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SEDC, Nnamdi Kanu: Has Tinubu appeased Ndigbo?
On the night of Thursday, July 25, 2024, Benjamin Kanu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, was the guest of Prime Time, a public affairs programme on Arise News Television. From beginning to the end of that programme, I continued to twist and flinch as each word he spewed hit me like a sharp point of needle being poked on my body.
As a journalist myself, I could put myself in the shoes of Constance Ikokwu, the anchor of the programme at that point. An Igbo herself, she must have been struggling to maintain a balance between professionalism and the fact of her ethnic reality, during that engagement. Indeed, she must have been in a fix, as it were. I would have been myself.
The Deputy Speaker, the brain behind the enactment of the Act for the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC), by the National Assembly, which President Bola Tinubu signed into law, two days earlier, was actually in a triumphant, celebratory mood. He had projected the feat as the coming of uhuru for Ndigbo, describing it as the demonstration of the love the President has for the Igbo people.
Anyone would cut him a slack for feeling on top of the moon by achieving the feat and succeeding where others had failed previously. I would. But the matter got quite bemusing from there when he began to give the impression that the gesture was all Ndigbo needed to turn 360 degrees in their feelings for Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In the first place, the creation of the SEDC, is not exclusive to Ndigbo. Before it, there have been similar bodies like it across other zones in the country. In fact, on the same day Tinubu was signing the document, he also did so for the North West Development Commission (NWDC). Before that, there was the North East Development Commission (NEDC), created under former President Muhammadu Buhari and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), for the oil-bearing areas of Nigeria, mostly concentrated in the South South zone.
So, what’s the hype? Was it that Ndigbo, had now been singled out for a special treatment, or the fact that they were finally given what others had enjoyed for years? What’s there enough to roll out the drums? That’s one of the questions I had expected the beautiful anchor to put to her guest. I had also expected her to raise the issue of the general mistreatment of Ndigbo since the APC got into office in 2015, which Tinubu had virtually taken to a new level.
I had expected her to ask the DS if he felt comfortable that a mere Deputy Speaker, would be the highest position Ndigbo, the third leg of the Nigerian tripod, was entitled to in Nigeria and if he was comfortable being the one that would now speaking in place of the likes of Zik of Africa, the late Owelle of Onitsha, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe, Akweke Abyssinia Nwafor Orizu, who represented the Igbo faces and voices in the First Republic.
Even after the civil war, regardless they were a defeated people, Nigeria, in apparent recognition of the place of Ndigbo in Nigeria’s history still had the presence of mind to secure a pride of place for them. That was how the likes of the Alex Ekwueme, and Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, Vice President and Speaker of the House of Representatives, respectively, emerged among other prominent positions, in the Second Republic.
Come to a more recent times, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the next full civilian rule, Ndigbo were still not left out. The likes of Chuba Okadigbo, et al as Senate Presidents, Vincent Ogbulafor, National Chairman, Ojo Maduekwe, National Secretary, Pius Anyim Pius Anyim, Senate President and later Secretary of Government of the Federation (SGF), were in the first 11 of the Nigerian structural team, while the duos of Ike Ekweremadu and Emeka Ihedioha, Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker of the House or Representatives, held forte at the National Assembly.
Down the ladder, Ndigbo were never left to warm the bench either or reduced to mere spectators. In fact, they were the major strikers, with the likes of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, Osita Ogbu, Ernest Ndukwe, et al. They were not only reputed to be the main drivers of the Nigerian economy, but majorly the face of Nigeria in the international arena as well.
That was until the coming of Buhari, who changed everything. Nobody knows how much sleepless nights he suffered during this period when Ndigbo was doing their exploits. In his private moments, he would have thought, Ndigbo of all people! Imagine an Igbo man becoming Chief of Army Staff before his eyes. A people he conquered! Unthinkable! That must have accounted for the vehemence with which he released his venom on them in his eight-year full onslaught, as accentuated by his “97-5 per” cent model, that saw him not only fully excluding them in appointments, but allowing their homeland descend into the worst security situation since the civil war.
Yes! Kalu, the Deputy Speaker was right. Tinubu was actually chummy with Ndigbo. Throughout his eight years as governor of Lagos State, Igbo people featured prominently both in his government and, or politics, officially and privately. All these changed when he met Buhari and got infected by the Buhari phenomenal disdain and outright hatred for them. Since then, he has taken it to an all high. At the APC, demeaning the Igbo man has remained a major party policy ever since – Organising – Treasurer and other trivial positions are all they now get in a so-called national party.
I wonder if the Deputy Speaker was aware that the same Tinubu recently made a whole 16 appointments without a single Igbo man. It happened just a few days before his Arise TV appearance. There is a saying that whoever wants to stop a fight must start when fingers are being pointed. Tinubu has since passed that stage to a point of trying to wrestle down Ndigbo, a task, which will naturally be as futile as it was with Buhari and others who had tried.
But one of the most interesting nuances of the whole Thursday encounter was the angle of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. Incidentally the DS is representing Bende Federal Constituency, home to the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). Introducing the Kanu narrative, he described his encounter with him during a recent visit at the facility of the Department of State Services (DSS), where he has been in detention since July, 2021. The coming of the SEDC, was major during the parley.
Hear him: “One of the things he told me was I like The Peace in the South East Project that the President came and flagged off. He sent the Vice President to flag it off in Bende on the 29th of December, 2023. He said the eight thematic areas of that peace in the South East, I like them. If I’m released from this incarceration, I’ll be in the forefront of projecting the eight thematic peaceful agenda of peace in the South East project.
“When a man starts talking like that, the followers will also talk in that manner. He’s no longer talking violence. He’s no longer talking conflict, he’s no longer talking agitation, he’s talking how do we use peace as a vehicle to heal our land. I saw him and I saw in him a man who wants peace.
“I saw a man, who was impressed that we’re taking steps towards rebuilding the zone. And I assured him that this President that I know will assent to this South East Development Commission. He told me one thing – he said – if this man signs this bill into law, it means that he truly loves South East. He told me he would lead the support for the President.”
I’ve since heard many people, practically scoffing at the intriguing revelation. Not a few believe the IPOB boss they know could not capitulate so easily. I have no way of knowing the truth until I hear from him. Regardless, assuming the report is true, and indeed the move is a sort of a tradeoff or a pitch to use the freedom of Kanu to endear APC to Ndigbo for Tinubu’s political benefit, it is most likely dead on arrival.
The only way the APC could win election in any part of Igbo land today is via state capture – such as has remained their template over the years. Even the DS himself may not be able to swear to Kamanu that he did not travel that route to power. In fact, the very first utterance from Kanu in support of Tinubu, as things are today between him and Ndigbo would put an end to his deification even from his close allies. Like the proverbial god that begins to misbehave, Ndigbo will simply show him the tree from which he was carved.
I don’t need go far to cite examples. The scenery around the late Ikemba Nnewi, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, when he returned to Nigeria, in 1982, may never be replicated in the history of Ndigbo. The crowd that welcomed him on May 18, of that year, and at the welcome party in various cities, could actually make it to the Guinness World Record (GWR), as the hugest in history. Everywhere he went showcased similar enthusiasm. Ndigbo closed their shops, while people struggled to have a sight of him. Even the late Osita Osadebe, historic highlife maestro, waxed a special record to welcome him back. Such was his popularity.
Then, he did the unthinkable. He joined the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). The ruling party, must have banked on him to garner all Igbo votes. Many even swore that it was the deal ab initio, from his abode in Ivory Coast, where he was on exile after the failure of the Biafran effort. But whatever dividend they had hoped went with the wind. Ndigbo simply did the needful. He could not even win a senatorial election against Edwin Onwudiwe, a lowly commissioner in his home Anambra State on the platform of the ruling party.
As alternative, the Igbo NPN chieftains, who had made the gamble, actually had to use other means as counter, such as employed in the eventual capture Anambra State from the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) of the late Owelle of Onitsha, Nnamdi Azikiwe. Till date, the way the NPN, wrenched away power from Jim Nwobodo in favour of Christian Chukwuma Onoh, remains one of the demonstrable examples the impunity and the audacious nature of the use of political power responsible for not only the vulnerability democracy in Africa, Nigeria inclusive.
To further adumbrate the point of the futility of the IPOB boss for political purposes, I will also cite a more recent case of Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK). Incidentally it was under him that the DS cut his political teeth. Perhaps he would know. In his early days as Governor of Abia State, OUK was a phenomenon in the South East. At a point, he became the most virulent voice of Ndigbo for his audacious and daring courage in speaking out for them and was already being primed as the next authentic Igbo leader. I remember a former governor and one of his contemporaries, with whom I had a private dinner at that time practically gushing with envy at Kanu’s exploits and popularity.
Who else was there at the Cinema Hall of Hotel Presidential, Enugu, when Kanu addressed Ndigbo in Nigeria and the diasporas, as a keynote speaker during the 2001 World Igbo Day? I recall the crowd that spilled beyond the huge hall to the veranda as much of the crowd practically pressed their ears to the wall to hear him speak. It was the picture I gleaned from the depiction of the scenario at Virginia Assembly, USA, on March 23, 1775, where Patrick Henry, gave that historic speech – Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death. History had it that so inspiring was it that one of the listeners pled in his will that he be buried at the exact spot where he stood to listen to it, which was granted at his death. Such was OUK at that time.
Then, like the butterfly thinking itself a bird, he made that blunder the day he offered an official apology to Nigeria on behalf of Ndigbo for engaging in the civil war. He never recovered from the backlash of that particular political hara-kiri, which eclipsed the bright political profile. Today, Mmiririenyi, having been reduced in weight and size, is no a shadow of himself.
To worsen the matter, his most recent fixation these days, seems some attempts to turn the edge of his political dagger against the same Igbo people, perhaps in a sort of vengeance to cut his pound of flesh, as could be seen in his professed love for Buhari, at a time he was actually flogging Ndigbo with his biblical snakes and scorpions.
Now, what am I labouring to say? If that outing by the DS is an attempt to sell either APC or Tinubu to the South East, it would be akin to repeating the NPN gambit. I totally agree with the top lawmaker that the release of Kanu might be the solution to the massive insecurity in the South East currently. Yes! It is capable of putting a face to the perpetrators of the various crimes. At the moment, IPOB is being blamed for everything, including a man’s failure to get erection or inability to impregnate his wife. It appears every crime in the area today is virtually an open and shut case as they are conveniently labelled with the IPOB tag and thrown into the trashcan.
I therefore fully support his push for Tinubu to order Kanu’s release. But that is where it ought to stop. They say, you have to be close to someone to perceive smell of his body. Luckily, the DS seems to be among those who have access to Tinubu. He sees the SEDC Act as a gamechanger. I wonder why he seems not to be seeing the fact that it is actually Buhari and not Tinubu that is still holding Kanu and could only be released if he says so.
Yes! Tinubu, could actually order the release, but it would be at the displeasure of his predecessor, who had to break the banks to ensure that the IPOB boss was brought back to Nigeria. Yes! There are a million reasons he ought to have regained his freedom like the others like him in other parts of the country. But to Buhari, Ndigbo are not like other Nigerians. Would Tinubu elect to offend him, just yet? Could he risk it? Perhaps the DS has a genie he could spring from the magic lamp to achieve that feat. I support him wholeheartedly to give it a trial. But to make Tinubu smell roses in the South East? That’s a different kettle of fish.
I like his enthusiasm and his emphatic declaration, when like Michelangelo’s flourish, he said: “Watch what will happen in the South East. With the beautiful step the President has taken, a lot of things will start coming down.” Such enthusiasm! We wait!
My name is Sunny Igboanugu, I’m The Tiny Voice!
I bet you didn’t know Abike Dabiri. Two factors will make this possible. Either you were not around in Nigeria in the golden era of our Nigerian television girls – the era when being a regular face on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) gave you the golden key to open all doors – or you were somewhere in the villages very far and distant from civilization – many of us were – that included not having access to the television.
O! You didn’t know? You didn’t know a time was in this clime when seeing a television screen from a distance, was one of the biggest privileges one could get let alone watching it – that people clustered at the windows of homes with television sets to catch a glimpse of Village Headmaster, for instance.
You’re carrying shoulders because you probably met the time when carrying a Blackberry phone was all you needed to get that fine babe behind your sheets! Today, you thought that because you could now watch your matches on your phone – I watched all the AFCON matches on my phone, being on the road most times – there was no time men had to climb walls to turn television antennas to get some appreciable pictures. Chai! This changing world.
Bet you didn’t hear about Bimbo Roberts – later Bimbo Oloyede, Julie Coker and later Augusta Maduegbuna, Elizabeth Nze, Sienne Alwell-Brown, Ruth Benamesia-Opia, Eugenia Abu, Ronke Ayuba, Kehinde Young-Harry, Lola Alakija, in no particular order. No! You wouldn’t if you were not that privileged in the 1980s and even 1990s. They were the glamour of that era.
Glamour? Not in the sense of beauty – but glamour, because television made them so. For indeed, some of these television faces, were not that glamourous.
But beauty or no, Abike Dabiri was one of the discoveries of that era. Obviously not in competition with these others who were the newscasters on NTA News At Nine, she actually carved a niche for herself elsewhere on Newsline – the soft-sell edition of the station’s news programme aired every Sunday.
Abike Dabiri was a toast of that programme. She was a reporter’s reporter – traversing beyond the seven seas and seven wildernesses to bring to Nigerians those rare stories that either made Nigerians laugh their hearts out or cry their eyes out – a doyenne of human-interest reporting.
Then, suddenly – suddenly – suddenly – the serpent came with the forbidden fruit – the temptation of higher ground – the allure of high office – Tinubu’s tainted chalice that comes like glittering ornament but with hollow and rotten underbelly. She took, she ate and now everything scatter-scatter. Our dear Abike Dabiri accepted and ate the sour grape and now her teeth are set on edge! What a pity!
The breeze has blown to uncover the romp of the hen. Before now, whoever believed that our dear Abike Dabiri farts. But we now know that Abike Dabiri-Erewa not only farts, but her fart smells badly. At first, no one noticed the degeneration.
The time she was at the House of Representatives, was the golden era of Tinubu. That was when the Jagaban Borgu was the governor of Lagos State. She glowed along by tapping from glittering appeal of the Lagos show boy!
At that time, Tinubu was generally holding the golden trophy adorned with the beautiful calligraphy of democracy in Nigeria. That was before he drank from the poisoned chalice of Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor by joining him in the hatred for the Igbo man – a phenomenon that becomes the nemesis of some Nigerian leaders – Buhari’s major insignia. Then the desperation! Then the degeneration! Now the albatross!
Now, whoever hates the Igbo and remains the same? None! That was what sealed Buhari’s fate. And surely the snake that bit that braindead archeological discovery – that museum piece – has definitely whipped Tinubu with its tail and the rest is now history. If not, compare a Tinubu as governor when he was all cozy with Ndigbo and now he has turned 360 degrees.
And as long as the darkness will give way to reveal the sun breaking from the East, the sting of the snake’s tail will reach everyone who toes that line. You know why, the dominant culture of the Igbo man is ofo n’ogu – justice, equity and fair-play! Have you watched an Igbo man pray with colanut.
He wakes up and with his cola in his hands, beckons on his chi with these words – ndu mmiri, ndu azu, mmiri atanaa, azu anwuna – the life of the river, the life of the fish – may the water not dry and may the fish not die! Egbe bere ugo bere, nke si ibeya ebena nku kwaa ya – let the kite perch and let the eagle perch – whichever says the other should not perch, may its wings whither. Which other people say the same or similar prayer elsewhere?
Now, because the kid-goat watches when the mother-goat is chewing the cud, hating the Igbo has become a fad among those who want to please Tinubu. Obviously, the totem through which this sentiment find expression is Peter Obi. He has become the tree standing by the roadside that receives the strokes of the machete. Obi has remained the hieroglyph for expressing real and imagined pro-Igbo angst.
So, in 2025, when Babajide Sanwo-Olu wanted to mend fences with Tinubu, after allegedly falling out of favour with his boss, he launched an unprovoked attack on Obi, using the latter’s Johns Hopkins University lecture as a pad. Reno Omokri, has since made himself Minister of Peter Obi Affairs. Daniel Bwala, Femi Fani-Kayode et al along this line never end a line without Obi getting a slash of their machete.
Enter our dear Abike Dabiri-Erewa. The little birds flying around whistle that her tenure as Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiCOM) is coming to an end and she is eying a renewal or another job from the Jagaban. How else to go about it than the low-hanging fruit? – Peter Obi.
From nowhere, on Sunday, the media were suffused with the screaming headline – “Peter Obi has actually raised monsters.” As it were with syndicated stories, each of the medium used to transport the outing carried the same headline – well crafted – of course, using her journalism skill to make maximum impact.
After rambling some clearly obtuse and incoherent words in form of reasoning, she ended up with even more brainless, imbecilic and asinine submission – by the time it is Igbo turn to produce Nigerian President, Obidents – followers of Obi – would have destroyed his chances. Me paraphrasing. Chai!
Now, aunty Abike, whose turn is it now? Isn’t already the turn of Ndigbo and the selfsame Obi? Isn’t it part of the argument that the seat your Jagaban is occupying was stolen from Ndigbo? So, you know that Ndigbo also have a stake to it? Yes! You know. But now you have eaten Tinubu’s palm nuts, see how your teeth have all turned red.
But Ndigbo have another way of invoking justice – ochu nwa-okuko nwe ada ma nwa-okuko nwe nwenwe-oso! I won’t explain. Find an Igbo staff at NiMCOM – if there is one – because I hear you hate them so much that finding one near you might be impossible. But even a cleaner in your office could help or better still – ask your spare parts seller. He’s sure to be Igbo!
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
Justice Centus Nweze was one of the seven S’Court justices that gave the judgement sacking Emeka Ihedioha and pronouncing Hope Uzodinma Governor of Imo State on January 14, 2020.
He later recanted when Ihedioha returned to the same court and declared that Uzodinma was no longer fit and proper to be governor – the only one out of the seven to hold a different view out of the seven-man panel in a dissenting judgement.
These were his exact words on March 3, 2020, with which he emphasised his position after disavowing his earlier position, to capture the impact and import of that event: “The decision of Nigeria’s Supreme Court on the Imo governorship election is wrong and will continue to haunt our (Nigeria’s) electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come.”
But, on Monday, February 6, 2023, Nweze himself, was to lead the same Supreme Court to give another highly controversial judgement – one – legal purists considered no less impactful and damaging to Nigeria’s legal jurisprudence.
It was the 3-2 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for Ahmad Lawan, former Senate President, to return to the Senate, despite being supposedly barred by an existing law forbidding politicians to contest for two different positions in an election circle.
Recall that Lawan, was one of the candidates that contested for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a few months earlier, which was eventually won by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, now President of Nigeria.
Many had practically laughed it off, dismissing him as a jester, when he returned with a fresh struggle for the Yobe North ticket for the Senate under the same APC.
But it turned out that the real joke was on these naysayer, who taunted, mocked and even pilloried the former Nigeria’s number three citizen, because in the end, he came out thumbing his chest and shinning his teeth in triumph.
Reason! On Monday, February 6, 2023, the Supreme Court practically wrenched the APC ticket from Bashir Machina, who had earlier picked it at the APC primaries months earlier and handed same over to Lawan.
Guess whom the mantle fell on to read the lead-judgement? The selfsame Nweze, who made the statement above. With two others in support, he went ahead to decapitate the decision of the Court of Appeal, which had earlier thrown into the thrash-can Lawan’s appeal to a Federal High Court decision slamming his claim to the ticket.
Interestingly, Lawan, seemed too ashamed to continue with the matter after the attempt at the appellate court collapsed. He had to hide under the umbrella of the APC, who appealed on his behalf to get the judgement at the apex court.
But you know what? On July 30, 2023, Centus Nweze, died! Just barely six months after the outing. He was just 64 – six years shy of age of retirement for Nigerian judges.
Now, the story. A little message-bearing-bird, squealed that the late eminent jurist didn’t die a happy man.
The establishment was said to have moved in to make him eat his words for stepping out of line in the Uzodinma case. The decision was supposed to be unanimous and giving a dissenting judgement was an affront – more like challenging the gods!
The Lawan outing was the height of teaching him a lesson on how to play ball next time. And play ball he did!
He was procured to read the lead judgement as a way to punish his impudence, underscore his vulnerability and prove where the real power laid.
An erudite scholar, judicial perfectionist and purist of the highest order, whose track record was known beyond the judicial circle, he not only became a wreck thereafter, and unable to live with his conscience, he apparently died a broken man.
Now, it is hard to authenticate this. Nweze is no longer alive to tell his story. But it all the same points as an indicator to the fact that a lot of water passes under the bridge in the nation’s high places, including the judiciary.
Were Nweze alive today, may be one day, in his memoir or other places, Nigeria could read the true story of what actually happened with Lawan, with powerful forces and with intimidation. But do we even need to go that far?
In which other country of the world has the homes of judges been burst open in the middle of the night – many still in their underpants or completely in their birthday suits?
In which other country, has the Chief Judge of the country suffered the fate meted out to Walter Onnoghen by the executive branch of government? Did we not see these with our own eyes?
Has Nigeria been the same ever since? So, if you looked around today and you didn’t find the Kayode Esos, Chukwudifu Oputas, Niki Tobis et al, who looked the military in the face and dispensed justice according to law, who do you blame?
Who is the culprit if the only people who you see are those who receive keys to mansions and sing lustfully – On Your Mandate We Shall Stand? Through where did water enter the coconut?
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
What was the offence that swept Adrew Cuomo out of office as former governor of New York? You don’t know? Okay, I’ll tell you. He was accused of touching women, including hugging them without their permission. That was considered inappropriate. Fiam! Out he went! That was the end of it.
But you know what? It is the culture of Italians, where Cuomo hails to grab people, embrace them and even kiss them as an expression of warmth and friendship – no string attached. But did that help his case? No! He was a politician, occupying a high position. And cuddling people – women or no – was inappropriate for such a position. And Cuomo doing so, it was not only fatal, it was final!
Now, there is a bigger example. What chased Boris Johnson out of office as Prime Minister of UK? You still don’t know? Again, here is the answer. First, he drank tea and shared a couple of drinks with his colleagues in government during COVID-19. Then the fatal blow – he appointed a cabinet Minister who had a case of abusing a woman.
O tan! Magana yakari! Okwu agwu! In both cases, the two apologised. But their apologies were not directed at retaining their offices. They were for their inappropriate behaviours. The apologies neither vitiated, mitigated, nor cured the consequences, prominent of which was loss of their individual jobs.
Now, imagine the selfsame Boris Johnson announcing the appointment of a dead man into his cabinet. What do you think would happen to him? But how many times has President Bola Tinubu announced the appointment of dead people for public institutions? How many times has he included the names of dead people for national awards as if they were living?
Again, imagine the fate of Cuomo, if he were the one who was caught in a private jet massaging the feet of a woman in such a cozy and lascivious manner as the one seen in a recent viral video? What do you think the American society would have done to him?
So, you hear Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, declaring on national television – with a chunk of global viewership that what stopped him from shooting and kpaying Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television is the barrier of the TV screen.
Outside that, if he had the way of breaking the screen, our dear Seun would have been resting somewhere in the morgue in Abuja or joining his ancestors in his home of Kwara State.
As you read this, some 72 hours after, he is still in office signing papers for land allocations and supervising the carving out of plots for new estates to emerge out of Jabi Lake precincts – an enclave sustained and maintained by successive governments as probably the only remaining arena for public recreation – in an entire nation’s capital city – to boot!
Surely, you’re hearing the ballyhoo, abi? Some people are even calling for his head! What a laugh! Calling for Wike’s head! In this Nigeria? People joke too much. If Wike is no longer the Wike we know – if he is stripped of his Odogwu power – who would take over and do what he does? Remember if it is not Panadol, it cannot be the same as Panadol.
Who would hold PDP down to ensure that Tinubu has no opposition in 2027? Who has the blank mind to sequester Rivers State the way he is doing such that Sim Fubara, Governor of Rivers state is not only a shadow of himself but a shadow of what his office should be? You people should think! Don’t just talk. What you’re demanding is impossible.
Now, don’t even imagine that it were the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK that said that he would shoot Piers Morgan of US Secretary of State that said he was so angry over a comment made by Andy Cooper that he would have shot him! Don’t even go there. The heavens would fall! On their head! Practically!
But surely, you must have read Wike’s response. If you didn’t, know it that he is blaming Nigerians as usual. He says the outrage by citizens is engineered by those doing a hatchet job, “as instrument of blackmail and propaganda by those whose intent is to misrepresent facts for political gains!”
Now, you could be sure that’s the end of the matter. Go wager on it anywhere. Nothing would come out of it. You would probably be hearing about it for the last time within some more few hours from now. Soon, another drama will overshadow it from the theatre house that has become Tinubu’s Nigeria. Just watch.
Come to think of it, who would speak or act in such a manner to check Wike or make him circumspect, wiser or more prudent with his utterances? Who is Wike afraid of? Who would he fear? Is it Tinubu, who himself is full of drama? Didn’t you see the sordid show he put up in Jos, Plateau, hours before Wike’s outing? What is the worth of Nigerians that would make Tinubu sacrifice Wike? That’s a joke!
Which other President across the sane world would instead of visiting the locus in quo – the scene of kpaying of 30 persons in his country – stop at an airport and ask for the victims to be brought to him? And if you took in his puerile explanation that he was pressed for time, ask him if Jos was an isolated case.
Was it not an encore of Benue, when he visited the state over the slaughtering of more than 200 people in Yelwata. Did he visit Yelwata? Did he not stop in Makurdi where he left the grieving people with some phantom and banal words, just like he did in Jos last week.
The only element that politicians are afraid of is election. That is why Cuomo suffered his fate in the US. The snake that bit Cuomo in the US was the same that whipped Cameron with its tail. The reason even Donald Trump is thrashing around frantically today is because the mid-term elections are around the corner and he knows the consequences of losing out.
But here, it is a different kettle of fish. It is either a Yakubu Mahmoud is there in INEC to create “technical glitches” to ingratiate and enable the patrons of grab, snatch and run-away brand or a Joash Amupitan is ensuring that his own INEC will make sure that the patron becomes a sole candidate in his own show.
In other climes, citizens wait to use the power of their thumbs to create the change they need, but here, that door is completely shut in their face. INEC and the judiciary will make sure of that. And might you think of a different approach – I’m sure you saw the bigger show at INEC headquarters last week. Those mint military machines you saw on display were not for fancy.
It is no longer guesswork that the Nigerian military has the best equipment around in this part of the world, the ability to use them more on the citizens than the terrorists for whom they were acquired have also been clearly proven on many occasions. You don’t need to go far to see the left overs. The evidence is there at Lekki Tollgate and other parts of the country.
So, head or tail, Wike stays. Of course, if you do anyhow, you see anyhow! Naturally, there is always a consolation. In the instant case, Lere Olayinka, Wike’s spokesman, told the world that Brother Seun and Wike have spoken on phone about the incident. If you fail to understand that aspect of the conversation a la Nigeria – na you sabi! The joke is on you!
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
NCDMB, Seplat firm up plans for take-off of Centre of Excellence at DELSU
NLNG concludes 2026 VIBES Pitch-a-Thon, disburses ₦250m in business grants
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