By Okey Igbokwe
What manner of restructuring is Ohaneze campaigning for? This is one of the points I'm yet to get the specifics. From the other end, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is singing his own different song on restructuring. He has already hinted that he's going to achieve the impossible by restructuring Nigeria in just six months of his presidency. Again without clear specifics.
It should not take a toddler or a neophyte in politics a second thought to observe the deceit in all these cacophony.
Ohaneze Ndi Igbo is being used by Atiku Abubakar as vehicle to drive his 2019 presidential campaign and gain Igbo popularity. As part of this decoy, the first place he took this restructuring comedy happened to be in UNN of all places where he felt our Young Minds could easily swallow it. A risk he dares not take in the ultra radical Ahmadu Bello university or Bayero.
Ohaneze is about to host a summit on restructuring in Ala Igbo. All the while they have been singing this music, they are yet to bother our people with the specifics or the type of restructuring they want; whether political restructuring, economic restructuring or restructuring along regional or ethnic lines.
Restructuring Nigeria in whatever form is not as easy as drinking tea. And Atiku Abubakar knows this. Yet he's telling our people, using Ohaneze, that he's going to do it in six literal months.
Ohaneze should quit allowing this revered socio cultural institution to be used as political foot march by anybody desperate for Igbo support. No type of restructuring in Nigeria today could settle the Igbo quest for equity and inclusiveness.
Nigeria is already too suffocating for Ndi Igbo.
Besides, Ohaneze can not be talking restructuring without asking questions on the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu and his parents who originated this consciousness to restructure.
Nnamdi Kanu and his parents disappeared for months now following the invasion of their home by a rampaging, murderous Nigerian Army few days after coming out of a round-table with Ohaneze and Igbo governors.
It is a criminal indictment on Ohaneze and Igbo governors. Their silence since the disappearance of Mr Kanu and his parents who is a traditional ruler shows that Ohaneze is complicit on whatever fate that befell them. You can not claim to be a father of a house and your child vanished in mysterious circumstance and you could not ask question. What manner of father are you? It portrays you as irresponsible. Also, hundreds of Igbo youth agitating for freedom and demanding equity are languishing in various prisons across Nigeria without Ohaneze raising an eyebrow. Yet these are supposed to be their children. Can fanciful restructuring talk assuage their feelings or secure their freedom?
Nnamdi Kanu it was, who awakened the consciousness of people on the flaws and seams about Nigeria at the risk of his life and family. Sensitive topics people were wont to speak in hushed tone and afraid to say in public, Nnamdi Kanu broadcasted everywhere daring the consequences. Something a hitherto indolent and docile Ohaneze with Igbo governors could not do. With uncommon courage, he energized our people, he mobilized them to stand up for their right. The entire world heard us. He exposed the criminal injustices deliberately designed to suppress our people. He breathed in our people a new conscious awakening. He was the reason everyone started rambling about restructuring, including Ohaneze. Such an important sacrifice can not be made and Ohaneze can not stand up to ask questions as father figure when such person suddenly disappeared from the public.
The crowd Nnamdi Kanu pulled can never be matched by anybody within Ohaneze rank. And what those crowd are asking for is Referendum not Restructuring.
Igbo culture is a true embodiment of democracy. It is a brand of system practiced even before the colonial masters came with their own brand. In Igbo brand of democracy, the voice of the people is what is adhered to and never the voice of a authoritarian figure. Igbo culture abhors dictatorship. Therefore, denying their demands for a referendum by few in Ohaneze means denying them their democratic right. And it means that Ohaneze is bending towards dictatorship and authoritarianism.
Ohaneze can not use our revered socio cultural institution as shelf to sell Atiku product for 2019. They must demand the whereabouts of Nnamdi Kanu and his family as well as tell the world and whoever that is coming to them for support about the democratic demands of our people, which is Referendum.
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