By CHARLES KAYE OKOYE
“Come to governance, Obasanjo ruled for 8 whole years. Before his coming to power, the southern seaports that benefitted the Igbos more were all working. Who shut down those seaports, and ensured that Igbos cleared their goods only in Lagos, and then transport their containers by road down to the east? Obasanjo! These Seaports remained in coma until Buhari came. Just last month, the biggest ever vessel to offload in any Nigerian seaport landed in Onne Seaport. Yet, the love of Ndigbo is still Obasanjo.”
Obasanjo knows how to remain “relevant'” in Nigeria. Many of us had thought that Buhari’s re-election would finally retire him from the public scene. But we obviously didn’t know Obasanjo. When he thinks that Nigerians are beginning to forget him, he writes a letter, and everything changes. He becomes the best thing that has happened to Nigeria.
His latest letter about a failing or is it a failed Nigeria has again brought him to limelight, and has endeared him to the hearts of many Nigerians again. And Ndigbo is not left out from the list of people dotting on our dear loving and lovable Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
I am however appalled at how any Igbo man could vote Obasanjo as “greater lover” of Ndigbo, and hinge this endorsement on the many appointments Obasanjo gave Ndigbo while in power.
I had seriously willed myself not to get involved at all in this debate, or should I rather say, endorsement of Obasanjo as a greater lover of Ndigbo than PMB.
Lol
Some people admitted that Obasanjo committed “atrocities” “wickedness” against Ndigbo in the past, especially, as a military man, but they have since forgiven him his sins because he gave us appointments while in power, and this is a demonstration of unequalled love for us. Lol
For simply criticizing Buhari, and pointing at South-east where there is “agitation” today, Obasanjo has suddenly become the greatest thing that has happened to Ndigbo.
Suddenly, we have forgotten the devilish role Obasanjo played toward what was nothing but an attempt to exterminate and annihilate the Igbo tribe…. something that saw the deaths of over 3 million Igbos, men, women and children.
That sin is forgiven today! Lol
There is currently agitation in Igbo land. Nnamdi Kanu may have created IPOB which dwarfed all other pro Biafran groups. But we used to have strong MOVEMENT for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MOSSOB). MOSSOB was formed by Uwazuruike, and it was to determine and secure self rule for the Old Biafra or the Igbos. Uwazuruike formed the group the same year Obasanjo came to power in 1999. And they had uncountable confrontations with the federal security agents, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Igbo youths. Okigwe, Orlu, Owerri, Aba, Onitsha, Enugu, mention them, the Nigerian military and police under Obasanjo wasted our youths, incarcerated many, including Uwazuruike, and many of the Igbos that were incarcerated never came back alive from prisons, just for belonging to MOSSOB. Yet, MOSSOB was not even as belligerent and daring as Nnamdi Kanu’s IPOB. Obasanjo never negotiated with the agitators nor treated them with kid gloves. But funny enough, Obasanjo would look to the South-east today, see the Biafran agitation, point at it as a pointer to a failing or failed nation. And you would think that the Igbos never agitated at all under Obasanjo.
Come to governance, Obasanjo ruled for 8 whole years. Before his coming to power, the southern seaports that benefitted the Igbos more were all working. Who shut down those seaports, and ensured that Igbos cleared their goods only in Lagos, and then transport their containers by road down to the east? Obasanjo! These Seaports remained in coma until Buhari came. Just last month, the biggest ever vessel to offload in any Nigerian seaport landed in Onne Seaport. Yet, the love of Ndigbo is still Obasanjo.
Obasanjo stayed 8 whole years in power, he never expanded a single federal road in the east. He never touched the Enugu-Port Harcourt road, not the Onitsha-Enugu road, nor the Aba-Owerri road. Yet, the greatest lover of Ndigbo is Obasanjo. He never dredged the River Niger; he never built the 2nd Niger Bridge, never gave light to Ndigbo, not water; he never attended to any of the thousands of the erosion menace that bedeviled the South-east, yet Obasanjo is the greatest lover of Ndigbo. What should I count, what should I ignore?
There used to be train, both local and express trains from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri; Port Harcourt to Kano, and then a “local train” from Port to Enugu daily. The Igbos were the major beneficiaries of these trains services as the rail passed through many Igbo towns and villages, including my own village. The train services collapsed under Obasanjo. The Igbos were the greatest losers knowing how widely travelled, and how the large number of them that live in the north and had the train services as about their only means of coming home for Christmas. Yet, Obasanjo love for Ndigbo is unequalled!
Obasanjo contested for the PDP ticket with Alex Ekwueme who happened to have been one of the key people that formed the PDP. Ekwueme had looked set to fly the flag of the PDP in an election in which PDP was simply contesting against itself, but many retired generals backed their own in Obasanjo who against the general wish of the people clinched the ticket. Ekwueme, despite what looked like injustice, went on to urge Igbos’ support for Obasanjo and the PDP. Yet, when Obasanjo was leaving, he anointed Yaradua; and chose for him a Bayelsan as his vice. We can understand the choice of a northerner as a president, since Obasanjo himself is from South, and power needed to move to the north. But please could anyone explain to us how the man who loves us more than everyone else overlooked many Igbo men and women who had primed themselves for the post of vice president? There was already agitation in Igbo land; agitation that had consumed many lives, yet, the prophet who always sees the breakup of Nigeria, never felt that Ndigbo would break away if they were not COMPENSATED with the VP position at least.
Today, Obasanjo, according to some of my people is a lover of Ndigbo, because he gave Ndigbo appointments. Lol. I will not ask again how much benefit the common Igboman in Igbo land derived from those appointments. It is trite already.
What has really happened to us? Why has it become so easy for aggrieved political actors and avowed enemies of Buhari to use Ndigbo as pawn in their war against his government?
Suddenly, we have started hailing notorious bigots like Fani-Kayode, Obasanjo, Junaid Mohammed, Prof Kporogi, Ango Abdullahi, etc, just because whenever they want to get at PMB, and get some needed support they would NEVER get from their own tribe, they look at Ndigbo and beat at the drum of our hearts.
May God help us to know our real enemies, no matter how they dress.
*Charles Kaye Okoye is a public affairs analyst based in Port Harcourt. He can be reached at charlesokoye8@gmail.com.
