As serious underground alignments and campaigns have begun for the
2015 general elections which is clearly over two years away, one major
point of discussion is on how best to carry all segments of the Nigerian
society into consideration and give every one of them a sense of belonging in
the project Nigeria. A salient component of the public conversations is
the place of the Igbo speaking nationality in the 2015 elections given that the
ethnic nationality is the only one among the tripod of Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa
that has never produced executive President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
right from inception of Nigeria as an independent nation.
The nearest that the
Igbo have come to realize this objective was in the immediate post independence
period when the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe of the then National Council of Nigeria
and Cameroon emerged as the non-executive President of Nigeria but political
power resided in the Hausa-Fulani dominated party of Northern Peoples Congress
controlled remotely by the then Northern regional leader Sir. Ahmadu Bello but
symbolize by the then Prime minister Sir. Abubakar Tafawa Belewa.
One leading Nigerian politician who has carried out vigourous
campaign to right the political wrong against the Igbo speaking nationality is
the former governor of Abia state Chief. Orji Uzor Kalu who is a founding
member of the ruling national party- Peoples Democratic Party.
Orji Kalu is
perhaps one notable political heavyweight from the South of the Niger that
enjoys significant name recognition in all parts of the country and he has
leverage on these monumental political advantage to raise the tempo of advocacy
for the rest of the Nigerian society to consider supporting a good
Nigerian statesman of Igbo extraction to emerge as the democratically elected
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2015general
elections. In spite of the fact that he has unduly suffered political
setbacks and witch-hunt from the man he single handedly helped to make the
governor of his home state of Abia state, this great mind Chief Orji Uzor Kalu
is not deterred in his selfless campaign to ensure that an Igbo Nigerian
statesman becomes the President of Nigeria even when the political characters
that populates the South East today have betrayed the collective agenda of the
people of South East Nigeria by already canvassing support for President
Jonathan who has not even signified intention to vie for election in 2015 and
indeed whose administration has not favored the South East with any significant
infrastructural development over the last three years that he has presided over
as the President of Nigeria.
Recently, in one of his elaborate foreign trips to drum up support
for the Igbo, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu had the privilege to address the British
Parliament whereby he laid bare the case of the Igbo in Nigeria and canvassed
actively for support for an Igbo Nigerian statesman to become through popular
mandate of the rest of Nigerians as the next President of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria.
In a voice laden with poetic wisdom, Orji Kalu had told the global
audience thus; "My people are known as the Igbo and our language is
Igbo. Igbo people constitute one of the three largest ethnic groups in
Nigeria- what Nigeria historians have come to term the tribal tripod. The other
two are the Yoruba and the Hausa / Fulani".
"The primary Igbo states in Nigeria are Anambra, Abia, Imo,
Ebonyi and Enugu (if justice and equity reigned there should have been 6 or 7,
instead of 5 States). Due to their mobility, the Igbo constitute between 25%-
60% of the population in some other Nigerian state such as Delta, Rivers,
Lagos, Kano, Cross River, Kaduna, AkwaIbom and Plateau, to mention but a
few", he stated.
Continuing, the irrepressible human rights campaigner stated further;
"Although my people mainly and primarily inhabit the south-eastern
part of Nigerian, they have, however spread, like ants in the savannah, to
every nook and cranny of Nigeria, Africa and the globe - Thriving,
building and enriching themselves, their environment and others in all facts of
life as they do so".
He went deeper into his rich collection of philo-political
thoughts and offered the following wise saying; "The veteran American
diplomat, Henry Kissinger, hit the nail on the head when he aptly observed
that: “The Igbo’s are the wandering Jews of West Africa…… gifted, aggressive
Westernized; at best envied and resented, but mostly despised by the mass of
their neighbours in the Federation.” Henry Kissinger, MEMORANDUM FOR THE
PRESIDENT Tuesday 28th [Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, VOLUME E-5
Documents on Africa, 1969-1972]".
These words of wisdom were uttered by Chief Orji Uzor Kalu before
the British Parliamentarians just as he was able to masterfully raise a
professorial question whether the Igbo speaking people in Nigeria are subject
to a carefully scripted native law of discrimination which has made it
impossible for an Igbo Nigerian statesman to ever emerge as President of
Nigeria and he graphically narrated the factual proof that concluded that it is
only just and right that the rest of Nigerians should offer the Igbo speaking
person the opportunity to serve them as their President in 2015.
His words; "The Igbo in Nigeria have become the receptacle of
anger, hatred, envy and frustration oozing out of their fellow compatriots. But
this is on the level of the transaction between private citizens. How about the
place of the Igbo in respect of the manner in which public affairs are
conducted by the Nigeria federal Government and its agencies?"
The simple answer is that the rain has continued to beat the Igbo.
Not done with citing international political scholars, Orji Uzor
Kalu also quoted from a well known Nigerian diplomat and writer Chief Ralph
Uwechue who incidentally served as the president-general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo,
the apex Igbo socio-cultural group, who categorically stated of the
Igbo, in a paper entitled Igbo are nation builders that; “to the Nigerian
project, the Igbo have given a great deal yesterday, are still doing so today,
and have a lot more in store for a much greater tomorrow.’’
Like most thinkers, Orji Kalu concluded by persuading the rest of
Nigerians to considerate imperative that It is time for the bloody rain to stop
beating the Igbo people and for all forms of political discrimination against
the Igbo institutionalized in Nigeria to be radically uprooted.
"Igbo people are already drenched and soaked to the point of
suffocation. It not only in the best interest of the Igbo but also in the best
interest of the Nigerian people for the sun to rise and shine in us all".
He used the opportunity to campaign for all poor Nigerians
irrespective of ethnic and religious affiliations, thus; "Permit me to use
this opportunity to appeal to the British government through this distinguished
gathering to increase funding for special projects that benefit the
underprivileged in Nigeria and Africa in general".
He argued persuasively that the proposed legislation in the UK
parliament to reduce aid for health, education and infrastructure, amongst
others, while committing more funds to war areas such as Mali with the
provision of arms and ammunition will be counterproductive both in the
immediate and medium term. Nigeria, he rightly told the British political
elites, needs increased funding to meet our development challenges, the
biggest of which is achieving the millennium development goals (MDGs).
"This intervention will bridge the gap between the rich and poor
countries, thereby making the world a better place for all of us and our
children", Orji Kalu argued.
+ Emmanuel Onwubiko; Head; Human Rights Writers Association of
Nigeria blogs @www.huriwa.blogspot.com; http://www.huriwa.org/.
8/7/2013
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