By Jude Ndukwe
In
his well published diatribe against the Igbo people of Nigeria, Joe Igbokwe,
the Publicity Secretary of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State
chapter, who is also a son of Igbo, poured invectives on the Igbo nation while
making spurious allegations against them. For those who know Igbokwe’s leanings
and past stance on national issues, his latest scurrilous attack on the great
people of the South Eastern part of Nigeria did not come as a surprise, the
only surprising thing is that this latest attack seem to come somehow awkwardly
late and too far apart given the man’s relentless and unrepentant penchant for
always attempting to ridicule Nigeria’s most resilient and enterprising people
in an essay full of contradictions, lame postulations and outright insults.
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| *Tinubu and Buhari |
His grouse is that,
according to him, the Igbo have refused to move on since after former president
Jonathan lost the last presidential election to the incumbent, Muhammadu
Buhari. In one fell swoop, he accused the Igbo of ethnic bigotry and still went
ahead to wonder why it is that the people of the South South region have since
moved on while their South Eastern brothers have refused to move on from that
election. If the Igbo were ethnic bigots, how would they be so concerned about
the loss of a Bayelsa man in an election to the extent that a certain Joe
Igbokwe is riled by their stoic and unwavering support to such a man even more
than a year after his loss?
Rather than paint the
Igbo in such uncomplimentary, yet, false light, Joe should turn his focus on
his principals and paymasters who are working tirelessly to continually divide Nigeria along ethnic and religious lines. When
the president of a country has officially divided his nation into two
political, ethnic and religious lines by the virtue of the “97% vs 5%”
declaration of no person less than the president himself, the Igbo view him as
one who does not mean well for the nation.
In this light,
the Igbo view Jonathan as a hero because, even though he is not Igbo, he would
never have made such a divisive and unpresidential statement not to talk of
acting it out. And as if to prove that declaration as an official policy of
his, President Buhari’s appointments have not been federal either in character
or in intent. To this extent, the Igbo view themselves as endangered species in
a nation that easily preaches one Nigeria but state actors do the exact
opposite. The president’s continued seclusion of certain parts of the country
from State offices and projects, if there is anyone at all, is what is
crippling Nigeria.
The cry of the Igbo, which the likes of Igbokwe have misinterpreted to serve
their own selfish purpose, is that Buhari should not crash the nation with his
own hands.
If anyone sees
this as ethnic bigotry, the person has urgent need for an optician and a
psychiatrist! With the level of poverty visited on us in Nigeria by the Buhari
administration, it is enough to make people like Igbokwe spew nonsense in the
name of criticism, and also makes it imperative for regular brain checks to be
part of such people’s daily menu. When armless and harmless Igbo embark on
peaceful rallies and the military shoot at them without provocation, killing
many in the process, not once, not twice, and hurriedly bury them in mass
shallow graves in military barracks and elsewhere in order to cover their evil,
Joe Igbokwe expects Ndigbo to applaud rather than criticize state actors for
their wickedness and insensitivity. Enough is enough!
