Apatace systema

Jackson Omolewa Awopeju wrote: Sometimes when I look at these people I just laugh. Like I told an Igbo colleague recently that the Igbo people should forget politics in Nigeria and focus more on business in which they have comparative advantage over others. Politics is not an Igbo man's calling. An average Igbo political leader is too cheap, petty and pedestrian. They have no real dream and vision of what they want. There are three major contenders for the Presidency in 2027. They are Tinubu from Southwest, Peter Obi from Southeast and Atiku Abubakar from the north. Some of the fiercest critics of Tinubu are Yorubas. Many of them living around his Ikeja area of Lagos State. I have never seen a Yoruba Minister or Governor insulting and threatening them. The Oyo State Governor, Makinde, that is the APM Presidential candidate is a Yoruba man. We all know he would likely deprived Tinubu of some votes. I haven't seen any Tinubu's Minister from the Southwest or any of the APC Governor insulting or threatening him and vice versa. Reason: they know and understand that before and after politics they are all Yorubas. The same scenario is playing out in the north with Atiku. None of Tinubu's cabinet minister from the North or APC Governor is insulting, dragging or threatening Atiku and his supporters. Reason: they also understand that before and after politics they are all Hausa - Fulanis. Can this be said of the Southeast? Today, in the Southeast virtually every Igbo politician is falling over themselves to prove their loyalty to President Tinubu. Some can even drink Tinubu's urine. I have heard people say Abiola betrayed Awolowo. What did Abiola betray Awolowo for - the Presidency. A fair deal. He wanted the highest position in the land. I have also heard people say Osibanjo betrayed Tinubu. What did Osibanjo betray Tinubu for - the Presidency. A fair deal. He wanted the highest office in the land. Now, tell me, what are the Igbo leaders fighting Peter Obi, the only Igbo man that seems to have a national appeal and stand a chance of winning the Presidency and his supporters for? Nothing. Just the crumbs Tinubu is dangling at them. David Umahi has become a national disgrace and embarrassment simply because he wants to be reappointed as the Minister of Works. The same position that Raji Fashola held with two other major ministries for 8 years without a whimper. Fashola, to prove his loyalty to Buhari didn't have to go about threatening and insulting people like the pot-bellied house boy Umahi is now doing without shame. All of Umahi's worth is a federal Minister. A man who has been a Deputy Governor, a Governor and a Senator. Same for Soludo who wants to be part of Tinubu's government after his stint as Governor. Or the chameleon in Abia State, Alex Otti, who rode on the people's goodwill but from his body language is now in APC. In Enugu, Governor Mbah is even willing to kpai his Igbo people just to prove he is a more loyal house boy to Tinubu than the Yorubas. The same man who decamped to APC, a party he has no stake but is now making life unbearable for the opposition. Meanwhile, in Tinubu's Southwest opposition parties are doing their campaigns without hindrance. Then, I recall the 1998 Jos PDP convention. As a young Turk I had already concluded that Alex Ekwueme would pick the ticket. Alex Ekwueme was the Chairman of the group that metermophosed into PDP until General Babaginda, General Gusau and their house boy, El Rufai, has another idea. They drafted General Obasanjo into the race from nowhere. But Babaginda wanted an Igbo man to nail Ekwueme's political coffin. He drafted the forner Anambra Governor, Jim Nwobodo to the hatched job. Nwobodo mounted the Jos Convention podium and in flawless Hausa and Igbo told the delegates to vote Obasanjo and not Ekwueme. That was how Ekwueme lost the ticket.

What did Nwobodo get in return for betraying Ekwueme? He got into the Senate for 4 years through the back door. Walahi, the Igbo political leaders are too cheap and petty and that is why nobody is taking them seriously. Between 1999 till date, a 27 years period, the Yorubas, the Igbo contemporaries, has been at the centre of governance for 19 years and not a single day for the Igbos. Yet, the Igbo political leadership hasn't deemed it necessary to look themselves in the mirror and tell themselves the hard truth, that the struggling for crumbs kind of politics isn't helping them. The money Tinubu stole alone from the Lagos - Calabar coastal road where he awarded a whooping $13 billion contract to himself, using his Lebanese business partner as front, is twice more than what the entire Igbo political leadership has gotten since 1999.