By Musa A. Kazaure
My humble self was prompted to make this write up in response to the recent call by the Ndigbo National leaders through the Ohanaeze, seeking for equity to prevail in the unfolding Tinubu led administration to the extent of calling for an Ndigbo to occupy the prestigious seat of the President of the Senate! While it is only human and natural for any group or individual to declare one’s aspirations, it is a different ball game on how to realistically achieve the objective.
How has it been that the Ohanaese have forgotten the dictum that ‘he who seeks equity should do so with clean hands’! Why should the Ndigbo try to reap where they never sowed? After all, we are in a democracy and by parliamentary convention, the majority Party takes the leadership of the National Assembly! What has the Labour Party garnered to warrant being given the Presidency of the Senate?
At this point it is pertinent to highlight some historical antecedents engineered and executed by the First Republic Ndigbo leaders against the Nigerian Nation as per the detailed account played by the past Ndigbo political elites rendered by one honest and sincere Ndigbo Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike.
Firstly, due to their numerical strength in the Military, and in their desire to dominate and rule Nigeria at all cost, the Ndigbo staged the most violent crime/military coup in Nigeria on the 15th January 1966, where the then Prime Minister of Nigeria Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Regional Leaders of the North and the West Regions were massacred in cold blood respectively along with all the Northern top military officers!
Secondly in the ensuing military government of Gen Ironsi, Unification Decrees (No 24-34) were enacted that nullified the Nigerian Federation and instead installed a Unitary System of Government for Nigeria without the consent of Nigerians!
Thirdly Ojukwu then the Eastern Region Military Governor declared a rebellion and War against Nigerian Nation, which was fought by Gowon’s Federal Government with the slogan ‘To keep Nigeria one is a Task that must be Done’
Fourthly the senseless killings of people of northern extraction mostly traders and Fulani Herdsmen in the entire South East by forces suspected to be that of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has been going since the return of the current democratic order with no condemnation ever received from the Ndigbo Leaders (across the board) and neither due compensation was ever paid to the bereaved families!
Against the foregoing background, how could the rest of Nigeria ever trust an Ndigbo who are driven by self-centeredness to lead this Country?
If the truth must be told, the Ndigbo should be ready to face the price the then axis of evil- Germany and Japan are still facing since after their defeat in World War II that ended in 1945.
In spite of being leading industrialised Nations and amongst the G7, these nations (Germany and Japan) are ostracised against holding or heading any global institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund(IMF) and neither any of them is a permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council, which is the highest organ of the United Nations! Both Germany and Japan are only allowed to use nuclear power for domestic and industrial purposes!
Lest it is forgotten some of the German military men and women who participated in the extermination of the Jews are still being hunted and tried by the WWII Tribunals, 78 years after the War!
The foregoing being highlighted, it is up to the Ndigbo leaders to engage in self appraisal on how best they could relate and engender the spirit of respect and decency amongst the other tribal groupings in Nigeria.
Therefore my take is that, it is up to the Ndigbo to make the necessary paradigm shift for the sake of our fatherland by building on the principles of reciprocity, sincere bridges of unity and brotherhood with a view to restoring the lost trust! As we are taught by our elders and the tradition, Trust and Respect could not be taken for granted. They are earned!
For example, how easy has it been for a non-Ndigbo to own land for housing or business premises in Enugu, Aba or Owerri? In comparison to the receptive nature of the Hausa- Fulani, sometime last year the Governor of Kano State had to commission the ‘New Enugu Town’ They MUST NEVER again despise the cultures and religious beliefs of others!
Musa A. Kazaure, NPOM, FNIM, CMT
musak55@gmail.com
