Blame Past And Present S/E Governors Not The Oba Of Lagos By Jessica Obioma(My take on Miss Chimamanda’s response to Oba’s Lagoon Threat. .)

My husband and I really relished the jokes that flooded social media as a result of Oba Akiolu’s threat to drown the Igbos living in Lagos in the lagoon if they don’t vote for his candidate – Akinwunmi Ambode. The one that takes the cake is not Basket mouth’s discounted live jackets for the Igbos. No, it’s the one that says Igbos living in Lekki had refused to come out on the Election Day to vote because they live next door to the lagoon. I thought that was hilarious.Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu

Now seriously speaking. That threat by the Oba wasn’t funny at all. However, nothing about those crude, mean comments from the Oba surprised me because this particular Oba has always come across as one of the few less accommodating Yoruba men I have ever seen. Royalty is not about brute force or hooliganism. But let me move on.

It’s about time my brothers and sisters from Igboland sat back and took stock of how and why things have turned out so hopelessly and helplessly for them. The civil war ended many decades ago. How did they sit back and allow a few mean greedy and little-minded kleptomaniacs from their own tribe reduce them to a charity case in other lands. Why have they allowed past and present South East Governors to rob them of not only their means of livelihood but also their right to live and work in their home land? Once the enabling environment is not there for you to thrive and blossom you are forced to seek solace elsewhere. And that’s what the systematic looting of state resources by past and present South East government have done to sons and daughters of Igboland. Why won’t the likes of Akiolu denigrate them when their own so called leaders have devalued, diminished and degraded them?

Some years back, a man called Sam Mbakwe as Governor of Imo state showed selfless leadership by making the welfare of the citizens a priority. He was ready to suffer mockery in the hands of the Shagari government, and was labelled the “weeping Governor” because he was bent on making sure his people were not denied their entitlements. He spent the state resources on developing the people and their communities. Even the blind saw it and the deaf felt it. He did not need to appoint any PR consultant or Lying Press secretaries to peddle lies in the media about invisible legacy projects.

Dee Sam Mbakwe, as he was fondly called by all, provided good roads, clean drinkable water everywhere and affordable quality medical care. Even though the state capital was Owerri, he constructed good roads with deep drainages in major cities like Aba and Umuahia. He set a standard which subsequent Governors refused to emulate due to sheer greed and wickedness. And he did not have the kind of billions these Governors have been swimming in. Mbakwe gave all Imo state University students bursary awards, and Jim Nwobodo did same in Anambra. Workers received their salaries promptly. Parents were able to take charge in their homes. Business boomed in Aba and Onitsha. People came from all over Nigeria to buy goods from these markets. But today Onitsha and Aba look like war zones with horrific odours everywhere.

Since I999, the South East have been bedevilled by heartless, blood thirsty, and the worst breed of greedy Governors. They have been ruling with high handedness, roguery, and lies. It’s been a case of Me-my-mother-son and family plc. You dare not raise your voice or you pay with your own blood.

So, our helpless and almost castrated Igbo men, who cannot challenge their Governors, go about chanting things like “OBJ hates us, even though his government paraded so many ministers from Igboland, Hausas don’t like us that’s why they killed us during the civil war, oh, Yorubas loathe us, in fact they are all tribalistic.” So what about your own blood, your kith and kin in leadership positions? One of you was Vice President Ekwueme, then came your so called President Ebele Jonathan, another is the SSG Anyim, Ngozi has been in charge of the nation’s coffers for years yet most of you have not been paid salaries in the states since December, the Aviation Minister until lately was Stella your own sister, what has come out of all these? They just served their pockets and not the interest of the Igbos. Awolowo gave his tribe free education and Fashola is doing the same in Lagos.

Now Igbo young men and women have left their homes to come and work in Lagos as house helps so that they could enjoy free education. Abia state Governor sacked all the civil servants and teachers in Abia who are not Abia indigenes even though some are married to husbands who live and trade in the state. If it were a Yoruba Governor that did that Igbo hypocrites, who dare not talk in their states, would chant to high heavens about tribalism. Go to that slum called computer village in Lagos and you will see handsome but haggard-looking unkempt young Igbo boys hanging around dirty shops in the name of apprenticeship. They can hardly finish a correct sentence in English. The same Igboland that was reputed for thriving in education no longer cares about it. You now have to be a thug to a rogue politician, a Malaysian-based drug pusher, or a 419ner with a base in South Africa to make it as an Igboman. Courtesy of our Governors. God will certainly reward these thieving Governors.

When you look at the map of Nigeria and see the small area called South East you can see that it would not cost much to develop it. If only these Governors could use up to 50 per cent of the allocations they collect monthly from the federal government there would not be so much poverty and deaths in Igboland. The biggest industry in Igboland now is burials. People are just dying of malaria and high blood pressure because they cannot afford medical treatment and they can’t afford even a meal a day. They all look so malnourished and traumatised even though they are not in a civil war.

The South East especially Abia state have paraded the worst set of Governors in the country since 1999 because these Governors make a living out of rigging elections and subverting the will of the people. Any state INEC chief that comes is easily bought over with hundreds of millions of the people’s fund that’s how they keep perpetuating their stooges in power after they have looted the state treasury for eight years. They continue to use their anointed and rigged-in stooges to milk the state coffers. The South East have never enjoyed democracy so their people keep running and seeking a better life elsewhere in Nigeria. So, why won’t the Oba of Lagos trample upon them when their own blood are humiliating and crushing them daily without blinking an eye?

Jessica Obioma, a multi media journalist, author, publisher, TV and Radio host, is President of Teenage Life Mission.