Before Throwing in With The So-Called Igbo Leaders

May 26, 2019

By Nelson Ofokar Yagazie | Biafra Writers

Can one really point at anything achieved by the so-called Igbo leaders? The focus here is not on accumulation of individual wealth. No; the focus is on what they have achieved or done for us as a people.

They wear red caps and assign to themselves the name “Igbo Leaders.” They try to confuse you with high-sounding political terminologies, riding on your ignorance to work for selves. They proscribed IPOB, watering the ground for the Nigerian state to come up with the terrorist tag and its own version of proscription, yet IPOB is the only viable group concerned with our freedom, growth, and wellbeing as a people. They oppose Nnamdi Kanu – the only man that truly cares about you, offering his life in the pursuit of our common good.

Well, what good have those folks – the so-called Igbo leaders – done us? As an Easterner, you need to score above 250 to secure admission in the university but a Northerner with 100 marks smoothly gains admission. The system excuses this cheat on the altar of “education less privileged states.” Now ask yourself this question: what makes them educationally less privileged? Did we not all start the race at the same time? The allocation given to Kaduna state alone is bigger than that of three states put together down east. So what really makes them educationally less privileged? And if truly they are less privileged, how is that your making? Why are you being made to suffer for what is not your fault? 250 marks as against 100, and sometimes 80 even. Your only offence here is coming from a region considered slaves. What have the so-called Igbo leaders done about this cheat?

The Enugwu airport is the only international airport in Igbo land while Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani count many. On top of that, it is only one airline that is allowed to operate there. What have your Igbo leaders done about it? And even now, the federal government has announced its decision to shut down that singular international airport you have. What are your Igbo leaders doing about it?

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Lagos has two functional seaports, and as we speak a third is being built at Badagery. Just at the neighbouring city of Ibadan a dry port is being built. Up North, another dry port is under construction. Down Biafra land, they shut down Calabar Seaport, Warri Seaport, and Port-Harcourt Seaport. Ninety percent of all the importation in this country is done by you. Yet they closed down all the seaports in your land and went to faraway Yoruba land and Hausa land to build seaports and dry ports to suffocate you economically. What have those claiming to be your leaders done about the situation?

They closed down Nkalagu cement industry and Ibeto cement industry to give Dangote rights of monopoly in the industry and to forestall all the employment opportunities Nkalagu and Ibeto Cement factories would have offered. You reading this article could have been working in either of the companies. And if not you directly, then your son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, relative or friend could have. That opportunity is lost because of the federal government’s indiscriminate action against businesses owned by your kind. What did Igbo leaders do about it?

Plying Biafran roads? Every half kilometer you’ll meet a police checkpoint. Sometimes the gap between subsequent checkpoints is not even up to half a kilometer. They harass and extort money from commuters, torturing and sometimes shooting road users that fail to comply. Study the policemen at these checkpoints; they are predominantly Hausa/Fulani, sometimes with minute attachment of Yoruba. What have those calling selves Igbo leaders done about the situation?

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And the nature of the roads themselves? Deathtrap. That’s the summation of a returnee who had a cause to drive around. So deplorable are our roads it’s easier to have accident than not to. After a journey one goes to church to give testimony of God saving him from death. To travel to a neighbouring city and return in safety becomes a miracle.  The situation is totally different in the North where fine road networks will make you think you’re in another country altogether. What have Igbo leaders done about it?

You are industrious; dexterous and highly productive. How are you being encouraged? Think of the boys at Aba Shoe village. Think of what they turn out manually and imagine what will happen if properly equipped. They need electricity to function. Not just the Aba boys; there are several of you being hampered by inadequate power supply. Yet the Ala-oji power plant in Aba built by Bat Nnadji to supply Aba, Obigbo, Igwe-ocha (Portharcourt), Umuahia, Okigwe, Afikpo, and other neighboring cities is grounded by federal government’s refusal to allow gas supply to the plant. Economic strangulation! What have the so-called Igbo leaders done about it?

Second Niger Bridge has remained politics; they deceive you with it every four years. In Lagos, they have three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the mainland – Eko Bridge, Carter Bridge, and Third Mainland Bridge. And as we speak, they are talking of Fourth Mainland Bridge. Yet, a second Niger Bridge is considered too much for you. Where then are the Igbo leaders? What are they doing about this situation?

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The trend drags a lot further of course, but factoring in your time and our collective poor habit of reading, I choose to stop here.  I have provoked your thoughts, however. So think, think and think. Are these people really worth being called leaders? Are they worth your loyalty?

A leader does not seek his own; a leader seeks the good of his followers. Sadly, those parading selves as Igbo leaders cannot point at anything achieved for our collective good, instead, they ride on our misery to cut deals for themselves. So before you throw in with the so-called Igbo leaders, ask yourself what have they done for you? What really have they achieved? May God give you understanding.
Ndewo nu!

THE BIAFRA TIMES

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Publisher: Charles Opanwa