The Nation Newspaper

Category: Waheed Odusile

  • Rewriting history

    Rewriting history

    World acclaimed literary giant and celebrated novelist Professor Chinua Achebe was at his controversial best last week. In his attempt to reopen the debate on the role of Nigeria’s war time leader, General Yakubu Gowon and his Finance Minister Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in the 30-month civil war especially as directed towards Biafra, the literary icon let slip, once again, his hatred for those he perceived to be enemies of Biafra.

    His selective perception of events of that unfortunate period in Nigeria’s history and the principal actors that helped shape them left one in no doubt that our dear Prof is more than ever prepared to not only drag us back to those bad and dark old days, but also sow the seed of discord and most likely hatred, between Yoruba and Ndigbo.

    To continue to blame Awolowo for some of the policies, (economic and political) of the Gowon Federal Government during and after the war, as they affected Biafra, especially from a jaundiced point of view will do nothing to enhance the policy of reconstruction, rehabilitation and reconsstruction that Nigeria introduced after the war.

    History is good to the extent of serving as a useful guide to the future but when those who chose to write history decided to suppress some facts in order to justify their positions, then the generation reading that history will certainly be in trouble. That society, to the extent of relying on that history, is doomed.

    It is not in my position to speak for Chief Awolowo. The late sage had answered all allegation relating to his role as a member of the Federal Executive Council during the war, at a town hall meeting he had in Abeokuta in 1983 so those who would like to blame the Yoruba or Chief Awolowo for the misfortune of Ndigbo in Nigeria should look in the mirror. Where else in Nigeria outside Biafra, were Ibos allowed to take back their properties after the war, apart from Yoruba land? Where else have Ibos prospered more outside the south east if not Yoruba land? Of all the ethnic crises that have been bedeviling Nigeria since after the civil war was there a time Ibos were targeted or sent out of Yoruba land? Those fanning the embers of ethnic division in this country or revisiting/rewriting history for selfish purpose had better be careful lest they get consumed in the inferno that could follow.

    Pray, what purpose is this Achebe’s history of the Nigeria civil war so to speak, suppose to serve especially now that Ndigbo is trying to court Yoruba in their quest to assume Nigeria’a presidency in 2015. It is possible to want to explain Achebe’s position away as that of a maverick, but if indeed he is, he is one maverick with gravitas. It would be foolish and dangerous to ignore him. If only Biafran leader, Colonel Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu had written that book on the civil war that we all expected from him before he died, may be the issue of who did what during the war would have been put to rest and we wouldn’t be having jaundiced history of the war. But come to think of it, would Ojukwu’s account of the war have settled the controversy? I don’t think so. May be is good he took his memoirs to his grave. Sadly, we will never know.

     

    45 and above

    The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) is running against time to ensure that all Nigerian pilgrims for this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia make it to the holy land before the closure of the Saudi airspace on October 20. The commission has 11 days from today to accomplish the airlift and the omen looks good for now following the resolution of the row between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia over the participation of some unaccompanied Nigeria female pilgrims in the hajj.

    As you are probably aware the Saudis turned back some of our women from the hajj on the ground of not being accompanied by male guardian or Muharram as stipulated by Islam.

    After much diplomatic verbal boxing between both countries, the matter has now been resolved but only those among the women that are above 45 years were given the green light to come for the hajj by the Saudis. Any one below that age will have to produce her Muharram which in this case could be NAHCON. As you read this, the airlift has resumed and normal services restored so to speak.

    Following my position: ‘That hajj humiliation’ last week on this page, a lot of you readers out there have been sending your responses, they were quite interesting. While I fully support any effort aimed at sanitizing hajj operations in Nigeria, NAHCON should not be spared as the main body in charge of Muslim pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in Nigeria. There are so many sharp practices going on there, especially in the appointment of airlines and tour operators for international pilgrims. Some airlines are fond of abandoning their passengers in Jeddah after the hajj, leaving them at the mercy of the Saudis only to be evacuated by NAHCON or even the presidency using other more efficient airlines. The case of some of the tour operators is even worse, they often times leave their pilgrims to fend for themselves, providing no accommodation for them and yet have been paid for this. The federal government should look into issues like these including the kind accommodation the Saudis give to our pilgrims in Mina where all pilgrims are expected to spend a minimum of three nights under tent as part of the hajj rites. Some of these tents are horrible and their condition worsened by the dirty attitude of some of our pilgrims. Things like this tell negatively on our image over there. Nigeria should look into this.

    Here are a few of your views.

     

    Sanitize hajj operation

    Salam. I read your sincere and frank opinion on the harsh treatment meted to Nigerian females on Holy Pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. Well, when I learnt about the incident I was happy because I felt, perhaps, the Saudi Authorities wanted to sanitize the system.

    Since I went on Hajj in 1995, when I learnt that Muslim women on Hajj are expected to be accompanied by Muharram, I often wonder why our Muslim leaders are flouting this injunction. I became more disturbed when I experienced first hand, what these-so-called female pilgrims do while in the holy land.

    Many marriages have been dissolved because of illicit affairs which have their roots in Saudi Arabia, just because the female went unaccompanied. The term ‘Alarafa Mi’ is one of the expressions commonly used by these pilgrims.

    In order to avoid this kind of ‘humiliation’ in future, Aminu Tambuwal and other Nigerian Muslim leaders must sit down, guided by what the Quran and Hadith say, and sanitize the hajj operations in the country.

    Those who have no duty performing hajj should henceforth not be allowed to even get near hajj camps not to talk of being in the holy land. They (Muslim leaders) must be prepared to leave the system better than they met it.

    Thank you once again for your frank ‘talk’. More ink to your pen. From Sulaiman Olagunju.

     

    Tell them

    Salam, may Almighty ALLAH (SWT), grant you his mercies, protection, guidance and the wherewithal to continue telling the facts to those destined to hear and heed to them. Amen.

    Expecting part 2 of “THAT HAJJ HUMILIATION”, GOD BLESS. From Shehu A. Hassan (Giginyu Quarters, Kano State).

     

    Mistresses?

    Could the humiliation have something to do with the fact that some of the women who go there end up becoming mistresses to Saudi men among other activities that make them not to return to Nigeria after the Hajj. I know of two of such cases, both of them married, one a pilgrim from Jos, another from Kebbi State.

    It could be a moral thing. I am sure the Saudis need the money that genuine Nigerian pilgrims provide to the local economy during their stay.

    Anonymous

     

    Cheap sex

    There is no humiliation in this matter of Hajj. The rules of the holy pilgrimage are clear and no breach must be tolerated. I know not a few who made quick money prostituting during hajj. Some Arab men have very little self control and would easily fall prey to relatively cheap sex. Anonymous

     

    Good job

    Nice column today, Waheed. Very enlightening. Good job. But what kind of ‘immoral’ activities are you talking about? Why didn’t you explain? Anonymous

  • That Hajj humiliation

    That Hajj humiliation

    Nigeria’s fading image abroad took a further battering last week when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent back home some of our women who had gone to the holy lands of Makkah and Madinah to perform this year’s hajj.

    No fewer than one thousand of them mainly from the northern states as you know, were deported so to speak because they were not accompanied by any male guardian, either husband or close relation as prescribed by Islam. The refusal of the Saudis to accept our explanation led the Federal Government to temporarily call a halt to further airlift of Nigerian pilgrims to the Arab country.

    But as the weekend was drawing to a close, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) to the relieve of most Nigerians, particularly Muslims announced that the Saudis have opened their doors again to allow the near 100,000 Nigerian pilgrims billed for the hajj to perform/observe their religious obligation to Almighty ALLAH.

    The hajj, one of five pillars of Islam is enjoined to all Muslim adults male or female who are fit, able and capable at least once in their lifetime. Some have performed the pilgrimage more than once either in quick succession or at some intervals. Majority of the more than one billion Muslims in the world have never been on hajj and are not likely to, given the limited number of pilgrims allocated to each country by Saudi Arabia. Their main constraint however is their inability to fund the pilgrimage themselves due to their poor financial status.

    A would be pilgrim must not only be physically fit and of sound mind, but must also be financially able to sustain him/herself in the holy land as well as provide enough for those left back home. For the female pilgrim, she is required to be accompanied by a male guardian or Muharam who should either be her husband or close relation. This additional condition on the female pilgrim has been part of the pilgrimage from inception and therefore known to all Muslims.

    But then the nature of today’s world has made this a huge burden on the Muslim woman, especially if she’s not married for whatever reason or husband not buoyant enough to accompany her or sponsor a male relation to accompany her.

    And to take care of situations like this, we are told such Islamic bodies as NAHCON are allowed to give a shield to women pilgrims who find themselves in this kind of situation by acting as their Muharam so to speak. So if NAHCON could do this why then were our women turned back in Saudi Arabia? Could it be that the Saudis had added more conditions without telling or alerting us? We may never know why or told why as the Saudis, given the secrecy with which they conduct their affairs are likely to keep the reasons to their chest. This will no doubt suit Nigerian officials very well as they are never inclined to giving information, especially ones that could embarrass or nail them. May be the Federal Government delegation being sent to Saudi Arabia to ‘smoothen things out” with the Kingdom and prevent a further diplomatic spat between both countries would do a good job of getting to the root of this national embarrassment.

    Being led by Speaker House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, the delegation would do well to go beyond unravelling why our female pilgrims were turned back in Saudi Arabia but also look into the operations of NAHCON itself and how we handle our pilgrims both here and in Saudi Arabia, as well as the conduct of our pilgrims.

    I want to believe that NAHCON and to some extent, the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Boards in each of the states have a hand in this unfortunate situation either as collaborators or main perpetrators. But then we need to look at how these pilgrims emerged in the first instance. Apart from those who paid for the pilgrimage with their hard earned money, the rest are mainly sponsored by State governments, political parties, mosques, religious organizations and in few instances by wealthy individuals who regards such as an act of Ibadah. Among these sponsored pilgrims, especially those ones bankrolled by either the federal or state governments or political parties could be found party loyalists, male and female who were being paid with hajj sponsorship by their principals for their political support in the past as well as anticipated future support. Regrettably it is among this group of pilgrims that you find the bad eggs that the Saudis are always looking for to prevent from entering their country under the guise of hajj. Some of these people constitute nuisance to themselves and embarrassment to Nigeria in the holy land. Some of them, male and female do engage in acts that are clearly not compatible with Islamic tenets and not in tune with the mood of hajj. There are some of them whose interest is anything but hajj. While some go there for business or in some cases tourism, quite a few are only interested in immoral activities. Perhaps this was what was on the mind of the Saudis when those Nigerian women landed in their country for hajj without their Muharram so to speak. Do not get me wrong and I am certainly not trying to bring down my brothers and sisters in Islam in Nigeria. Certainly not. Such bad eggs abound everywhere and I am sure the Saudis will do a similar thing to pilgrims from other countries in similar circumstances. But my grouse with the Saudis is that they tend to treat issues concerning Nigerian pilgrims and their counterparts from non-Arab speaking African countries with extreme application of the law. First most of them pretend not to understand you if you speak to them in any other language but Arabic, but they understand even if they cannot respond fluently. So you are left at their mercy if you run into trouble with them or they decided to put you in trouble.

    I can imagine what those our women must have gone through there especially the illeterates among them. This is where NAHCON and to some extent the state Pilgrims Welfare Boards are at fault in my opinion. Why put such a large number of female pilgrims on board without competent Muharram or authority to assist them, knowing full well how erratic and unreasonable some of these Saudis could be? How much screening did we do here of our pilgrims to ascertain their fitness and genuineness of their intentions before dispatching them to the holy land? Some NAHCON and Pilgrims Board officials actually collaborate with some of these undesirable elements who find their way from here to Saudi Arabia for activities other than hajj. Last year a female pilgrim that came via Kano gave birth on arrival at Jeddah airport. So, how did a pregnant woman board the flight in Kano when pregnancy of that state ought to have disqualified her from the pilgrimage. Another woman lost her pregnancy and her friends were lamenting that she was in for trouble on her return to Nigeria as her husband had warned her not to embark on the pilgrimage. So, how did she pass through the screening here if at all there was one.

    Agreed that the Saudis could be excessive in the application of the law when it come to Nigerian or black African pilgrims and even erratic at times, we should not blame them too much when we fail or neglect to enforce the same law here rigorously by doing the right thing. There are regulations for instance concerning food items that can be taken along but some of our people go there with such large number of food items as if they are going for a feast. If the Saudis decide to clamp down on this now we’ll begin to shout again. I think we need to do more of our home work here before we send our pilgrims to Saudi Arabia rather than blame the Arabs for maltreating us each time we fell foul of their law. We could do this first by being strict with our screening. We should stop sending or sponsoring thugs and other undesirable elements to hajj just to dispense political patronage. If at all government or whoever wants to send people on hajj they must be people of impeccable character who know what the hajj is all about and are going there to worship Almighty ALLAH. Secondly there should be rigorous application of the five-year interval rule where one can only go on hajj every five years (if one can afford it) and not every year as is the case with some people now.

    Thirdly,our pilgrims need to better organized, both here and in Saudi Arabia and pilgrimage ought to be better funded and not just relying on government sponsorship. In largely Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, people save for years to fund their pilgrimage and attend classes regularly to prepare them for the once in a life time opportunity. Here people can go straight from a beer parlour to the airport to board a hajj flight simply because they were being sponsored by government, why won’t they misbehave?

    Lets get our acts together and do the right thing and see whether anybody would want to mess with us. But as long as we open ourselves up for ridicule, even small rats will trample on our rights. This must stop. The Federal Government must in line with our foreign policy tell Saudi Arabia or any other country for that matter that Nigeria will not tolerate any maltreatment of her citizens in their country and that punishment for any infraction of the law must be commensurate with the offense committed. But can we really do this in our present situation? Let’s wait for Speaker Tambuwall’s report.

     

  • How do you treat people like Kwankwanso?

    How do you treat people like Kwankwanso?

    Reading Rabiu Kwakwanso in the papers over the weekend on why the South east does not deserve a sixth state like most of the other geopolitical zones in the country has once again reinforced the widely held belief about the arrogance of the northern political elite and the scorn with which they treat non Hausa/Fulani Nigerians.

    Kwankwanso as you know or if you don’t is the governor of Kano State, Nigeria’s second most populous state after Lagos and the centre of commerce and industry in the North. The State is also home to Maitama Sule the politician legendary for his oratorical skills who once said that northerners (read my lips;Hausa/Fulani) are better suited for leadership (in comparison with other Nigerians). Leadership he concluded is in their DNA.

    If you add Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the current governor of the Central Bank, another Kano indigene,to the above list and consider some of his provocative utterances and actions at the apex bank, then you begin to have a rather disturbing or distorted picture of the Kano elite, a subset of the larger political leadership in the north.

    I say distorted because it is this same Kano that had produced the great Mallam Aminu Kano, the undisputed leader and champion of the masses. From here also came Abubakar Rimi, Sule Lamido (now governor of Jigawa), former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau and a whole lot of progressive minded politicians/leaders, academics living or dead that have contributed immensely to the development and progress of this country without casting aspersions or looking down on the rest of us.

    Lest I forget, Datti Ahmed, a medical doctor is also from Kano. And if you recall Ahmed was the one championing the case against administering polio vaccine on children in the north the other time,claiming it was a plot by the western world to kill Muslim children. Can you imagine this coming from a medical doctor?

    These characters are by no means the true face of Kano people and as such should be treated as individuals, so Kwankwanso is on his own I guess.

    The Kano State governor now in his second term and who many suspect harbors a presidential ambition (2015/2019?) in challenging deputy Senate president and chairman Constitution Review Committee, Ike Ekweremadu’s call for a sixth state to be created in the South east vehemently opposed such a move and called on National Assembly members from the north to be on the look out to prevent any attempt to create an additional state in the east through the back door or amend the constitution to give the president power to pick ministers from the geopolitical zones as opposed to each state.

    His argument was that the South east both in terms of landmass and population is too small for an additional state and if any state deserves to be created it should be from Kano state which he says should be broken into three. He pointedly accused Senator Ekweremadu from Enugu state of promoting an ethnic agenda on this issue while denying that he, Kwankwanso is also championing the northern interest. Relying on the last Census figures, the Kano governor said if his state was broken into three, each of he three states will still be bigger than Ekweremadu’s Enugu both in terms of size and population.

    While it is not difficult to understand Kwankwanso’s problem or concern over another state in the South east, what is rather disturbing is why would a State governor, a leader of his stature want to deny others their right. If all he wants is two additional states for Kano why say others should not have their own.? But we all know Kwankwanso and some northern elite want more than that. Most importantly they want the North’s numerical advantage in terms of number of states over the South and the political domination (of the South) which it confers on them to be retained at all cost. An additional state in the South east could alter this strength with serious political and economic implications for the north. One more state for the zone would automatically means more federal resources going to Iboland. Of course you know the implication of this in terms of infrastructural development of the area and may be less money for the other states.

    But why should the North want to dominate the rest of us or hold others to ransom or rather have things their way always? Honestly speaking what would the North or our compatriots in the North lose if the Ibos have one more state? I can’t see it? The problem here I think with people like Kwankwanso is that they don’t want to let go of the influence peddling/dispensing that they have been used to all these years since Lord Lugard’s amalgamation of 1914. But the truth is that the North or its people has not benefitted meaningfully from this near hegemonic control of Nigeria by the northern elite, instead the Kwankwansos of this world have been feeding fat on their undeserved advantages/privileges as leaders of their people to the detriment of this same people.

    If a sixth state in the South east will bring fairness and equity as Ibos would want us to believe why is Kwankwanso opposed to this? If he wants more state(s) out of Kano or elsewhere in the North let him or those in his boat apply and their request should be treated like others; on the table,with the criteria clearly spelt out and known to all. If at the end of the day the South east or any other zone got its wish or failed to the whole nation would know why.

    This attitude of its either my way or the expressway as being displayed by Kwankwanso is not in the best interest of the country most especially the North. This is the same attitude the North is adopting over the controversial issue of State police. If the Kano State governor believes his state is big enough to give birth to two other states because of the peculiarities of its size and population, why shouldn’t a state like Lagos,because of its peculiarities be allowed to have its own police force? It is not compulsory for others who don’t want to to have their own separate police, but those who can afford it and want it to be allowed to have it provided they comply with the law? Shikena!

    In our warped federalism we still want a very strong central government, a strong state when it suits our purpose and even a powerful region to serve our needs. The North does not want another state in the South east so that it can use its numerical advantage over the south to easily rally the nineteen northern states to veto or out muzzle the seventeen states from the south on any issue that requires national voting in say the National Assembly for instance. Even if nobody at least not Kwankwanso is saying so that is the belief here and this doesn’t bode well for national unity. While he is opposed to the president being allowed constitutionally to appoint ministers on regional basis, he sees nothing wrong in the North constituting itself into a regional bloc to dictate what happens in this country. Eating your cake and having it, eh?

    Instead of raising dust or sweating unnecessarily over issues that could divide us Kwankwanso and his likes, and I must confess they are not limited to the North alone, should be routing for fairness and equity. There are people like him here as well but may be they are not occupying the kind of public office he’s occupying, and when they make his kind of provocative statement only a few pay attention to them.

    While calling Kwankwanso to order, it is also necessary to advice our compatriots east of the Niger to also learn how to get things done without necessarily inviting the wrath or annoyance of others. The Ibos have a way of having a good case but spoiling it through bad presentation. They must learn to cooperate with and carry others along. In Nigeria no one ethnic nationality can do it alone. We need ourselves. So, Kwankwanso, no threat please.

     

  • Who will fight for Ndigbo?

    That Nigeria stands on a tripod politically is beyond contention, though the other ethnic nationalities outside the Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo triangle have the right to want to disagree.

    They may have a point after all, considering the fact that the sitting president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-In-Chief of the armed forces is a certain gentleman from a tiny riverside community of Otuoke in the mainly Ijaw state of Bayelsa in Nigeria’s south-south geopolitical zone.

    The south-south zone itself is part of the political re-engineering or political correctness as the case may be that has been going on in Nigeria for some time now to take care of the so called minority tribes/nationalities. I have no grudge against that if a people want to be grouped according to their ethnicity or even religion, provided those who wish not to belong in are given their say and their rights protected.

    Nigeria, because of her multi-ethnic composition and diversity and glaring lack of unity has not been able to forge a nation after nearly a centenary of her creation by the British in 1914. So two years to the 100th anniversary of the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates of Nigeria by the British colonial government of Lord Frederick Luggard, to create a country for people living around the River Niger area (Nigeria) ethnicity still plays a major role in our political life.

    Our leaders from then till now, save for a few committed nationalists have been ethnic champions or at best pseudo nationalists. Such has been the problem with us that we could not even agree on when to ask the colonialists to go. The first real attempt at gaining independence in the early 1950s by the leaders of that period was thwarted by the north which claimed it wasn’t ready and the British concurred and delayed it till 1960. Since then the north has been having not just its say in Nigeria but also its way.

    That decision then was may be a missed opportunity to forge a nation and see Nigeria as one. Subsequent political events following independence in 1960 combined to foist on Nigeria a one ethnic domination of the political space to the consternation of the other groups, especially the other legs of the tripod.

    The rivalry between these groups, without minding the feelings of others (minorities) so to speak, combined to cause the political crisis of the first republic that led to the termination of that experiment in self/civilian rule. Regardless of what brought the first republic to its knees, the seed of ethnicity in Nigeria’s politics and political life has been sown and has remained potent ever since. The coming of the military first in 1966 and their subsequent interruptions later only cemented this trend. Granted the fact that military culture and tradition abhor democracy, the military high command still made appointments based not on competence but on ethnic consideration. So it was not strange then to find the soldiers trying to balance ethnic interests in their appointments.

    When the military were to leave finally in 1999, they still played the ethnic card by ensuring that the south west geo political zone or the Yoruba speaking nation had the exclusive chance to contest the presidency of Nigeria for obvious reasons. So at the end of the day a Yoruba man considered a friend by the north was elected president in 1999. By that master stroke the north ensured that it continued to have a say in who governs Nigeria.

    And with ethnicity firmly entrenched in our politics, it was not difficult for the minorities, especially those in the south-south region, to also come out boldly to demand for Nigeria’s presidency in 2007. Their hands were strengthened by an accident of geography that placed them where Nigeria’s main economic resource was located. They have oil and Nigeria needs their oil to survive. So, they played the oil card and it worked for them. First they got a seat in President Umar Musa Yar’adua’s presidency as their son, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was elected Vice President in 2007 and on the death of the 3rd executive president in May 2010 they finally clinched the hot seat, first as acting president and later in 2011as elected president.

    As the race for the next presidential election draws nearer observers are beginning to plot what the scenario could look like in 2015. While the Jonathan camp is still looking to retain the presidency come May 2015, the north is seriously preparing to take power back to the north of the Niger while the Yoruba in the south west seem content with playing the kingmaker role as was the case in 2011. As the third leg of the tripod, what role if one may ask is Ndigbo going to play in the looming dispensation? Or better put, what do our brothers in east of the Niger want in 2015?

    I ask this question in the light of a statement credited to a one time governor of Anambra state, Dr Chukwuemeka Ezeife that Ndigbo “will play a game of co-operation with Jonathan forces” in 2015. This seem patronising and a clearest indication yet that the people of south east geo political zone might eventually for go their quest for Nigeria’s presidency in 2015 for yet another lesser role in the country’s political environment in the next dispensation. This could be disastrous to their perceived aspiration but won’t be a surprise.

    While it might not be right to treat Dr Ezeife’s views as representing Ndigbo’s position, he is not a politician of small stature in that region and indeed Nigeria, so whatever he says should not be taken lightly.

    His comment, at a meeting of Ndigbo leaders in the 19 northern states held in Abuja at the weekend, taken together with President Jonathan’s patronising words to Ndigbo during his recent state visit to Anambra state could all the same be interpreted to mean that the next presidential contest would again be a battle between the north and south-south.

    Not that I really bother whether the next president is of Hausa, Ibo, Yoruba or ethnic minority stock, as long as he’s a Nigerian and competent and voted for by the majority so be it. But my concern is this, having manipulated, if one may use that word, the previous presidential elections to go the way of Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani and Ijaw/minority tribes, why not Ndigbo at the next opportunity. But then one should not cry more than the bereaved as the saying goes. If Ndigbo don’t seriously want it why contrive to give it to them? But I know this is not the feeling of the majority in that region and if they fail to get Nigeria’s presidency in 2015 or make serious effort to get it then blame not the people but their leaders. But who are the leaders of Ndigbo? Who speaks for them?