Igbo "leaders" and their Dance of Shame

When Igbo people harshly denounce their illegitimate and avaricious representatives in Abuja, sometimes outsiders may chuck it all to that oft misrepresented axiom to the effect that Igbo people have no leaders. However, a deeper examination of Igbo angst is worthy. Why are Igbo people harshly critical of their leaders? Why does it appear that Igbo people have largely turned their backs on their representatives? Is there anything that can be done to remedy the situation?

First of all, it needs to be understood as patently false the axiom which creates the impression that Igbo people have or had no leaders. The Igbo communities of yesteryears evolved a highly unique and decentralized system of government. It was a system of government that places emphasis on the collective aspirations of a society and not on the oft-tyrannical inclinations of a royal house. As a result, most Igbo societies had a detached kingship institution. Government in Igboland then was of the people, for the people and by the people. Each Igbo family had a titular head whose responsibility it was to pilot the smooth running of his compound. On a village/clan level, there was the gathering of the elders. This was truly the symbol of authority in ancient Igboland. This gathering of elders adjudicated conflicts; presided over cultural ceremonies where necessary; and helped to sustain and propagate a people’s folklore.

It is therefore not difficult to conceive that this ruling class of elders was comprised of individuals of high personal achievements. It was a ruling body made up of accomplished elder citizens whose integrity, steadfastness and commitment to society were not in doubt. Thorny issues were trashed out in a committee of elders until a majority decision or a consensus emerged. As times began to change however, it became important that Igbo people should have symbolic or titular heads who would not only convene a cabinet of the most accomplished, but whose integrity and commitment to his people would prove to be of invaluable worth in times when an expedited decision was necessary. This ceremonial Igwe/Obi/Eze was not all powerful. There were of course the Shamans who were used to checkmate the excesses of a tyrannical ruler. Besides, the Igwe’s cabinet was made of powerful men who were and have never been afraid to speak the unflattering truth to the Igwe. This ensured that only men of repute and integrity governed Igbo affairs.

Sadly, gone were the good old days when avariciousness, treachery and guile were punished by ostracism. In this day and age, Ndigbo have lost the caliber of men and women who presided over the issues pertinent to the people. Nigeria’s fractious and corruption-ridden politics has also played a hand in making sure that vile, avaricious rogues gain ascendancy to key positions in Igboland. With it came certain emasculation and downright oppression. Worse still was that for pittance, these scoundrels—who would ordinarily not venture to seek office in Igboland—have sold, blasphemed and trampled down on Igbo assets and values. They have their agendas set, and I highly suspect that if such incompetent traitors weren’t as self-immolating, the powerful fingers that stage-manage INEC results (or that of previous electoral governing bodies) may not have given them the “wins” they secured in Igboland.

Now, it is widely known that a majority of Igbo people do not support Obasanjo’s Third term bid. They do not support Obasanjo’s devious manipulation for a number of reasons which include:

1)  He has done practically nothing to improve the country since he came into power. Others may argue that he helped the telecommunications sector, but I beg to differ. The groundwork for telecom reforms actually started with the notorious IBB. Furthermore, any person in office could have signed the necessary documents required to enable telecom industries start their operations in Nigeria. Let us not credit Obasanjo with doing what he should have done as telecommunications began their inevitable advent into Nigeria. Finally, it speaks a lot about Nigeria if all it takes for Nigerians to grow ecstatic is the simple introduction of telephones. The country is abysmally ill-prepared, insufficient, deplorable and miserable if you consider other economic indices.

2)  Obasanjo’s 2003 electoral “victory” was fraught with real and credible cases of naked corruption. If not for the powers inherent in incumbency, Obasanjo would not have won the election judging by his abysmal performance in his first term. So, after scheming himself back into power for the second time in 2003, it was absolutely ridiculous to expect people to support his democratic pretensions.

3)  Obasanjo was elected on the strength of the army drafted constitution of 1999. He was sworn in to protect and obey this constitution. We have however seen in his 7 years as president that he holds the least regard for the constitution. He has flouted it indiscriminately and worse still, he harbors no pretensions about the fact that he considers himself above the law. Perhaps, it was on the basis of this—of course we shall not downplay the role of the vacuous sycophants he has surrounded himself with—that the man decided to change the constitution of the country which stipulated that political office holders were entitled to a maximum of 2 terms of 4 years. He wanted to change the constitution to legally allow him the opportunity of perpetuating himself in power. THIS WAS CLEARLY UNDEMOCRATIC. It is just like changing the rules of a football game while the game was still being played  just to afford one a disproportionate advantage.

But Obasanjo was no fool.

So he cleverly weaved in certain bills which would appeal to fair-minded people. His intention was to snatch a third term for himself on the back of people’s legitimate concerns. This was why he attached a derivation bill, started giving concessions and began dialoguing with MEND to rope-in politicians from the South-South; and a bill for the creation of two extra states in the South-East to secure politicians from the South-East. Needless to say, this gambit worked like a charm for then, the representatives of the people who ought really to be looking out for the interests of the people were suddenly exerting their energies towards these so-called constitutional reforms. Rather than maintain a principled stance against executive excess, the inordinate ambitions of one hopelessly incompetent president or gross unconstitutionality these fickle politicians began to dance around in support of petty bills. It was like ignoring leprosy to attend to minor itches.

It was therefore very embarrassing to notice that while many politicians of other ethnic groups stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Nigerian people to resist the machinations of the Obasanjo’s ThirdTerm lackeys, Igbo politicians save a few were lining up in support of the Third term hogwash. These willfully misguided, avaricious Igbo politicians were most certainly not embodying Igbo sentiments on the issue. This is a source of bitter recriminations by Igbo people against these selfish, uncaring crooks. In an age when others have seen through Obasanjo’s duplicity and resisted his godless plan for self-succession, it is indeed a sad commentary that representatives of Ndigbo at various levels of government would fritter away the wishes of the people for something as trivial, unprofitable and inutile as the creation of extra states in an already densely populated and pitifully misgoverned Eastern region.

tags: term  nigeria  igbo  ndigbo  obasanjo  third  leaders  

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