Setting the records straight
by Joe Onwukeme,
The recent statement by Dr. Orji Uzor which appeared on some major newspapers that Igbos are their worst own enemies calls for great concern and anyone who knows the Bendel State born politician should call him to order.
Such statement is not only misleading but self-serving, it is quite unfortunate that those who had the opportunity of placing the Igbo race in the world map in terms of good governance when they held sway but failed to achieve anything are now the ones trading blames and explaining why and when the rain began to beat us.
Orji Uzor Kalu contended further, “There were more problems between Bola Tinubu and and Babatunde Fashola, than there were between me and TA Orji but it is the discipline of the yorubas that kept them at bay”. And if Fashola were Igbo he would have betrayed Tinubu using his successor who he single handedly imposed on Abia State as a case study insisting, South East has nobody to blame for their woes in the scheme of things in Nigeria but themselves .
For the records, Fashola was not imposed on Lagosians to serve the bulimic desires of his godfather and family members but rather, was chosen by the people to continue with the blue prints of his predecessor.
Misunderstandings are inevitable as long as human beings are involved, the end point is coming together to achieve a common goal, that was what really kept both god father and son at bay not discipline as contended by Orji Uzor Kalu.
Both father and son were in a race to achieve a common goal, and in such a race, if the son runs ahead of the father, the father may call his son’s attention because both are in no competition but ingenuously in a race to take Lagos State to greater height. And today, Lagos State is better off for it.
In the case of Orji Uzor Kalu and his erstwhile godson, TA Orji, both were never in same race for governance, rather they were in competition of who would be in charge of the Augean stables in the State and the power tussle contributed more in under developing some parts of Abia State. The Augean of mess both of them left is still hunting the State.
Their misunderstandings were more of individual differences and I see no reason why such show of shame should be used to judge South east politicians, their fall out had nothing to do with how politics is played in the South East, the only problem is that South East has not had good god fathers like we have in the West.
Chief Bola Tinubu is one of the most respected elder statesman and political figure not just in the South west but the whole of Nigeria because he invests in the future today and waits for tomorrow to call on it, apart from Fashola, most top politicians, governors and ministers from the West were products of Tinubu’s dynasty and they are doing very well in their respective States, and every other positions they are occupying both at State and national level, that is what qualifies one as a leader, a leader thinks of the future not his immediate returns, that is another difference between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Orji Uzor Kalu.
It is the desire of an aging father to see a rising son”, Orji Uzor Kalu had the opportunity of discovering a young, intelligent technocrat who would have placed Abia State in world map in terms of good governance just like Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu did in Lagos State with Fashola but he chose a geriatric who he thinks he could control, it led to their fall out and within the space of two years, his party lost two state governors, Abia and Imo State. Today his party, Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) is struggling to stay afloat in politics while that of Chief Tinubu has transformed and metamorphosed over the years into a mega party, and the party, All Progressive Congress (APC) is currently the ruling party in Nigeria.
Those who sleep in and out of EFCC custody for acts bothering on money laundering and financial misappropriation when they were in position of authority does not have what it takes to represent or speak for the Igbo nation in whatever platform. A word is enough for the wise!
Joe Onwukeme
I tweet @unjoerated
