In a public statement recently, Senator
Arthur Nzeribe declared that Ndigbo are not ready to stake a claim for the
presidency of Nigeria in 2015. Among the reasons he advanced for this
dishonourable stance is lack of unity among Ndigbo and their inability to speak
with one voice.
It is disheartening that Senator
Nzeribe, who ought to know better, has allowed himself to be sold on this
preposterous argument, which is nothing but a cheap blackmail designed to cloak
the pervasive prejudice that has kept Ndigbo in the third class tier in the
politics of the Nigerian federation.
No Nigerian civilian president or prime
minister has ever launched himself to power on the springboard of ethnic unity
since the advent of the Nigerian state. By taking the position that he has
taken, Senator Nzeribe has demonstrated that he lacks any measure of grasp or
apprehension of central executive power politics this country. Having been a
participant in the political game, as Nzeribe clearly had been, does not confer
such understanding.
It is hard to resist drawing the
conclusion that Senator Nzeribe came to his erroneous and inflammatory
conclusion having been seduced, induced or deceived by personal and selfish
considerations rather than by considerations of what is in the best interests
of Ndigbo and indeed Nigeria in general. But it must be emphatically stated
that a hundred, a thousand, a million Arthur Nzeribe’s cannot and will not
break the Igbo spirit nor weaken the Igbo resolve.
If ethnic unity is the prerequisite for
aspiring to the presidency, as posited by Nzeribe, then the philosophy of Njiko
Igbo should come highly recommended to him. NJIKO IGBO is an organisation
dedicated to the struggle for the ascent of a citizen of Igbo extraction to the
presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2015. We are fully committed
to the security and peace of our nation, and to the comradeship of a common
justice for all Nigerians.
We are neither a political party nor
are we affiliated to one. Our primary mission is to enlighten and mobilise the
Igbo population, both at home and in the diaspora, to stand firm and united in
the pursuit of our collective goal. Our secondary duty is to connect with and
persuade the rest of the Nigerian population about the justice of our cause.
It is curious that this nation has been
in a quasi state of war for over two years but the voice of Nzeribe has been
silent. Ndigbo have been bombed and butchered in their places of worship and
business in some sections of this country by nihilistic Islamic fundamentalist
and yet the voice of Nzeribe has remained silent. The corpses of dozens of
young men who were clearly victims of extrajudicial executions were recently
plucked from Ezu River in Anambra State and yet Nzeribe did not call a press
conference to condemn it or demand answers from the Nigerian state. History has
no record of Nzeribe’s intervention either publicly or privately in the
organised anti-Igbo massacres in Kano in 1980, Maiduguri in 1982, Yola in 1984,
Gombe in 1985, Kaduna in 1986, Bauchi in 1991, Funtua in 1993, Kano in 1994,
Damboa in 2000 and the Apo 6 massacre in 2005. It is impossible therefore to
escape the question: what is really wrong with men like Senator Nzeribe, a
geriatric who, at the age of 74, still prefer to offend the sensibilities and
legitimate aspirations of decent people through shameless self-promoting
politics?
As Ndigbo continue to swim against the
tide of baseless suspicion, distrust and deep rooted prejudice in this country,
characters such as Senator Nzeribe bring unfortunate affirmation to the very
elements that negate the status of Ndigbo as legitimate citizens with
legitimate aspirations in their own country.
First and last, given his personal
history, Senator Arthur Nzeribe lacks any moral or legitimate standing to speak
for Ndigbo on either the 2015 question or any question whatsoever.
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