Monday March 16, 2015 was just another beautiful day for me as I hit the popular Ikorodu Road on my way to the office in Agidingbi, Ikeja. As I approached Maryland Tunnel, I saw a massive crowd coming towards the traffic from the other side of the road heading towards Western Avenue. I became apprehensive as I drove close. The crowd were carrying placards and I read what was inscribed on them. It read, “JEGA MUST GO! WE DON’T WANT CARD READER etc”. I noticed that three armed policemen were in the front leading them and pointing their guns menacingly. The moment I saw the inscription on the placards I knew instantly that this was the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and President Jonathan’s show. I was afraid that I might be attacked because my vehicle is branded with All Progressives Congress (APC) materials on the car bonnet, side mirrors and a flag mounted by the door side. I quickly moved into the service lane and from there entered the major road again.
By the time I got to Ojota, the crowd had increased. As I approached the Ojota pedestrian bridge, three Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) officers who have been my friends for years ran to me and said, “Oga there is danger ahead. OPC men have occupied the other side of the express way from the toll gate. You need to remove these APC materials on your vehicle to avoid danger”. I thanked them and moved on. There was too much traffic and what I did was to hide my vehicle in the midst of other vehicles as I moved towards the extreme right of the highway leading to the old toll gate. I escaped. It was later that I got information that they destroyed all APC campaign materials/posters as they marched to the National Stadium Surulere. Our photographer went to work. The rest is now history.
While OPC was staging its show of shame and brigandage in Lagos, MASSOB was doing the same in Umuahia. The message was the same and clear: JEGA MUST GO! Both were working on a prepared programme, a prepared mandate and a prepared agenda. Both got huge sums of money to do what they did. Both were outlawed organisations noted for thuggery, primordial sentiments and ethnic preoccupation. I give it to OPC that their agenda was clear when it was formed around 1995, and it was to defend the Yoruba nation when the late General Abacha thundered against its leaders in the days of the locusts. But after the struggle, OPC started to derail. Soon it split into two, one headed by Dr. Fasheun and the other by Gani Adams. Since then things have never been the same again for OPC. And for MASSOB their agenda was clear: taking the Igbo away from Nigeria and into Biafra. There is Biafra flag, currency, coat-of-arms, radio station, embassy abroad, etc. Many people have died in the struggle for Biafra. To make a sudden u-turn and begin to pick interest in the matters of the Nigeria they have denounced for years, tells us a big story about the character of the drivers of MASSOB. Until they renounce their membership of MASSOB, their show of shame in Umuahia remains an exercise in futility, a mockery of self-determination and a pathetic narrative. I’m beginning to feel that MASSOB’s problem is money and nothing else. If MASSOB can jettison the struggle they have been on since 1999 to make a grab for President Jonathan’s money, then something is wrong somewhere. I suspect that the struggle has been a whitewash, a deceit, and a fake.
But the most worrisome concern from the events of Monday March 16, 2015 is the potential danger of funding OPC and MASSOB just because President Jonathan wants to remain in office. Now if Jonathan wins, will the funding continue? We forget that the Niger Delta militants came into being because the former Governor of Rivers State, Dr. Peter Odili failed to sustain the group after winning his gubernatorial election. The National Security Adviser, the late General Aziza told us that Boko Haram came into existence as a result of internal contradictions, wrangling and implosions in the PDP. Now tell me what will happen if Jonathan fails to make it on March 28, 2015? What is going to happen to OPC? What is going to happen to MASSOB?
Gani Adams told us that President Jonathan gave him a contract worth billions of Naira that will create jobs for 15 thousand OPC Youths, and this is the reason why Jega must go. MASSOB is yet to tell us how much contract they got or how much was given to them to begin to scream to high heavens that Jega must go. President Jonathan is fast creating another monster that may be more dangerous and inimical to the project Nigeria. OPC and MASSOB will use their billions to purchase more arms to be used on March 28 and April 11 just to sustain Jonathan’s government. OPC has told us in Lagos that they will use their weapons to intimidate and stop Hausa people from voting on Saturday, March 28, 2015.
Woe betides us if Jonathan fails to make it and the funding ceases to come. President Jonathan’s ambition to remain in power has destroyed all the things we hold dear. It has divided the Nigerians along ethnic, religious, cultural and tribal lines. It has divided the church, the muslim community, civil servants, police, army, SSS, DSS, civil society, customs, NLC, Nollywood, the business community, lawyers, traditional rulers, traders, cultural organisations, etc. History tells us that a great leader unites his country but a weak and wicked leader tears his country apart. President Jonathan divides the nation in order to remain in power.
On Saturday March 28, 2015, Nigerians must speak with their votes to end this divide-and-rule tactics. Nigerians must speak with their votes to end this disaster called the ‘government’ in Abuja. Nigerians must end this mediocrity, crudity and timidity. Nigerians must make a deafening noise with their votes to send the signals to the world that they have come of age. The change we have been clamouring for will come on March 28 if we do the right thing with courage and determination. The economy and security will be the burning issues in this election, and if performance is anything to go by, I fear for President Jonathan.
On Saturday March 28 and April 11 2015, Nigerians expect President Jonathan to show leadership, commitment and love to Nigeria by calling on all the security agencies to be neutral and firm. Nigerians expect nothing less. In the next couple of days, history will place President Jonathan where to be. Can he be a statesman or a villain? Time will tell.
Joe Igbokwe is the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary.
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