By Ginny Nwasoria
This  is the concluding part of a two-part  piece by Ginny Nwasoria, a public commentator based in Lagos.

THE contention that even at that, the dividend of democracy is felt in Lagos as against Abia would be quickly made. The question that arises is simply, isn’t wrong, wrong; evil, evil or good, good? Second, which state in the federation taxes its citizens as much as Lagos? How much does Abia get from the federal allocation compared to Lagos?

If the monies that Lagos State amasses through multi taxation is spent wholly by the administrative governor and not expended for AC politics nationwide by the governor emeritus, wouldn’t Lagos be the Paris of Africa? This was what led to the face-off between Governor Emeritus (Tinubu) and Administrative Governor (Fashola) but the latter does not have the bravery and tact of an Orji in Abia State to be unshackled. Based on the gerontocracy and democratic nature of Ndi Igbo, as colonial Britain and its unpopular warrant chiefs would attest, Governor Orji fought for freedom just as the 1967 to 1970 civil war which federal apologists have tagged El-dorado.

In connection with
Zik and the Zikist Movement as well as the backstab on Ndigbo during the Biafran cause, Zik, it should be noted, had been tutored about the sacredness of humility, therefore he did not project or desire to be projected in the pomposity of Awoism, bereft of a philosophy unlike ideologically rooted Leninism, Marxism or Taoism. He knew full well that the road to cheap popularity is slippery.

In the same vein, Zik was much more emotionally attached to the Nigeria he laboured all his life to found and build, making it more meaningful, united than fragmented. Zik demonstrated class of leadership as his followership traversed ethnicity, national or continental boundaries and included the likes of Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Kwame Nkrumah, among others. Even at death he was still appreciated and honoured by the world as accolades and encomiums were lavished upon him by world leaders and masses, which is the nature of Ndigbo.s

Igbo politics does not tolerate thug worship as in Oyo where motor park hoodlums are not only relevant for electioneering purposes but are the real king makers. Refer to Almighty Tokyo presently and the late Pa Adedibu. Lagos, Osun and Ogun are not spared of this menace. Taking an unbiased inventory of leadership in Igbo land from the outset, you would observe the importance of academic excellence for leadership positions.

This was what the legendary Zik instituted with the consciousness that there is a symbiotic connect between education and leadership, a major vehicle for the transformation of Singapore from Third World to First. The question that becomes very important is, since the Nigeria-Biafra war, according to the likes of Omonijo, was an unnecessary mortal sin, was it then wrong of the late sage to have denounced it when he saw its attendant grave implications to the young nation?

Who should be admired, the person who errs and holds tenaciously to his evil, mindless of its detriment to man or the one that though enthralled by what self-acclaimed analysts like Omonijo would make of him, boldly retracts his stands  to champion the better option for the good of humanity? Secondly, if the war was evil and Zik supported it, wouldn’t Zik have been reduced to “Zik, the evil” by filthy dreamers, who defile the flesh, despise dominion and speak evil of dignities? Be that as it may, the supposition here is neither that the war was evil nor was Zik a Shakespearian Brutus to have turned around. He acted from the ambit of superior reasoning for the larger good, being a man who had vision of the future and also had power that came from knowledge.

Zik’s ditching of Awo has been a major issue in the camp of Awoists from the outset to date, tagged betrayal of a long time associate. They are predictable in their contention that a Zik –Awo parley would have laid a progressive foundation for a great Nigeria whilst that with the NPC was retrogressive and the channel for the problematic Nigerian nation with Zik as the progenitor.

Like the Arab-Israeli relationship, Nigeria has been  bedevilled by this melee causing woes in all ramifications as apologists of ethnic persuasion are determined to check-mate the other, ferociously dangling their swords of Damocles, scorning every call to sheathe the object of destruction and embrace the co-operation and interdependence waves of the new world order.

But like the Republicans who laid ambush for the Democrats to avenge the Watergate shame of Nixon with Kenneth Starrs’ Lewinsky-gate prosecution against Democratic President Clinton, Awoists have laid a siege of disgrace against Zik even in death and Ndigbo, which is the reason for Omonijo’s melange of old-fashioned anti-Igbo stereotyping and Yoruba triumphalism which tells us more about a pietistic and arrogant propaganda.

What a privilege it is to be both a good Igbo and a good Nigerian at the same time. The patriotic dedication of Ndigbo in Nigeria cannot be contested. Obviously, Ndigbo are under intense attack in the polity. We are accused of betrayal that cost the nation dynamic and progressive governance, seeming coups that displaced political leadership and structure, parochial interests and dual loyalties, among many. Life is survival, therefore even in the face of these calculated scurrilous attacks, Ndigbo must survive because one does not choose to survive- it is a feeling that is levied on man by life.

In conclusion, Omonijo’s provocative piece seeks to intensify the downgrading of Ndigbo by demystifying first and foremost the Nigerian legend of Igbo origin, its leadership and people. Ndigbo cannot be an endangered people in a society which they have selflessly built amidst heightened persecutions and publicised slurs through the vagaries of state mechanisms, media, jokes, policies, amongst other strategies. Like the Jews in post holocaust era: Never again! as the Hutu-Tutsi inferno in Rwanda has clearly demonstrated.

GINNY NWASORIA IS A POLITICAL COMMENTATOR BASED IN LAGOS. (E-mail: [email protected].