THE above is a question directed at Igbo brothers and sisters involved in partisan politics.  I have learnt over the years that when you ask a politician (your friend whose views were in-tandem with yours before he became an Honorable or Distinguished) a question he cannot answer, the response you will get is: “You would not understand”.

Of course ‘level’ has changed but this is how they disconnect because even logic acquires a new colour for them.
Majority of Igbos decided that they would back GEJ for the 2011 elections.  The reasons I heard were:(i) It is just to do so because the South-South people were yet to taste power at the top.  For it is an Igbo belief that one who supports what is just will eventually get justice. (ii)They are our closest neighbours and a good relationship is important.  (iii)

They suffer the same criminal neglect from the Federal Government as the South East suffers, so it will likely be addressed accordingly. (iv) GEJ is a child of destiny, so it is good to back him to complete what God has started. For the above reasons and maybe more, a larger percentage of Ndigbo decided to put all their political eggs in one basket. We never heard that any group presented a shopping list with GEJ, that if Ndigbo delivers and he wins, they must have either the Senate President or the Speaker of the House – or anything for that matter.

All through the campaign, the President displayed great humility and in victory, he has also been magnanimous; yet some clowns believe that the man knows nothing.

That it is very easy to hoodwink him. Many, mistake his humility for weakness, more because they can never be that humble. In the new found logic of latter-day Igbo politicians who truly never had any tutelage from anybody, the best way to get anything is when they shout on the pages of newspapers.  If one would ask any of the Honourables or Distinguished brother Igbos why they are so predictable, vulnerable and easily knocked out, one is sure to hear: “You won’t understand”.

The zoning matter is a PDP affair.  An Igbo man was the Chairman of that PDP before the elections, but he was thrown out.  The process of forcing him to resign started from his own home state; thereafter, the South East Governors said that they don’t want another Chairman from their area.  In that warped thinking, no one remembered what a Chairman could do when the election must have been won.

No one remembered that Ndigbo needed someone in the inner room where negotiations and decisions will be made.  No Igbo elder in the PDP was considered good enough to rally around, to create a reference point to discuss a list of demands in the interest of the zone……….

NO!  Suddenly, there is no person of clout from the South East to reach GEJ and lobby as David Mark did (with North Central behind him) and is now getting endorsement even from Igbo senators.  It is alleged that OBJ was doing all he could to get a minority Yoruba PDP Legislator to be the Speaker but he did not do this on the pages of newspaper.  He went to the source.

I used to think that politics was about sagacity and deft moves but it seems for my brothers at the National Assembly, it is back to the “Aluta” days. It has never worked.  Please let me ask – What is in being a Speaker?  The current one is enjoying some scandals right now and his people did not return him to the House. But for symbolism, is a Speaker a dictator? Even if the 28 Igbo members of the House of Representatives are Speakers at the same time, can they override the decision of the over 300 other Nigerians?

When Chief Edwin Ume-Ezeoke and Agunwa Anekwe were Speakers, how did it affect the groundnut sellers in their villages?  Did they solve the South East erosion problems? Did they turn the South East into an economic centre?  Now if symbolism is the trophy we seek, then we should focus on the offices we never occupied since 1970. We were all excited (as if we are not part of Nigeria), when an Igbo man was made Chief of Army Staff.

Why? It was one post we were never considered good enough to occupy.  In the same vein, the office of Secretary to Government has not been occupied by any Igbo person in the last 50 years.

Why?  Anyway, I know they will lose as usual and come back home with the outdated persecution complex and say “See what they are doing to Ndigbo again”.  Why can’t we learn from the Yorubas who have adopted a snub-appeal posture?  They do their homework underground but say to the world that they don’t want anything to do with the Jonathan administration. Meanwhile, APGA is begging to be noticed and accepted.

In the end, Ndigbo are sure to get the short end of the stick. Why? No tact and no strategy.  We were not always like this. Back in the days of the great Zik, Okpara, Akanu Ibiam, etc, when political office was purely for service, nobody could shortchange the Igbo. But today we cannot win because the ELOHIM of Ndigbo never meant for them to thrive in unrighteousness.

If an Igbo man was Speaker and involved in any scandal concerning money, by now he would have been thrown out.  His own brothers would be screaming in the papers for his head while the other Nigerians would supply the bullets to finish him.

Let us play the game we know best.  Be known to be great performers when given a job.  When OBJ wanted to play down politics and work, who are the people he brought on board to show that Nigeria can work?  – Our brothers and sisters, of course.  This is our strength that we hardly talk about. We can change the game and introduce healthy competition.

Let’s talk about how many great scientists we have given Nigeria, how many great footballers we gave, the quality of the ministers we have given, etc; how many medals we have won internationally in every field. Let’s compete on our strength, and ask Nigeria to give us the presidency when it is our turn and see what we will turn Nigeria into.

Is Ignorance bliss? It must be, since majority of those we call our leaders don’t even know that Ndigbo are the worst victim of a corrupt Nigeria. A trivial example is this:  A young graduate came to me last year and said: “Uncle is there any way you could help me get into Customs & Excise.  I asked what he read and why Customs?  His response was: “I need to help my family and can make it fast in Customs”.

Then I thought: “Have Igbos ever headed the Customs? If like my young friend said, “they make it fast”,  where is the bulk of the money coming from? Of course Igbo Importers and Igbo clearing agents.  I hate to talk to my brothers on the pages of newspapers but it seems they now live there.

Mr. OSCAR ONWUDIWE,  a lawyer, wrote from Lagos.