The MAN. |
We
the people of South East must shun hate and strife amongst ourselves if we must
move forward like the rest of the regions.
There
is no tribe in Nigeria where infighting and deep rooted animosity has deeply
been entrenched like the Igbo. Lack of love and mutual respect for one another
has for decades been our greatest undoing. Sadly, we still carry on as if we
have learnt nothing.
This
has contributed so much to why our political fortune at the national stage has
consistently dwindled, yet our inability to speak with one voice and bring our
challenges to front burner has made us appear relegated to the back seat. It
has been recognized that lack of unity among our people, coupled with high
degree of selfishness of Ndi-Igbo, is a perennial problem. When there are
disagreements among people, we frequently focus on the by products of the
problem rather than fashion a way to deal with them.
We
usually see any slight window as an opportunity to berate and lampoon our
leaders and throw tantrums without any justification, a practice you can hardly
see among other regions in the country. We vilify out leaders, pour venoms and
cast aspersions on their persons in such a way that their fighting spirit for
our common good is fatally injured.
This
has made the clamour for self determination a journey too far. If some people
are craving to have a nation of their own and this visible lack of love and
unity is allowed to reign supreme, it amounts to own goal and a suicide
mission. They will be used as an example of how not to be a nation.
The
avalanche of insults that trailed the announcement of Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu as the
Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate last week on the social media is what every
Igbo son and daughter should be bothered about. More disturbing, those who
engaged in this festival of name-calling have not met Kalu in person or engaged
in any meaningful discussion with him. They see social media as a leveler where
they can vent out grievances that emanated from the stable of envy and
pull-him-down syndrome.
This
is the same region that has decried non inclusion in the APC led government.
One would ordinarily have assumed that we will welcome the appointment with
gratitude for the developmental impacts it will have on our region. No. That
wasn't the case. People resorted to using the social media to call others
unprintable names for no just course.
A
people so engrossed with palpable antagonism against each other without a
reason can never move forward. This is a trait that is so common with us the
Igbo. Nobody wants the other person to be the figurehead and all manner of
means is deployed to cause confusion. This is not proper. Hardly will you see a
Yoruba or Hausa person or people of other regions engage in openly calling
their leaders our in such a manner laced with poisonous venoms disrespectful
approach.
How
can we be our own enemies and expect others to come fight for us? Is this how
we want to achieve the Igbo presidency we have for decades craved for? What
happened in the last general election where the presidential candidate of PDP,
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar favoured a particular candidate as his running mate, yet
from the moon emerged another candidate who saw himself to be better and right
person for the job, a move that almost tore the zone apart. This tells you the
kind of people we are.
Such
can never happen in other tribes. When Goodluck Jonathan favoured Namadi Sambo
as his vice, following the demise of his boss, Umar Musa Yar'Adua, the entire
Northerners queued behind and supported him without any attempt to ruin the
opportunity. The same was the case when Muhammadu Buhari chose Prof. Yemi
Osinbanjo as his running mate in 2015 and 2019. So why is it we the Igbo cannot
learn from others and learn how to apply unity and presenting our common
fronts?
Other
regions have had their own share of the Presidency just because they understand
the strength in unity. Yet because of a principal office in the senate, some
people have gone overboard with display of lack of unity and hate among us. No
people can move forward with such a spirit. We must learn how to criticize
constructively and shun smear campaign against those who labour hard to have us
well represented at the centre.
While
it is important to have unity of purpose, it is the responsibility of our
leaders to articulate the vision and goals for our region. The vision must be
clearly communicated to the our people. It is the responsibility of everyone to
focus on the collective interest, the common goal of the Igbo region. We may be
successful as individuals, but as a group, as a race, we may not be successful
in today’s socio-political context. We will be successful as a group if we do
not let our individual interest and desperate attempt to pull others down to
override our collective interest. It takes every member of a group to work
together to accomplish the goal. That is unity! Persons in a group will not be
committed to the common goal if they do not trust each other. This is why we
must rally round and support our own.
Love
for one another, unity, desire for our collective interest is the way to go.
This antagonism against ourselves has proven to be counterproductive. The
record is there for all to see. A time to take a cue from broom, unite and
achieve a set goal is now. Only in so doing can we have our fair share in a
nation we have
contributed so much to build.
Ifeanyi
Okali writes from Umuahia.
0 Comments
DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed on this platform as comments were freely made by each person under his or her own volition or responsibility and were neither suggested nor dictated by the owners of Precious Eze's Blog or any of their contracted staff. So we take no liability whatsoever for such comments.
Please take note!