I.B Gashinbaki
This
is not intended to serve as a rejoinder to you, Mr. Okoye, but for the sake of
those that could reason well and think well like your fellow Igbo man, Mr.
Ahamadu, I have decided to join
this pool of great minds. Thanks to the Gamji website.
Mr.
Okoye, while I share the same sentiments with you on chief Alex Ekweme and chief
Emeka Anyaoku as the lesser evil among
the present crop of presidential hopefuls, I want to assure you that, it has
nothing to do with the fact that they are both from the Igbo extraction, but
rather my choice was fathomed on “merit”.
Let me say this quickly, your deep rooted sentiment for an Igbo president
has so much beclouded your sense of reasoning to the extent that, your entire
write up was turned to a mere show of shame for any intellectual audience.
As
Ahamadu said earlier in his rejoinder to you that
It’s
a pity that a mere simple matrix of
Nigeria as a nation always gives you
two dominant groups: “the
foolish elite” and “the
illiterate electorates”. Who are the
foolish elites? beginning with my learned fellow Mr. Okoye, and the like;
they are basically those elites who have chosen to abandon and abuse our “intellectual
value system” for the sake of selfish interest. Their mission is simply to
get power by all means, and at all cost, they stop at nothing to get wealth
through manifest greed, avarice and self- centredness. Their ritual is tripled,
which are: ethnicity, religion and
resource control.
Their
slogan is always; “
we in the North or we in the South” or “we Igbos, we Hausas, we Yorubas”.
They always claim to represent who they neither love
nor serve, – the illiterate poor electorates,
who constitutes about 95% of the total electorate. So what do you expect? Can
you see why !! manipulations are always perpetuated in our polity.
I
don’t know your age and background Mr. Okoye, but even a small boy on the
streets of Warri knows that, Nigeria has been bedeviled by
same crop of power drunken crooks from different inter-ethnic combinations
since independence, and they are doing everything possible to bequeath this
legacy of succession to their children as their birth right.
Unfortunately,
people like Okoye are still eluded, that Nigeria is doomed forever based on
ethnic and religious divide, instead of inter
ethnic ruling class succession agenda.
Just
take a look around, you see what I mean, starting from Awo to Adesanya, from
Ahmadu Bello to Wada Nas, and from Ojukwu to Orji Kalu,
all these are worshipers of same idol called “WA
or ZO or BIA” A symbol of Nigeria’s diversity and disunity. A divide
across the Niger that has always been used as a tool of exploiting the poor man.
If you don’t believe me then, you are one of them.
If
your submission is anything to go by as regard the merit of Igbo
presidency, then, your theory of saying that the Igbos are the best needs a lot
of cross-examination. Let
me ask you again; the Igbos are best
in what? In trading or football? Or in arrogance and lack of respect for others?. The
Igbo race can not be all doomed in leadership qualities, but does an average
Igbo man understand the intrigues
of leadership and power? I
make bold to refer you to history for the records. You will know better.
See
where you missed it all, you said “each
occupant of Nigeria’s seat of power is like a match stick. It takes only
intelligence, humility, ingenuity and the courage to light the more than 120
million candles waiting to see the light. What it takes to light the candles is
simply good leadership” If this is true, does that mean that you can only
find these qualities among the Igbo extraction?. When did an Igbo man start
respecting leadership positions? Does an average Igbo man differentiate between
power and money? Mr. Okoye, did you know that, even if you had all these
qualities of leadership you asserted above, you could still not lead and manage
well?
Let
me tell you why; Observations and experience have revealed that, the most
important quality of leadership is
“integrity”. Who then, is a man of
integrity? He is simply any person that will never do anything wrong even
though he fully knows it will never be discovered because of his good
conscience. So what do you mean? Are you claiming that, only the Igbo man has
integrity? Can you honestly claim that only the Igbo man passed the integrity
test? If your answer is affirmative, then you better look for more meaningful
and reasonable imperatives to canvass the Igbo presidency.
See
the tricks the Yoruba people applied, they
capitalised on the sympathy of June 12 and insisted on power shift and it was
shifted based on sympathetic grounds, but was hijacked by same inter – ethnic
old breed crooks. Now, the Eastern Region, have started shouting
for resource control as their bargaining power. Can you see the diabolism
involved in the Nigerian politics? All these horse trading are for selfish
reasons, and not for the interest of Nigeria. Take a look of the power shift
saga: - “it
was a mere deal within same vicious
circle of the old breed crooks”. Therefore, it is pertinent to note that,
ethnic, religious and resource based power shift propaganda
is not a panacea. Do not be fooled, pleased?
On
an empathetic note, the imperative of Igbo presidency is far from
the mere guess work that you did Mr. Okoye. The imperatives should have
been conceived on the grounds of merit and nothing else. Let me give you a
scenario; During the last US presidential elections, these were the words of
president Bush when asked, if he is the best person for the presidency. “I’m
not the most qualified person among all Americans for office of the U.S.
president, but I’m certainly better than Al Gore, who is contesting with
me”. So, if you are faced with two evils you chose the lesser
evil, – I will prefer an
Ekweme or an Anyaoku to the rest of the old breed crooks who have stolen
Nigerian money, and wishes to come back to steal more.
Note: this
is not because Ekweme and Anyaoku are the best among Nigerians, but because they
are the best among the worst alternatives. My
choice
has been constrained by Mr. Okoye and his cohorts. Thus,
whichever way I chose, people are going to suffer, this is the devil’s alternative. The
messiah
of the Nigerian nation is “Mr integrity” who lives next door to you.
Be a man of conscience to chose your leaders based on merit.
Please,
Ahamadu I’m expecting your quick return as you promised, so that we could join
hands together as arrow heads of youths that will change the “value
system” of Nigeria, beginning with the likes of
our brother Mr. OKOYE. I love you all.
Gahinbaki: is an author and works with the Finance Department of the Nigeria Security Printing & Minting Co. Ltd, Lagos