By Martin Nwabueze
The level of stupidity going on in the south-east is depressing, we have allowed hate to eclipse our objectivity and judgements, we have come to the sorry state where our actions and decisions are not borne out of love of ourselves and our region but rather hate of others especially Buhari.
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame anybody for hating anyone, I believe Buhari doesn’t like the Igbos, I believe he has not forgiven us for the events of 1966. I’m also not fond of him and have not forgiven him for what I perceive as anti Igbo roles he played in the events of those days as well as subsequent days.
But I am not in denial of this my selfish emotional state of mind called hate, I am conscious of it and try as much as possible to put it into context when I analyze and make decisions of personal, regional and national significance. I always want to be sure that my actions and judgements are based on love rather than hate. Love for ourselves and well being of our region should guide our actions rather than hate for other people or regions.
Unfortunately some people are in denial when they hate, they fail to understand that hate is a waste of emotions that really has nothing to do with those hated but has all to do with the emotional state of the hater. So while we are embroiled in our emotional tuzzle with how we feel about Buhari and what he feels about us, a vain struggle, we have allowed miscreants to capitalize on our stupidity and surreptitiously install themselves as de facto leaders, dictators that have now unleashed mayhem and brutality on us and the region they claim to love.
We have resigned to watching our region degenerate to a pitiful, dysfunctional and abject condition. Remember it was the hate for Jews rather than love for Germany that Hitler utilized to rise and perpetuate himself to power, and we know how that eventually panned out for the world in general and the Germans in particular. If you love the Igbos , now is the time to do the right thing, now is the time to show that love not dwell on hate. Stand up and condem the mayhem in SE and start thinking and working on how to end it. I am a tribalist, Tribalism entails strong royalty to one’s tribe, party or group, it has nothing to do with hating others. The Tribalism of New Yorkers is all about the love of their liberal ideologies and not hate for conservative idiosyncrasies.
I am an Igbo before a Nigerian and the only way to show that is to build my region to the admiration and envy of others, not to destroy it to make others look bad. Are the Igbos marginalized politically yes, is that rare, no. In any democracy the minority is always marginalized, it is the downside of democracy, it is a system that rewards the majority more than the minority. Ask the blacks in America and learn from their struggles. They are not making black neighborhoods ungovernable, they have produced peaceful civil rights and equality crusaders like Martin Luther King, they have participated more in politics and fought peacefully for inclusion and against segregation culminating in the emergence of a wonderful candidate in Barrack Obama that eventually became president .And the struggles still go on, peacefully, tactically in accordance with all civil and democratic ways acceptable in modern civilization. So as an Igbo what are you doing to correct the injustice of marginalization and fight for inclusion? Are you supporting the movement that seek to make our region ungovernable to prove the point that we are marginalized?
If you believe Biafra is the only way, do you believe that another war to be lead by less intelligent Igbos in an era where peaceful agitation is the internationally acceptable norm is the best way to achieve Biafra? During the last Presidential election, some that claimed to love the Igbos more than others supported a Fulani man in preferenc to another Fulani. They showed their love for Igbos not by voting for Muoghalu an Igbo man but for voting for Atiku a Fulani man. That was not a vote to show love for the Igbos, it was a vote to show hate for Buhari. They claimed then that Muoghalu could not win, I told them Atiku would not win either, the rest is history.
Now another Presidential election is fast approaching. What are we thinking and doing? Are we going to support another Fulani because in our judgements an Igbo man cannot win and then cry marginalization when another Fulani that we did not support wins? Or are you going to show your disdain for the political maltreatment of the Igbos by supporting an Igbo candidate? Where is Peter Obi? I do not like him but I will support him is he runs for President. I will support him because I want an Igbo president more than I hate Peter. It is not about me and my emotions but all about the Igbos. Peter is loved by many Igbos. He has the money to put up a serious candidacy. And please don’t tell me again he will not win. Hillary lost the election but remained the most influential Democrat in America during the Trump era and held democrats together for years while they built strategies on how to defeat Trump.
Trump himself lost a re-election and is still the most powerful republican and the force upon which Republicans can build to mount any serious challenge against Biden. Don’t mind Atiku that lost and ran away, losing an election does not mean the votes cast for a losing candidate are wasted. No, our votes must not produce winners but we the Igbos must vote for a reason. There is no better and more convincing way to make a political point in Nigeria than standing solidly behind an Igbo candidate. It is the only way other regions will respect us, when other regions know we have a block SE vote that we can give to one candidate in unison, then and only then will they come to the table to negotiate with and support us on the materialization of an Igbo President.
Peter Obi should be able to run and we should support him. If Peter Obi wins all the SE states in a Presidential election but fails to win the presidency, the Igbos will be a step closer to Aso Rock than they are with voting for another Atiku. It is the most effective and proven way to force other regions to the negotiating table. It is a better way to fight marginalization than the destruction of our region in a senseless display of hate and disorganization. But then, where is Peter? Or where are other Igbo candidates?
Are they still waiting for Atiku to run so they will hide under him as Vice and hope they get to Aso Rock through the back door? Are we still going to vote a party by accepting to play the second fiddle and display a sense of inferiority complex that other regions capitalize on to keep marginalizing us or are we going to be bold and show quality and character by presenting a serious Presidential candidate and standing unequivocally behind him?
The choice is ours.
Nwabueze writes from Boston, Massachusetts, US
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