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BY REV FR EVANS OFFOR
The Igbo nation is a great nation, no doubt, endowed with great and awesome people with outstanding potentials. They are of the South Eastern part of Nigeria, defeated and conquered at war during the Nigeria-Biafra enmeshment.
They were also slaughtered roundly during the awful pogrom in the 1960s. In spite, of their past travails, they have been solidified by self-efforts and brotherly connections. Their greatness lies in their industry, handwork, religious devoutness and social acclimatization. They are the most resourceful and travelled people in the sphere. As great people in every segment of human life economically, and in sports, academics, priesthood and all manner of aptitude, commerce, and every other human engrossment. They are the most distinguished set of people, excelling in every human exertion. Their kind of forte and striking qualities, have marked them for greatness as well as for external animosity, jealous and for total purging by other envious surrounding races, religions and tribes. During the war, it took an allied western powers and the Federal Government to defeat them in three rock-hard years, because of their expertise, industry, creative ingenuity, skillfulness and resilience. In spite of their jaggedness and originality, they were forced to surrender under heavy allied bombardments.
The then Federal Government, falsely promised them heaven on earth with tenuous attitude of, ‘’no victor, no vanquished’’, and till date the Igbo are under dense strain of conquest and victimization, oppression, hatred and unbridled disinclination. They also disingenuously promised another mirage, ‘’the eerie 3 R’s,-Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation ‘’which till date, have not been esteemed, but have been buried into the incalculable pigsty of notoriety and ignominy. Instead of urging ensuing leaders to implement them since he has failed, he is busy pursuing shadows and about wasting his time in a inoperable surmise, he calls, ‘’Nigeria prays’’. One who has not openly asked the people for forgiveness, is praying. Praying for what? Is he praying for forgiveness or for reparation or for justice? God as the God of justice, can never answer an unabashed prayer. All said and done, the Igbo person is still under the thick afflictions of domination, marginalization and victimization and ineffable punitive thoughtlessness. They do not think of the over five million innocent Biafrans who were clawed to death, while malnutrition savagely desecrated the sanctity and dignity of those created in God’s image and likeness during their trials of the past. After the puerile war, the Igbo were disenfranchised as millions were dried through economic cordon and seizure of their financial homespun power. They did not stop there, they also coined another satanic ellipsis called, ‘’abandoned property’’. The Rivers State indigenes who were supposed to be on the Biafra side, sabotaged them and impishly incorporated River’s souls into the demonic alignment of the federal side, to the extent that they agreed to steal and swindle Biafra’s belongings. They baptized that kind of thievery, ‘’abandoned property’’. Who abandoned his or her property? How could the Igbo people abandon their hard-earned possessions for lazy people? They even re-baptised Igbo names and streets with horrible Rivers’ names, ‘’from Umuokoro to ‘’Rumuokoro’’, Umu-udara to ‘’Rumu-udara’’, Umuibekwe to ‘’Rumuibekwe, just to mention but a few. To show you the fathomable hatred on the Igbo, the federal side even willy-nilly postbagged their policemen and degraded out civil service and replaced them with non-qualified personnel from the North. They came down, to steal our oil camps in order to build up their places, leaving us supplicatory and pushy spasms to survive on. Even in their educational system, they have jettisoned merit to crabby federal character trajectory. For instance, their cut off marks in JAMB and other national examinations are far much lower than southern students, who are posted to Boko Haram infested areas, to be killed or maimed. Inter alia, the powers that be, have the erroneous effrontery, to baptize Igbo agitating youths, ‘’terrorists’’, whereas the Boko Haram, armed bandits, Fulani herders, kidnappers are not regarded as terrorists. They are paid deals for being criminals, and reintroduced into the military force to wreak more damage upon our society, I think? They call it,’’ de-radicalize’’, while Igbo youths are treated as social miscreants and harassed and repressed with military dispatch. They mindfully created Niger-Delta and North-East Commissions to take care of their storming and disreputable youths holistically, but for the already condemned Igbo youths, they should be summarily canned, routed and bested. They have willy-nilly left South East region so embryonic, and blame our national representatives of slackness. But if our southern representatives misappropriated funds meant for our integral and developmental reconstruction, rehabilitation, why didn’t the EFCC and ICPC go after them, since its public funds we are talking about. In fact, the Igbo person is always regarded as third-class person among the North and Yoruba land. In spite, of countless and on-going sins against the Igbo, they still want to deny them the presidency, even after every major tribe has had a shot at it. IPOB or any Igbo is being recklessly arrested and prosecuted outside of all legal climate, even when the person has not broken any law, while criminals in the North are honoured and protected by the Federal Government. Real criminals are always protected in the North, while Igbo person is harassed and even maimed or killed. We all know that terrorists derive joy in killing innocent ones either for religious or ethno-political reasons, and someone who said he is both rational and sensible would be covering them. The worst part of it, is that those so-called ‘’surrendered or repentant terrorists’’, are happily welcomed and re-integrated into our security apparatus, claiming that they have been highly deradicalized. How could they do such in less than a year? How do we know who is repentant, if not by watching and observing the person for a long period of time? Our graduates of so many years are searching endlessly for non-existing jobs, but criminals get automatic employment. How does one reconcile these two different poles? Are those criminals not due for arrest and prosecution, for having maimed and killed thousands of Nigerians? Other criminals will come forward to be compensated for uttering these words’ ‘we have repented’’. Since there are insinuations that some highly placed political officers are supporting these criminals. What is the Federal Government waiting to arrest and prosecute them with military dispatch, if there are no religious, ethnic and political undertones? How could an army strong structure be invaded by these same favoured criminals, and even kill and kidnap serving soldiers, if there is not a plan to overrun Nigeria like Afghanistan and some other big secular countries? In spite of these planned continued Hausa-Fulani belief and move for the total islamization of the country, Christians who outnumbered them should rise to the occasion, and I believe that the God of Jacob, Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary will not allow such gobbledygook to happen. It’s now very incumbent on God-fearing and honourable politicians to consider an Igbo person for the 2023 presidential tickets in all the parties, so as to assuage the pains and woes of the defeated and vanquished Igbo person. As we honestly agitate for restructuring, we also appeal to their consciences to see Igbo presidency, as a way to calming the agitations, unless the Hausa-Fulani have a hidden agenda. Since all of our political leaders have sworn to our national pledge and anthem, why are they reneging? Why should they swear to an oath and do the opposite. Do they not believe that God can deal with them? They should live beyond the sentiments of religion, tribe and parochialism, and do the needful before nemesis catch up with them. The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is now slacking in an unredeemable cell in a hell, because they reneged on the rotational presidency. The ruling All Progressive Congress shall follow suite if it does not honour justice and equity in their selection method, because none dares God and get scot free. Why can’t our political and some ethno-religious leaders, for once, do the needful? This is the time to live beyond all forms of religious creeds and ethnic tendencies and give the much cherished rotational presidency a chance, otherwise I envisage more ethnic agitations.
People should not try God, otherwise, you will see the other side of him. Is this administration not ashamed seeing avalanches of insurrections, blood-letting, in fact, serious anarchy, hunger and hopelessness. Let’s try the Igbo this time. He or she may be the much expected Messiah. Let’s try stable and lucid beings, this time around, for our land has become a laughing stock in thee comity of nations.
Nigeria has really become a theatre of the absurd where brutality, ethnic mendacity and religious bigotry have perched in eternity.to be frank, both the Yoruba and Hausa-Fulani military and civilian Heads of State, who have led this country, had sworn deep climates of mismanagement, bribery and corruption, religious madness, insecurity, poverty and underdevelopment.
Come think about it: Alhaji Bellow attracted the first ever revolution due to ham-fisted and drab governance characterized by bribery and corruption and disorganized country; the era of Gowon, we had oil boom to oil doom; Alhaji Shehu Shagari enthroned more corruption and wingless governance, and this present dictator ousted him. You remember Generals Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar and Maradonic Ibrahim Babangida, letter bombs, misconceived structural adjustments with their abundant consequences of extreme poverty and starvation, balkanization and sectionalized constitution and monstrous elections that made the winner the loser. Think about Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who made a mess of a whopping $16 billion trying to fix the wraithlike NEPA, changing its name as a lady changes her costumes.
And now, do we have mouth to talk. Eyes have not seen, nor have ears heard. It is now the turn to try the Igbo person, since all the other zones have tried and failed mournfully by all divine and human standards?
Anything short of Igbo extraction, is from the pit of hell.
• REV FR EVANS OFFOR
Catholic Diocese of Enugu
