Nnia Nwodo Should Start Pinching The “Pretty” Faces Of Igbo Political Elites -By Churchill Okonkwo

You must have heard that the Igbo political elites are the beautiful brides in the Nigerian political game. But if a bride as defined by Ambrose Bierce is a woman with a fine prospect of happiness behind her, why are we not happy as Ndigbo? We have been complaining about “marginalization” since the end of the Civil War. But in the first sixteen years of the Fourth Republic, we belonged to the “largest political party in Africa”. Yet, during these sixteen years, we never stopped complaining of being “marginalized”.

There is the Igbo proverb that “A beautiful woman with bad character is marriageable; an ugly woman with good character is also marriageable — they will both be wives; but an ugly woman with bad character does not live in a husband’s house”. To stop being “marginalized”, Igbo “leaders” should stop acting like an ugly woman with bad character. They wined and dined with Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan, yet incapable of simply wiping their butts.

It is folly to forfeit the very possibility of learning the truth. Here is one such truth: Igbo political elites have done nothing about the state of infrastructure in southeastern Nigeria in order to remain the beautiful bride. As an example, have you ever wondered why our ‘champions’ never insisted on a befitting Enugu-Onitsha, Enugu-Port Harcourt express roads under the last four years of Goodluck Jonathan? The fact is that they are aware of the bad state, but don’t really care. They need our roads to remain in a perpetual state of disrepair so that a reason to keep crying of “marginalization” will be visible?

It is an analyst’s job to make sense of things. Don’t let your beclouded sense of “marginalization” get the best of you and push you to a lazy analysis of developments in Nigeria. What use is scheming for a place in a government only for a “lucky” few to end up embezzling Billions of Naira for themselves on behalf of Ndigbo?

Forget about how you feel about the poor state of infrastructural development in Igbo land. Forget about the sentiment that no one cares about you. Close your eyes and look at the last four years of Jonathan’s administration? Who did you see? Ohaneze, Ekwremmadu, Okonjo Iweala, Peter Obi, Andy Ubah, Arthur Eze, Chidoka, Bath Nnaji, Stella Oduah…Ask your, what changed? If these big masquerades with free access to Jonathan were incapable of doing anything for Ndigbo, who will? This is the question for Nnia Nwodo and the “New” Ohaneze.

The reference to Ndigbo as a beautiful bride in Nigerian political arena is thus a deception. One of the things a bride at her second marriage does is avoid wearing a veil on her wedding day. The reason is simple; she needs to see what she is getting (Helen Rowland). We have had our 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th… (keep counting) marriages without a veil, yet we cannot see.

I don’t care about the empty talks by some politicians of other ethnicities that “Nigeria cannot survive without the Igbos”. I don’t care about all those empty talks that are meant to “swell our heads”, yet “no alert”. They are all beautiful nonsense. All I care about is in the delivery of the dividends of democracy and an end to the perpetual cry of “marginalization”. At some point, Ndigbo should acknowledge that there is no way we will perpetually remain a bride at every wedding. An attempt at that will imply that we remain a corpse at every funeral.

The scheming and permutation for the 2019 presidential election has just started and the suitors are once more after us Ndigbo. As I watch the intrigues from my vintage spot (under the table), I see a repeat of the old familiar pattern that has played out in the previous fruitless marriages. The brides have started jumping from PDP to APC in readiness for the suitors. What is however really troubling as is that in the face of this clear manipulation, all my Igbo generation could muster is display ethnic card (empty noise) on Facebook and WhatsApp.

As beautiful brides with countless suitors, we need to wise up and start demanding for deliverables from our political leaders. It’s high time we tell them to stop running their mouth by using “marginalization” as a means of gaining our support only to go and live big in Abuja. In Abuja, they metamorphose to mini gods, then, come back and “terrorize” us with their ill-gotten wealth. This anomaly should not be acceptable to my generation of Ndigbo.

My elders use to say that, “No matter how many spirits plot a man’s death, it comes to nothing unless his Chi (personal god), has a hand in the deliberation.” Unfortunately for Ndigbo, these political elites we see as mini gods have their finger and footprints all over our perpetual state of darkness. To remain relevant this “Igbo leaders” fan the flames with the rabble-rousing nonsense that Ndigbo are being “marginalized”- akuko n’egwu Mike Ejeagha.

If truth is found to be guilty, then there must have been bribery somewhere. It is fallacious to attribute the state of affairs in Igbo states solely on hatred by other ethnicities. Like my “good friend” Fr. Mbaka said; “People [Igbo political elites] should stop telling you that “they” hate Igbos. We should stop believing that nonsense”. Ezi okwu bun du (truth is life). The truth is that we are not being marginalized and Ohaneze under Nnia Nwodo should better start telling Ndigbo that bitter truth. Nnia Nwodo should better start pinching the “pretty” faces of Igbo Political elites. It is a pity watching Nwodo feed Ndigbo the same nonsense from the political elites.

Watching Ndigbo, I have realized (sadly) that the beautiful brides of Igbo political extraction are not yet born. The current brand of brides is just a bunch of self-serving “leaders” that have proven over and over again that they are only interested in themselves and the size of their stomachs. Our suitors know this well, refusing to be nailed by not committing to any serious relationship beyond massaging our ego and caressing the pocket of our beautiful brides- not even their navel or ears. This is exactly why IPOB have given up hope on the political elites.

It is time for Ndigbo to start challenging our “leaders” that have sold our collective birthright for their personal wealth. My Igbo generation should refute the political elite’s propaganda aided and abetted by us on social media portraying ourselves as “marginalized”. IPOB should stop feeding the hungry security beasts with the fresh bloods of our sons by channeling their emotions on wrestling power from the Igbo political elites. We have had our opportunities and still have the opportunity of seizing the day and demanding for accountability and good governance.

Better still, my generation can and should assume leadership roles in Igbo Land. Carpe Diem Ndigbo!

You can email Churchill at churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @churchillnnobi.