In Wole Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero, The ‘man of God’ in one of his few moments of self-realization, confession and truth said that he, like most of his fellow ‘men of God’ and charlatans either had followers already or were always looking for followers, this self- confession can not be any truer in Igbo land today.
Our situation is not only critical, but also pitiful, we have reached the crossroads or the half-moon junction as some may chose to describe it, signposted in different directions, there is no get-out clause in our condition, it is like all the options at the moment lead to doom, and even further crises, a situation Robert Ludlum will describe as the devil’s alternative.
The so called Igbo elites and ‘leaders’ are to blame for our present predicament, what have they done for Ndigbo? What policies have they Influenced to the benefits and advantage of Ndigbo? What roads, schools and markets have they built? How many scholarships have they awarded? How many development initiatives have they birthed in Igboland? We are no better than we were before they began this their leadership quest and craze.
We are still a people who self –sponsor (through self –help community projects) the basic amenities we enjoy, this is despite their past and present participation and involvement in successive governments in Nigeria, as well as their healthy economic and financial standings.
The increasing proliferation and mushrooming of Igbo socio-political organisations have not helped our cause any further, this is because some of these self – serving ‘leaders’ and novices only think about themselves and their immediate families.
By whichever name they go by, Pan – Ndigbo this, Oha that, World Igbo this and so on, it is still the same old song, the fancy names of some of such organizations are not enough to hide their selfish and crafty intentions, which is to use such forums and their alleged Igbo followership as spring boards and negotiating aces in political appointment round tables, and also to score cheap political points, after which they will abandon Ndigbo, as always to our miserable fates.
When they make their trademark remarks such as, The Igbos in Nigeria will not …, Ndigbo have had enough…, it is the turn of Ndigbo to… etc, I shudder in shame because I know that such remarks and comments are not sincere. These our self – appointed ‘leaders’ just need to drive through some of the several villages in Igbo land, to see for themselves the extent of the ravage, and hunger in the land. Is it any surprise that these Igbo ‘leaders’ are not able to unite and streamline their assumed efforts?
They can, but they wouldn’t because they all have their different agendas and also because there can never be two captains in a boat, their pedigree is to keep on migrating from one group or organisation to the other, they set up and disband such associations at random, of course the Igbo vocabulary is so rich that they will never lack words and names to call such mediocre groups and associations.
How I wish that those they are selling such dummies to will see through their lies, and start dealing directly with Ndigbo on a community level, if such people (the government and aid/donor agencies) have any development funds or projects earmarked for Ndigbo, they should come directly to the Igbo village of their choice, and operate rather through community leaders and other grass roots community organisations, such as the age grades and the community development unions.
The home based community leaders are more in touch with reality, as well as the plight of their people, and not those Armani and Hugo Boss suit wearing Igbo ‘leaders’, nor the ones that dress up in fancy native attires, who are able to afford first class flight tickets to attend the several mock Igbo conventions and jamborees which now take place in 5 star hotels in far away America and in some other parts of the world, at the end of which communiqués are issued and re-issued, and then what?
How I also wish that Ndigbo will begin to see through some of them, for what they stand for and for who they really are, when they come to us with their subtle bribe of sweet rhetoric and cheap bags of Abakiliki rice, we should chase them away with their Greek gifts, we may be hungry but we have our honour and pride.
When they announce their fake rallies in the market squares, we should sit at home or carry on with our farming and trading at the square, if we do not subject and surrender ourselves to the lenses of their video cameramen, they would not have any evidence of followership to show to their accomplices, and therefore they would not have anything to bargain with.
I ask myself sometimes what really went wrong. What happened to our culturally rich race? I have read and heard different stories tracing the lineage of Ndigbo to the Jews of Israel, We have been variously described as the lost tribe of Israel, and as the black Jews, if indeed all these are true, then the Igbos are surely God’s people and children.
How can a people function without a leader? Better still, Can they function without honest and credible leaders with vision? Historically, there have always been men and women in the life of a people who God have chosen to lead and take them to greater heights, we can easily recall the story of Moses, Abraham, David, Joseph and Jesus in the Bible, and Prophet Mohammed in the Koran.
World history is also full of exploits by the likes of Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Dwight Eisenhower, Nelson Mandela, Queen Amina, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Marthin Luther King Jnr, Obafemi Awolowo and Odumegwu Ojukwu. These great men and women influenced the social, political and even economic lives of their people.
2006-12-26 07:36:09
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answer #1
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answered by DemoDicky 6
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