The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Igbo’

  • Attack on Ekweremadu, parody of our reality

    Sir: I call it the Nuremberg madness. I solemnly consider it as grotesquely outlandish. It defies all manner of ratiocination and rationalizations. I had read a number of opinions that tended to either draw some bizarre corollary upon which a general warning was issued to other Igbo leaders and leaders of other ethnic nationalities to beware, or that tended to justify the wanton assault in the context of the festering socio-political and economic ferment in Nigeria.

    Whatever precipitated the action by those irate folks in Nuremberg, leading to the unconscionable violation of the civility in the atmosphere of Germany that provides a catholic liberty, which John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) in his work: “On Liberty”, recognized as both the freedom to act and the absence of coercion? Whereas those men had the liberty to act in expression of their displeasure, they did not have liberty to coerce or assault Ekweremadu in the fashion they did.

    In fact, in the realm of domestic approbation and appreciation of social-political values, the physical assault of Ekweremadu offended the republican spirit of the Igbo people. In spite of their utmost frustrations, those folks, were they resident in Nigeria, and knowing full well that they have the power to vote out leaders in elective offices who fail to provide them with the kind of leadership they desire, should have waited for another general election to vote out leaders who have failed to perform or align with their aspirations.

    Instead of the global opprobrium that they had attracted to Ndigbo by their act of idiotic indiscretion, they should have embraced a mature way of passing across their displeasure. For instance, they could have embarked on a systematic campaign of naming and shaming leaders who have betrayed their people on the altar of filthy lucre; or who have compromised the ideas of Ndigbo for personal aggrandizement with a view to denying them the people’s votes whenever they seek re-validation of their mandates.

    That would have been much better than the great disservice to their individualities and, generically, to the pristine tradition of Ndigbo as a politically sophisticated and self-respecting people. Those who attacked Ekweremadu have lost the moral high ground. They have become vermin of a brutish culture that tended to misrepresent the Igbo people as bellicose and sanguinary.

    Even if the strategy must be to deploy force in correcting the structural imbalance in the Nigerian federation or addressing the existential problems facing the ethnic nationality, the Igbo would be committing a greater mistake, given their numbers, to push the frontiers of “freedom” as a fractious and separated ethnic nationality of disparate drum majors. That was the point that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPoB), missed by its alleged directive to its members to humiliate Ekweremadu.

    But, to be sure, that act of folly in Nuremberg parodies our reality as a people. It is a travesty of our collective obscurantist predilection to raise all manner of issues that support our biased positions and suppress those that negate the same. Interestingly, the question now, and this clearly speaks to the perceived irritability of Ndigbo, is why was it that those folks chose the platform of unity, which the annual Yam festival typified for the ethnic nationality, to brutalise a rallying and uniting personality, thus damaging the fulcrum of unity?

    Ekweremadu may not have been the best or perfect paradigm of leadership that has been in a position to be able to minister to or address critical existential issues of the Igbo; there is also no justifiable basis to dismiss him as a selfish leader who, outright, did not promote the interest of Ndigbo.  If he had been an all-round failure in the praxis of pragmatic leadership, let Ndigbo speak out.

    Even where and when such allegation of failure cannot be rebutted, nobody, not even the IPoB or any Ibo group for that matter, has the right to abridge Ekweremadu’s rights of movement, association (in this case, he was invited to attend the event) and expression, let alone the rights to assault him in the sordid way and manner those folks dealt with him in Nuremberg.

    The Nuremberg saga may just be a wake-up call to advert the attention of the federal government to do the needful to douse the rising tension in the country that is triggering harsh reactions from and by “Diasporic Nigerians”.

    • Sufuyan Ojeifo,

    Abuja.

  • ‘Igbo did not consider implications of not voting Buhari’

    Chief George Moghalu is the National Auditor of the All Progresives Congress (APC). In this interview with TONY AKOWE, he speaks on the Southeast’s voting pattern, the mushrooming of political parties and the challenges facing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    The APC won the presidential election without any significant contribution by the Southeast. What went wrong?

    The truth about it is that we did not achieve our desired expectations. I would have wished that we did alot better than we did in this election, although anybody on the side line would say it is an improvement on the poor outing in 2015. Certainly, we should have done better than we did because the government has been quite responsive to the Southeast. The President has shown great love and has done so many great and strategic things for us in the Southeast that should warrant our doing better than we did. But, politics is all about what it is and you can never predict. I feel personally disappointed and I am sure that some other leaders also feel disappointed. I really can not access whether it is because our people have not actually understood the political implication because we are trying to seize a platform that we can use to actualise our ambition vis a viz 2023. So, I thought that this election was an opportunity for us to take over the platform and move in aggressively and take over the platform. But probably it was because one of us was given the Vice Presidential ticket of the other party or whatever. I really can’t explain what went wrong. But, I think it was not a good political move for us. But I believe very strongly that with time, it will continue to improve. We, as leaders of the party from the south east have an added responsibility to work harder to get our people to understand.

    What do you think that the re-election of President Buhari means for Nigerians?

    For me, it is a reaffirmation and an expression of confidence. It is like telling somebody, you have done well and it places greater challenge. If you listen to the speech of the President when he received his certificate of return, it will show you a man that understand the added responsibility this re-election has given to him, it show you a man who has really dedicated himself to doing better than he has done. He has done quite well especially when you look at all the promises we made when we were coming in in 2015 as a party coming into government. Even at that, he has done extremely well and he believe also that with this re-election, Nigerians have said thank you for what you have done, but we expect you to do more. It is about Nigeria and not about him. So, it is a very welcome development. Its a wonderful thing that has happened and I know since this has happened, our party and government will still do more to justify the confidence of the Nigerian people.

    There are those who believe that they worked for the party in 2015 and were not rewarded. Many of them have made more sacrifices, expecting things to be better. What is your message to them?

    Let us all be patient. Mr. President has said that things will be better and we also have a national chairman we believe that there should be a way of appreciating those who work for you as a way of encouraging them. He believe that doing so will also encourage others to know that loyalty pays, hard work pays and commitment also pays. I am sure that these set of people will not be forgotten this time around.

    The PDP presidential candidate is challenging the outcome of the election at the tribunal. What is your view?

    For me, every election must have only one winner and in this case, Buhari is the winner. Don’t forget that before Buhari was elected President, he lost election on three occasion and in all these three instances, he felt that a few things went wrong and he sought protection in the court. This is his right and he exercised it. If the PDP candidate has evidence of things he felt were not properly done, he has a right to either say this is the will of God, let us move on as a nation because Nigeria comes first before my ambition or I will go to court to prove my case. The two options are open to him. It is for him now to make his own choice. I am yet to see that election that would have been concluded and the loser comes out to say this is a wonderful election, except for our experience in 2015 when former President Jonathan conceded even before the final results were announced. For me, the election was not a sham, but a highly contested election and everybody knows that. Don’t forget that the President travelled to the 36 states of this country including the FCT. I don’t know whether the leadership of the other party did what we did by way of campaign. I understand how he felt. I have lost election before, so, I understand the feelings of the candidate of the PDP. My suggestion would have been, yes it has happened and the best thing to do is to congratulate the winner. If they don’t want to do that, they have a right to go to court to seek redress. As for the election, it was one of the freest and fairest in this country.

    Considering the massive crowd that we saw at the rallies of both parties, would you say the voter turnout was impressive?

    The voter turn out was quite impressive because at the end of the day, we are looking at a voter turn out of about 28 million which i quite a huge number even though it did not meet up with our registered population. But you wont lose sight of the fact that we still need to continue voter education. Election is not a one off thing. Right now, notice has been given for the 2023 election because once you declare the result of a Presidential election, you have given notice of the next one. It require all of us, both the political players and the electoral umpires going back to the books to find out what we must do to encourage more voter turn out and what we must do to let our people know the importance of our PVC. As we get more people educated and politically aware, the volume will keep increasing. So, we need to sustain voter education. Like in our party, we are looking at doing things beyond the election, turning the party into an institution and not only just for election. We should have other roles to play and not only as a platform for contesting elections.

    How would you rate the performance of INEC and the security agents during the election?

    For me, there is quite an improvement from what happened in 2015 irrespective of the fact that INEC failed us when the postponed the election. But it was better for the election to be postponed than having something that is not worth the while. So, I think there is quite some level of improvement from what was done in 2015 which we all adjudged as reasonably ok compared to previous elections. So, what has happened now is that INEC did their best and we need to encourage them, we need to support them and build that electoral institution so that it wont be a one off thing. So, what we need to do is to support and encourage them and then address the areas of lapses critically. For example, the challenges of the card reader has continued to reoccur. We need to address that issue once and for all and get over with it. On the issue of the security, I think they did quite well despite the challenges. As we talk about voter education, you should understand that those who run he security agencies are also Nigerians and are entitled to good representation and good leadership. When people talk about security agencies, they speak as if they are come from the moon or as if they don’t buy from the same market. They also need to be part of what is happening and so, voter education and citizen responsibility, they should also be part of it because once you keep educating them, they become part of the system and then understand that there is a way you do policing during the election without military presence. Some people argued that we don’t need the Army to be involved and I said they should be involved to avoid threat to national security. They are not participating in the voting, but provide additional security. From what has been reported, when the Army arrest people, they hand them over to the police because it is the primary responsibility of the police. So, the Army is providing additional security because that is their primary responsibility. I think they did quite well and we need to support them.

    Do you think we should reduce the number of parties?

    I think the number is becoming very unwealthy. In this last election, we had 73 political parties that contested the Presidency and some of them came out with very ridiculous scores in  country where we have over 80 million registered voters. That goes to show that some people have turned it into a joke. I think we must create the base. For me, if you don’t have representation in the National Assembly, you don’t have a reason to exist as a political party. So, i am of the school of thought that the number is unwealthy and we must create opportunities on how the number can be reasonably reduced. If you notice the trend now, it is going towards a two party system. It is all about APC, PDP while the others re there in number. Some people may be excited being called National Chairman. That may be the basis for their satisfaction and so, you allow that to massage their ego. Other wise I don’t think it is necessary have political parties that year after year, don’t win even a councillor and are still being called political parties. There are some names I saw n screen that I cant even remember if I have seen them before or what they stand for. I think the number is quite high and something need to be done in that regard.

  • Make Igbo compulsory in schools, Ohanaeze urges

    Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo cultural organisation has urged the Anambra State House of Assembly to enact law to make Igbo language a compulsory subject in all primary and secondary schools in the state.

    The Anambra State chairman of the body, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, said this in Awka at the grand finale of Igbo quiz competition organised by Otu Igbo Adigo for all primary schools in the state.

    He regretted the steady decline of Igbo language among the people of the area, describing the trend as a serious threat to their root and identify.

    He said making the subject compulsory in all primary and secondary schools would save the language from going into extinction.

    He said, “Igbo people are experiencing a gradual decline in the use of their mother language and culture.

    “Enacting law that will make Igbo language a compulsory subject in all primary and secondary schools in the state will go a long way to checkmating the trend.”

    Also speaking, Chairman, Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), Chief Patrick Ugboaja pledged the board’s readiness to partner Otu Igbo Adigo group in its quest in promoting Igbo language.

    He called on teachers and parents to encourage children to speak the language with pride at home, in schools, worship centres and other places to enable it assume its rightful position in Nigeria.

    On his part, Head, Department of Linguistics Igbo, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, Dr. Obiageli Nsolibe, explained that the Igbo quiz competition would inculcate the culture of Igbo language in the pupils.

    She added that her department had Igbo books for use at different class levels to promote and preserve the language.

    Earlier, the President, Otu Igbo Adigo, Lady Jane Chukwujindu said the competition was targeted at rekindling and sustaining children interests in Igbo language.

    “We need to do something urgently before Igbo language will go into extinction within the next 50 years as predicted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

  • Igbo and unending struggle for presidency

    IN their angry response to the statement by some well-known northerners that the presidency could not be reserved for anyone or zone in 2023, let alone the Southeast, Igbo politicians and opinion moulders vented their spleen on northerners advocating that heresy. The advocates insist that in 2023, aspirants from the North would feel free to run for the presidency, and would be determined to win. They did not quite define the North they had in mind, and were even more silent on whether it was fair or equitable to present a candidate for the top position so soon after someone from that region had presumably spent eight years in office. The northern advocates were President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, and the northern gadfly and former federal lawmaker, Dr. Junaid Mohammed. They were all adamant that the presidency would remain in the North.

    The Igbo reactions to the presumptuous position of the northern advocates are divided into two almost mutually exclusive perspectives of the 2023 presidential contest. It does not matter which Igbo man is on what side, or how well-known they are. One side chafes at the arrogance of the northern advocates, presuming them to be either representatives of the North or voicing what may yet become the dominant position of that region. There is, however, nothing concrete to suggest that any of the three northern advocates for an open 2023 presidential contest is speaking for the North or representing the dominant regional position, regardless of their political status.

    Mr Lawal seeks some rehabilitation for his wounded pride, having become one of the earliest casualties of the Buhari presidency’s amorphous war against corruption. Mallam Shettima rattles ethnic sabre more than he rattles logic and patriotism. And Dr Junaid, as acerbic as ever, pontificates on every subject with the ardour of an intellectual ventriloquist. He knows nearly enough of everything, and his views, at least to him, are both unassailable and in large measure binding. Despite the limitations of the northern advocates, Igbo responders view the inchoate northern position as provocative and insensitive. As far as the Igbo leaders are concerned, nearly all the geopolitical zones of the country have had a shot at the presidency since the return to civil rule in 1979. Since then, they growled, no Igbo had been given the chance to be president. And since the presidency is expected to rotate between the North and the South, and the Southwest as an arm of the South had taken their chance in 1999-2007, it should be the turn of the Igbo in 2023.

    The Igbo must, however, find ways of overcoming, at two levels, the unconstitutionality of the rotation principle. At one level, the rotation principle is merely an expedient and crude measure to institute inclusiveness in Nigerian politics. There is even no consensus on the subject. At the second level, rotation is a political expediency of the political parties, particularly the leading parties. Though political parties subscribe to an informal zoning arrangement, it is not even a constitutional issue for them. They prefer to see which way the cat jumps before they commit themselves. And, more alarmingly, though the two leading parties cast furtive glances at each other’s manoeuvres, there is nothing binding them to an implacable rotation formula. Both parties will always watch the weather or commit to stargazing in order to determine how to angle their rotation, if necessary.

    If the Igbo are to make headway in 2023, they will have to first locate the right party in which to pursue their agenda. Then they must find a brilliant and acceptable politician whose affinity for his ethnic group, like ex-president Olsuegun Obasanjo’s, is truly and insufferably tenuous. Then, because of the dynamics of their population and land mass, they must recognise and respect all the nuances of promoting his candidature deftly. These will be herculean tasks, tasks not made easy by the ethnic suspicion and bigotry that still afflict the country — two vices the idiosyncratic Igbo will labour strenuously to combat and dispel.

    But there is a second option contemplated by the Igbo, and it seems even more realistic and transcendental. Rather than wait for what they describe as a chimerical rotational turn, some Igbo have suggested that no one should join issues with the northern advocates of 2023 presidency because that election is not as important as finding a way to restructure the country to induce permanence and bring closure to Nigeria’s fissiparous politics. According to them, without restructuring the country such that each region or zone develops at its own pace and to the satisfaction of its people, a president of Igbo extraction will be circumscribed by the same appalling limitations that undermined the presidencies of Chief Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan. It is hard to fault them. Chief Obasanjo pretended to be his own man as president, but in reality, he was unable to exercise the powers and administrative freedoms he would have loved as president. Dr Jonathan was even more hamstrung. Not only did he bend over backwards to accommodate regions he felt could undermine his presidency, he allowed policy distortions to pockmark his leadership because he was always tap dancing before powerful interests.

    It is of course not the responsibility of the Igbo to determine what the country should choose between rotation and restructuring. That duty is a national one. But whatever option is taken will have colossal impact on Igbo political aspiration, particularly in view of the alienation they have been controversially subjected to under the Buhari presidency. To choose rotation, however, is a temporary remedy. The fundamental problems afflicting the country are a direct consequence of the misshapen structure of the country. Until that structure is reset, nothing lasting or productive can be built on it.

  • Iwuanyanwu says Igbo won’t beg for position

    Prominent Igbo leader and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu has said that the Southeast region will not beg for the President of the Senate or Speaker of the House of Representatives.

    Iwuanyanwu, who spoke Nation in Owerri,  the Imo State capital, said it is the right of the Southeast to produce the Senate President after the North and the South West have clinched the positions of the President and Vice President respectively.

    According to him, the current arrangement for the sharing of principal offices in the National Assembly by the ruling All Progressives Congress ( APC), will further undermine the Igbo as one the three major tribes that make up the country.

    He observed that the Igbo have made great contributions in the development and unity of the nation and should not be treated with levity at all times.

    Read also: Promissory Notes: NASS approved figures sent by Executive for Delta, Taraba States, says Saraki

    Iwuanyanwu said: “The Southeast will not beg for the position of the Senate President or Speaker of the House of Representatives. Igbo are not fools, Igbo have talented people, we have no doubt in our mind that we are being marginalised. Let me tell other parts of Nigeria how the Igbo feel about issues, Igbo feel they are part of the success of Nigeria right from the time this country was founded. The Igbo have done better than most tribes in Nigeria, Igbo have distributed their resources across the nation.

    “Right now, the Igbo are very unhappy, we have been pushed to a point of contempt and ridicule. There are some people in this country who just ridicule,  some even say that the Igbo have been sacked from this country. Take for instance the issue of the railway, none passed through Igboland and this is being financed with a loan that all of us will repay”.

    Iwuanyanwu also disclosed that the Igbo have nothing against President Muhammadu Buhari.

    He said: “The Igbo have nothing against Buhari at all but a fundamental mistake was made in 2015 when a son of the Eastern region, Goodluck Jonathan was running for a second term, the Igbo felt he needed a second term but that does not mean that they hated Bubari in anyway”.

     

  • Oluwo to Igbo: don’t betray Yoruba’s trust, love

    Oluwo of Iwoland, Oba Abdul-Rasheed Adewale Akanbi, Telu I, has charged the Igbos resident in the state not to betray the trust and love of the Yoruba for them.

    Reminding them of the strategic position of Lagos to the national economy, he said the Igbo should recognise the leadership structure established by the  All Progressives Congress stalwart,  Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, since 1999, which, according to him, was beneficial to all residents of Lagos, irrespective of their ethnicities, religions and political affiliations.

    The Oluwo, who spoke with reporters in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, condemned the recent political ethnic division being promoted by some politicians in Lagos State.

    He noted that it was barbaric to trade national unity for politics.

    Oba Akanbi acknowledged the performance of Lagos State government and the  socio-economic status of the state from successive administrations since Tinubu’s  tenure in 1999.

    According to the first class Yoruba monarch, Tinubu as a visionary and courageous political leader  with a high sense of mission has repositioned Lagos for great performance and future advancement.

    Oba Akanbi maintained that as “Nigeria’s number one unifying force, no other individual has sustained the national unity agenda and political structure like Tinubu”.

    The Oluwo said, as a royal father, he has adopted a cross-cultural posture for national integration and unity since he came on the throne.

    He, therefore, described the recent political statements designed to breach the peaceful coexistence in Lagos as unpatriotic.

    He advised the Igbo community in Lagos to identify with Tinubu’s political leadership structure, which “he established since 1999  for the collective interest of Nigeria and Nigerians”.

     

  • Youths urges Igbo to vote for Sanwo-Olu

    Group of youths within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos State have vowed to mobilise votes for the party’s governorship candidate in Saturday’s election, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

    They condemned what they called an attempt to create discord between the Yoruba and Igbo by some politicians.

    They urged the Igbo in Lagos to vote for Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, because they have the intellectual capacity to deliver.

    At a meeting in Ajeromi, Lagos, the Youth Organising Secretary, Aregbe Idris, said Lagos is too sophisticated to propagate unholy sermons of discord and enmity against the backdrop of personal gains.

    He condemned what he called “unbridled words” that may heat up the polity, if not checked.

    He enjoined the youths in the state to throw their weight behind Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat by coming out en masse to vote them and the party’s candidates across the state on Saturday, irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds.

    “A win for the APC means a grander and vibrant Lagos. I strongly believe in the intellectual capacity of Sanwo-Olu and Hamzat to drive Lagos to greater heights, create opportunities for all and strengthen the fabric of unity existing in the state.

    “These are the breed of leaders that we need and not some misguided elements with uninformed sense of reasoning,” Argebe stressed.

     

     

  • Igbo campaign for Sanwo-Olu

    Members of a group, the Igbo Movement, yesterday embarked on a roadshow to campaign and mobilise Igbo traders to vote for the Lagos State All Progressives Congress’ (APC’s), governorship candidate, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Saturday.

    They moved from Ogudu to Ojota and Mile 12, dancing, singing and distributing flyers to the Igbo in the areas. They sensitised them on the need to vote for Sanwo-Olu and other APC candidates for the house of assembly election.

    The Convener of Igbo Movement, Chris Onyekachi, said the essence of the roadshow is to support Sanwo-Olu and ensure that the Igbo vote massively for him and other APC candidates in Saturday’s poll.

    He said: “The essence of this roadshow is to show that the Igbo Movement in Lagos State is supporting the incoming governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, because we believe in the political ideals of our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    “We believe in continuity. That was why the Igbo in Lagos gathered in my house this morning to support Sanwo-Olu and his running mate, Obafemi Hamzat, so that on Saturday we will vote for them. We will vote for the incoming governor and other APC candidates.”

    Onyekachi added: “You can see that Igbo elders from the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs) are here. We are taking this roadshow to the markets where our people are trading to motivate them to come out en masse on Saturday and vote massively for Sanwo-Olu and other APC candidates.

    “The Igbo are supporting APC. This is what is happening. You can see the crowd yourself.”

     

  • Igbo and Yoruba sons of “Oduduwa”?

    SIR: And the Supreme Being commissioned Oduduwa, a “sky-god”, to carry out a terrestrial task; he descended from heaven with a cockerel which had six fingers. And the earth was made by him through the ingenious deployment of his avian subject.  But that was after ‘Atewonro’ had sprinkled some dirt on the ocean to found Ile-Ife.  And he had wives, and sons who founded other kingdoms.  So the mythic origin of the Yoruba says.

    In Igbo mythic origin, the Supreme Being sent Eri down to earth to establish balance and social order. The “sky-god” founded Nri, and he had wives, and sons who founded other Igbo towns and communities.

    The Yoruba and the Igbo share a lot more than similar mythic origins. They are the oldest inhabitants of the areas they live in. In other words, the Yoruba and the Igbo are indigenous to the geographical area called Nigeria. And it has also been argued that both groups are of a singular ancestry.

    The two groups have had established trade-links dating to the period before contact with the first Europeans. And they are known to share passion for industry; are convivial, accommodating and peace loving.

    Also, there is no documented history of war between the Igbo and the Yoruba despite occupying the same “southern hemisphere”. In the precolonial times, wars among kingdoms and natives were common, but there appears to be no recorded incident of battle between the clans and kingdoms of the two groups.

    In language, they are both of the Kwa-group Niger-Congo origin.  The similarities between the Yoruba and the Igbo language are remarkable, if not uncanny, which point to an identical fount.

    Despite having so much in common, politics has been a pesky point of dissonance for both groups. Though the Igbo and the Yoruba do not have a romantic political history; they have kept the dagger away from their rivalry.

    The outcome of the Western Region elections of 1951, in which Nnamdi Azikiwe claimed he was sabotaged by Obafemi Awolowo, perhaps laid the molten magma of political rivalry between the two groups. Some associates of Azikiwe alleged that Awolowo, leader of the Action Group, bought over members of the NCNC, after they had won elections on the platform of the party in the Western Region, to scuttle Zik’s plan of being the leader of the regional assembly.

    They also claimed that Awolowo scuttled Zik’s “one-Nigeria” agenda, and introduced tribal politics.

    However, there is no proof to substantiate these claims. In fact, the allegation regarding Awolowo’s sabotage of Zik was disproved by the colonial government at the time.

    So, over the years, stories have been revised and passed down to generations who do not probe the information but hold it as a grudge against the other.

    Most young people trading hate on social media cannot actually say their grievance against those they are tugging with, except to echo the refrain of revised stories handed down to them and to act on stereotypes they have been socialised by.

    But can the Igbo and the Yoruba ever unite? Yes, they can. And they will. There will come a time when there is no option, but for them to hold each other in a warm embrace as “descendants of sky-gods.”

    There will come that time.

     

    • Fredrick Nwabufo,

    <fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com>

  • Akeredolu hails Ondo people over peaceful conduct of presidential, N/A polls

    Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, has hailed the people of Ondo State for their exemplary conduct during the last presidential and national assembly elections.

    He expressed delight that the people’s conduct during the polls portrayed them as good and responsible ambassadors of the state.

    The governor, in a state-wide broadcast to the people of the state attributed the peaceful atmosphere during and after the polls to the determination of the residents not only to participate in electing their representatives but to always showcase the unique qualities of their decency and resilience for which the state is reputed.

    He said: “I wish to thank you, profusely, for your cooperation in ensuring that the state remains a reference point for reasons of valour, courage and fierce independence in the art of deliberative governance.

    ‘Your attitudes, manifest or implied, leave no room for conjectures. When you speak, it is eloquent, when you choose to act, your message is not mistaken. Our land is indeed a lesson for those who cherish frankness.”

    Akeredolu also congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-Presicent Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, on their victory in the February 23 presidential election.

    He said the victory represents Buhari’s widespread acceptability across all the country’s geo-political zones.

    The governor expressed the belief that the President would use his re-election to consolidate the achievements of his economic policies.

    Akeredolu, however, reminded the people of the state of the March 9, 2019 House of Assembly election and urged them to display good conduct that would be second to none in the forthcoming poll.

    He said: “This is another very important exercise; local political leaders are going to be chosen to represent our people at the House of Assembly.

    “I appeal to you to see this exercise as a strictly family affair in which brothers and sisters, with shared heritage, and even blood affinity, will be locked in an innocuous electoral combat for the benefit of all.

    ” Our dear state will be the ultimate winner if all of us approach it in the spirit of sportsmanship. All of us will be winners and our people will be the better for it.

    “I enjoin you to participate, actively, without let or hindrance. The government, on its part, will ensure that adequate security is provided for all our citizens to exercise their franchise.

    “Our people are encouraged to feel confident in their attempt to choose their leaders.

    “Citizens of this state, who are of Igbo, Ebira, Hausa, Oyo and Edo extraction, as well as other minority ethnic groups, should feel free to participate in the exercise as members of this large and heterogeneous family. I appeal, passionately, that we cast aside all divisive and primordial sentiments. Ondo State is our primary place of domicile. Our allegiance to her must be unalloyed.

    “The participation of the electorate in the state is limited to the election of members to the House of Assembly. The gubernatorial election is due next year. This administration encourages voters to choose candidates whose campaign promises are in tandem with its vision on infrastructural development.

    “We have been able to achieve this much due to the prudent management of limited resources. We hope to do more with the cooperation of patriotic members of the House of Assembly who await your mandate in a couple of days.”