per cent in 2027. Not with the disaster Tinubu and his government have become.The only option the APC will have even with 10 Obi Cubanas and 50 Soludos is to rig the election like the NPN did. And that will be a national problem.
So, VDM, where your job is cut out for you. That job is not the South East. That one is sealed. You should be talking about the entire country. Mobilise 50 million Nigerians to storm the National Assembly next week. Get them to make it mandatory for the INEC to transmit election results into the IReV as part of the new electoral law for 2027.
After that, go and take a good rest. Even go on holidays with that your babe – satisfied that you’ve delivered – you’ve given Nigeria a secure process for free and fair election. That way, before the noon on election day, Peter Obi, an Igbo man will be declared the President-elect and on April 29, 2027 Tinubu’s disastrous government will come to an end.
Of course, that feat will not be achieved by the thumbprints of Ndigbo alone! Hausa, Yoruba, Efik, Edo, Nupe, Gbagi, Kanuri, Igbira, Tiv, Ijaw, Ogoni – Nigeria will have theirs in it. That way, Nigeria is set for the future and your decade-long advocacy for the good of Nigerians will have meaning.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
By Sunny Igboanugo
When AKACHAAM, the man whose video went viral a few weeks ago for giving up Christianity on account of the poor treatment he believed the Catholic Archdiocese of Nnewi, gave Ifeanyi Uba, the late Senator representing Anambra South at the National Assembly, he was sending a message!
The jury is still out on the propriety of his choices and style. But certainly not confused about that message! He was pointing out what he considered a major flaw – the lack of empathy and compassion by the leadership of the Church!
How could the Church which opened its vault to receive proceeds from the late Senator, ignore him on the day of celebration – an event that was marked with plenty tributes and recognitions – without sparing a thought for the man, he claimed to have contributed more than 80 per cent to the building of that edifice – the raison d’etre for the celebration?
I watched the subsequent interviews of the same man where he gave further details to support his action. I heard him complain that if the Bishop of the cathedral had not recognised anyone in person as it was supposed to be in church business, he would not have acted the way he did.
But in a situation where he – his Lordship – recognised other people and their contributions lavishly and failed or – gave a scant recognition to Uba – only using the phrase – “also contributed” for the late Senator – was the end of the story for him.
Now, the question is, would His Lordship have acted in the same manner if the Senator was alive and sitting in that church as part of the audience during that ceremony?
The answer is blowing in the wind. But what cannot be left so-floating is the underlining issue – compassion or lack of it as it concerns the church – in this case – the Catholic! If you like, add hypocrisy or even wickedness.
That brings me to the issue leading to this long turenci – the dog-fight between the same Catholic Church and residents of a property in Onitsha. I woke up this morning being confronted with it immediately I opened my Facebook page.
Here, the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha is intent on evicting a slew of residents from a property it claimed to have bought in the commercial city for the residency of students of a university it owns and runs.
Now I have not read from the other side – that is – the affected residents. I’m relying solely on the account of the church as well-delivered by their lawyers. From what I could glean, the tenants are resisting the move. That is enough for me to take sides.
Unequivocally and without mincing words, I declare my sympathy and empathy with those residents. I don’t even have to hear their side before becoming seized of their matter. Why? Simple! I know what that move by the church means. I know what it entails for both sides. If you do not, just visit any magistrate court and hear the cases of landlords and tenants.
Now, by my donating my support to the residents, did I say, or suggest that the church is not on its rights legally-speaking? No! On the contrary, on that score, the church is spot-on. It is right in building a university as a means of educating the society and it is right to provide convenience by way of accommodation for the students of the institution, using its own facility.
But is the church right in evicting residents from their abode in the present Nigeria? That is where the matter is stuck in my throat? Mind you, some of the concerned residents could even be members of the church and could have contributed to the building of the said university.
The Archbishop or the priests, could even have zero monetary contribution to the university. Yet, they will be the ones pressing for the eviction of those with whose money the institution was built. Now how does this relate? Irony, did I hear you say?
But that is actually not at the heart of the matter. What is, is the larger implication for those tenants in the said buildings the Church is trying to repossess by their eviction. What is their fate? Where will they go?
Reading the well-laid, well-tailored account of the lawyer to the Church, it is not difficult to deduce his recourse to the law. Everything is clear – signed and sealed – six months quit notice for yearly tenants – ticked – seven days after the expiration – ticked – the next thing – the law – OUT – QUIT! That is the law!
Certainly, only few could miss the impersonal tinge of the lawyer in advancing the position of the church – using the handy instrument – THE LAW. Naturally, lawyers are supposed to be impersonal.
If not, how are they going to evict a widow from the only land left for her by the husband, just because a big man paid them to do so? Were lawyers not responsible for throwing Nigeria into the dark abyss it is today by defending those who stole the 2023 elections? So, yes! The law. It must be obeyed! Else, “society will be in chaos!”
But then, the question! What would Jesus Christ do in the same situation? Since the issue is not about the old retiree who needs the proceeds of those buildings to sustain his life, having been denied of his pension – we are talking about The Church – the body of Christ – is that the way to go?
Would Christ throw those out without caring where they would go because the law permits it? Don’t forget, the law of the Jews permitted them to stone Mary Magdalene to death for the sin of adultery? But did Christ permit it? So, don’t talk law to me, talk Christianity and Christ, since we’re talking about The Church – Christ’s Body. What would Christ do here?
Now, did you know that it is the prayer-point of many of your compatriots never to be remembered by their Nigerian landlords? Did you know the cost of renting a new apartment anywhere in Nigeria? Did you know that as an old tenant you were in earthly kingdom if you were not harassed by your landlord with quit notices or threats of them? Did you know some of the tenants, left without options, could be village-bound as a result? Is that the Church?
Yes! The Church has done well to build a university, even if, as usual, many of the contributors to such projects might not be able to access them. It is also the remit of the church to provide for the students. But is it right for the church to throw out struggling Nigerians into the street to do so?
These questions become even more relevant when the university project is not charity as in the days of old but purely commercial. Did I hear you shout – Money! Again, the question – What would Christ do?
Now, before you began to grumble – cast and bound, hear this. Yours truly is a Catholic – in a “State of Grace” – meaning a Communion-receiving Catholic. Yet, I ask!
What then should the Church do? Direct answer – buy a virgin land, construct hostels and get your students move in. Else, rent virgin buildings – there are many of them around. Don’t throw those residents into the streets. Yes! You have the law, but you are constrained by the bigger law – CHRIST – which is LOVE!
Now folks, before you wonder what this rant is all about, take time to read the below! May God give us the discerning spirit! IJN – Amen!
37 LIMCA ROAD NKPOR: FALLACIES v HARD FACTS.
The social media denizens have been inundated in recent days with blatant lies, half-truths,vile propaganda and outright blackmail against the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha by suborned individuals of other faiths, masquerading as Catholics.
The central message of these individuals is that the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha is chasing them away from their flats which, according to them, they have been occupying for ages. Now, let these propagandists know this and know peace:
1. No 37 Limca Road Onitsha, comprising 4 buildings,is the property of Igwe Okonkwo- Etusi of Eziowelle,a Knight of the Catholic Church .
2. As part of his support for the nascent Shanahan University, the said Igwe invited the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha to lease the property and use same as Hostels for the teeming and bourgeoning student population of Shanahan University owned by the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha .
3. For valuable consideration, a Deed of Lease was executed in August 2025, between Igwe Okonkwo-Etusi as Lessor and the Registered Trustee of the Roman Catholic Mission of the Archdiocese of Onitsha as Lessee.
4. The tenants were duly issued 6 months notices to quit and deliver up possession as required by law, which notices will expire 31st March 2026. In this connection , Barr Azubike Anazor was appointed by the said Igwe Okonkwo- Etusi as his solicitor in respect of the said Estate with full powers which include power to eject existing tenants from the buildings .
5. The rents paid to Igwe Okonkwo- Etusi expired since December 2025, yet the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha is not ejecting them and will not eject them until the expiry of the statutory notices, after which 7 days notices of owner’s intention to apply to court for possession will be issued.
6. It was an essential part of the Lease Agreement that a signpost should be mounted on the Estate indicating the use of the property as Hostels and Igwe Okonkwo- Etusi Estate name visibly added.
7. The said signpost was mounted on Tuesday,27/1/26 but some tenants of other denominations pulled it down, vandalized and defaced same. 8.
A written petition was forwarded to Ogidi Police Station whose men visited the site and invited the Estate Chairman to station this Monday morning.
9. People are advised to discountenance whatever lies they are being fed by certain individuals bent on frustrating the successful take-off and blossoming of Shanahan University. We know them and their ill-fated motives. Let them be assured that they can never succeed in this plot.
10. We are determined to protect and defend the rights and interests of the Church and will not give in to false propaganda and outright blackmail.
Barr Azubike Anazor , KSJI.
Counsel and Solicitor to the Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha
Compatriots, come, let’s reason together. You know one of the biggest diseases this country is cursed with today is hypocrisy. It is a major malaise that has not only afflicted the people at every level, but eaten deep into their hearts and souls at any given time.
This obviously debilitating condition, is the reason Nigeria is currently in its sorry state today. Nowhere is this quite demonstrably evident than the political field. I will give you an apt example to adumbrate my position.
Without the disease of hypocrisy, Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not have been President today and Nigeria would have been saved the nightmare that his coming into power has inflicted on the populace.
I’ll explain. Throughout the events culminated to the disastrous 2023 presidential election, the burning issue around the vortex of that exercise was zoning. This was the factor around which Nyesom Wike, leading the G-5 – group of five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members – anchored his agitation.
Many chieftains of the PDP, especially from Southern Nigeria, sang it like a credo that it was the turn of the region to produce the next President after Muhammadu Buhari, a Northerner. In fact, it was the Governors from the South that began the agitation, culminating in the Asaba Declaration.
But see where it got quite interesting. Majority of these chieftains trumpeting the refrain equity, justice and fair-play would always stop half-way. For instance, it was the same Wike that shouted his voice hoarse about equity in the PDP, that tipped the presidential election in Rivers in favour of Tinubu instead of Peter Obi, the only Igbo candidate in that election.
Is it that the self-same Wike did not know that the justice, equity and fair-play of the 2023 presidential election was that a Peter Obi from the South East, deserved that position more, given the political trajectory in Nigeria?
Throughout that time and even now, I stretched my antenna to the numerous interviews granted by Bode George, as he waxed the morality of the argument like a gospel singer. But in all, he would always stopped at the mantra that it was the turn of the South without extending the issue to the other leg of the argument – Ndigbo.
How else would anyone describe it? Even the Atiku Abubakar, who they directed all their arrows could not help but fire back at their hypocrisy when he told the world that had the PDP ticket been zoned to the South East, he wouldn’t have contested.
Now, to the music playing today. Aren’t you hearing the same lyrics as you did in the months and days before 2023? Doesn’t it capture the same subterfuge, half-truths and outright lies? Aren’t you seeing the same actors as well?
They trumpet it to your ear the unwritten political tradition made it mandatory the that the presidency must remain in the South, but lack the same moral suasion to underscore that the same arrangement also makes it mandatory that it must also rotate around the three zones with the area that has not produced, having the first choice of refusal – in this case – the South East.
Hear this: “In recent time, some groups have introduced aggression and rambunctiousness into a fledgling cooperation, and collaboration, of all. How can a coalition work if some groups, insist they must produce the top ticket by donation, and coronation, without election or persuasion? Why unleash tantrums and expletives on one another as if one group can win National elections without the others?
“This is why, and when, ADC must rise up and enforce discipline before it is too late. This was how NYESOM WIKE held PDP by the jugular till it became too late to be dislodged or expelled. ADC should be a party of love and not a Fuji house of commotion…”
This was Dele Momodu. You know the people he is tagging as aggressive and rambunctious? The Obidient Movement! You know why? In recent times, this group have become quite loud in demanding that Peter Obi, their principal should never accept the vice-presidential slot to Atiku Abubakar in the ADC coalition arrangement.
They insist that Obi should settle for nothing outside the presidential ticket. This of course, has unsettled people like Bob D, who believe that the former Governor of Anambra State should play the second fiddle to the former VP, not because the latter is fitter and would do a better job, but for purely personal reasons of advancing their individual interest at the end of the day.
Now, it is not that brother Dele doesn’t understand the issues behind the agitation of these people. Sure, he does. He knows that the Obidient Movement is not afraid about Obi squaring up to Atiku for the ADC ticket if the process would be free, fair and democratic. But would it be?
Could Bob D swear he was not aware that many delegates to the PDP primaries in 2022 where Atiku eventually picked the ticket went home with as much as $50,000. Is he not aware that it was for the same reason that Obi pulled out of the PDP contest – that it was because he swore that he would not buy votes of the delegates – that he pitched his tent with the Labour Party eventually?
Would Dele Momodu swear with his conscience and all that is good in him that he’s not aware that Obi won the 2023 presidential election above Atiku, his principal and that – give or take – Obi towers above the ex-VP in terms of organic votes in today’s Nigeria?
Sure, he does. More so, is he saying he’s unaware that much of the suffering Nigerians are undergoing today is traceable to Atiku’s stiff-necked intransigence to drag what doesn’t belong to him. Again, he sure does. But he’s got a job to do!
But hear him blaming Wike, for the ugly fate of the PDP, instead of Atiku – for usurping the slot of the South. He forgets that the same slot donated to him exclusively in 2019 by the same party. What a barefaced hypocrisy!
Today, he carries the same duplicity to the ADC and pretends that Nigerians are fools. Now, when brother Dele, tells you that Atiku is the only one that could match Tinubu, ask him what he really means. Is it that the ex-VP would rely on credible votes of the people? Whosai! What he really means is contrived votes through corruption of the institutions – bribe INEC, bribe the judiciary and commandeer security.
Pray, is this what Nigerians want? What difference does it make if Atiku cheats the system to emerge President? Isn’t it akin to selling the monkey and buying a dog – thereby retaining a squatting animal in your house?
No, Bob D! Nigerians are clamouring for a complete break from this system of climbing to power on a staircase of stashes of cash. They want a President that has their mandate. That is what they see in Obi. It is only him that will give them that clean break. That is the reason for their agitation.
Dele Momodu deceives nobody when he cries democracy. The discipline here is to end cash-induced politics. Therefore, if anyone should be called to order, it’s the people that insist that Nigeria must continue on the road to Golgotha.
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