12072020 - Uzodinma, Ngige, Nnamani others meet, vow Igbo united front

PAGE 20—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 12, 2020
Keyamo’s Saga: NASS
needs to watch it
For one week, I tried in
vain, to understand the
purpose of the invitation by
the National Assembly to
Chris Ngige, Labour and
Employment Minister, after
having a shouting match
with another Minister, in the
same ministry, Festus
Keyamo. I had hoped that
the federal legislators were
not planning to report
Keyamo to Ngige in the
belief that the former was
junior to the latter, but that
appears to be what played
out. Why would that occur to
the law makers – does the post
of junior minister legally exist
in Nigeria? Did the Senate
clear Festus Keyamo or any
other person for the post of
junior minister? If the purpose
was to employ divide and rule
in their conflict with Keyamo,
did they expect him to tremble
before Ngige? In fact, did they
expect one minister to support
legislators against another?
After all, is it not an open secret
in Nigeria that if a legislator
is found to be part of any
corrupt practice, the usual
response of the Assembly, is to
hurriedly set up a committee
to exonerate their colleague?
To my mind, the invitation to
Ngige, was misplaced.
The open confrontation
between the legislators and
Keyamo generated ample
concern among analysts,
some supporting and others
opposing each of them. One
interesting commentary
came from Ayo Arise, a former
Senator, Ekiti North, who on
national television called for
a political rather than a legal
solution ostensibly because
his former colleagues are not
likely to get legal victory over
the tussle. Many of those who
condemned Keyamo did so
because they saw him as a
long-time trouble shooter.
One cannot blame them as it
is customary for lay persons
to often resort to character
evidence. Unfortunately, the
issue at stake was not about
Keyamo’s antecedents or
even mannerism, rather, it was
a case of two bodies laying
claim to a public project whose
success ordinarily requires the
cooperation of both parties.
The project which is a Special
Public Works Programme
involves the employment of
1,000 Nigerians in each of the
nation’s 774 local
government areas. Having
approved the project by
appropriating a huge sum for
it, the legislators had
concluded the first phase of
their own involvement,
leaving the executive to work
out the logistics and
implementation strategies for
the project.
During and after
implementation, legislators
have fresh opportunities to get
further involved in the project
which is their power of
oversight that is, the power to
monitor the implementation.
But if the legislators insist on
being part of the
implementation, then they can
no longer objectively monitor
the project. In ordinary day
parlance, what we are saying
is that if a teacher partakes in
the writing of an examination
by a student, then, it would be
irrational for the same teacher
to mark the same paper. In
other words, as in all issues, it
is always wise to allow for
division of labour and in the
case of government, the
separation of powers among
the arms. Accordingly, the
National Assembly should
allow Minister Keyamo to
play the part assigned to him
both by the President and by
the relevant law while the
legislators ensure that the
project is implemented as
conceived.
As to who is blame-worthy
in the open confrontation,
Sections 60, 88 and 89 of our
constitution have been
correctly quoted to support the
argument that Keyamo
The clamour to be
‘carried along’ in every
subject often beyond
constitutional limits, is
becoming suffocating
cannot question the manner
of hearing determined by the
legislature. We think the
argument is simplistic
because the issue at stake was
again not fully understood. If
the relevant committee
wanted a private session, it
would have said so ab initio
but to publicly indict a
minister and thereafter direct
him to answer in private, does
not appear neat. Same is true
of the directive for the minister
to hands-off from his official
duties as the supervising
minister of the National
Directorate of Employment
(NDE)- the Agency mandated
to implement the project in
issue. Even the committees set
up by the minister which the
legislators were
uncomfortable with, is
backed by law. In the words
of Section 16 of the relevant
law, “the minister may from
time to time, constitute a
committee to be known as the
special committee of the
directorate for deliberation on
special matters.”
In like manner, to direct the
chief executive of the agency
to report directly to the
legislature is patently
objectionable because
Section 6 of the same
enabling law says “the
Director-General and Chief
Executive of the Directorate
SHALL be responsible to the
Minister for the day-to-day
management of the affairs of
the Directorate.” This is still
the law till today and if as a
result of its fall-out with
Keyamo, the legislature
wishes to overpower him, it
cannot capriciously do so.
Instead, it must in line with
the dictates of the rule of law,
first amend the law setting up
the NDE. But because this is
Nigeria, the legislature can do
so in the twinkle of an eye, by
adopting the same
provocative procedure by
which the 7 th senate on the eve
of its departure in 2015,
passed 46 bills in 10minutes!
Even then, such a step is not
likely to help the subsisting
image of our National
Assembly.
There is indeed, no doubt
that many Nigerians do not
think well of their law makers.
While those in the states are
generally known for only
doing the bidding of their
governors, not many know
who the federal legislators
actually represent, just as they
are perceived to be ever selfserving.
Each time federal
legislators pursue benefits
allegedly in the interest of the
grassroots, the claim arouses
covetousness. Do federal
legislators know or relate with
the grassroots? Who do the
grassroots know and see
more, local councillors or
Abuja based political office
holders? Why do we run a
third-tier level of government
if things meant for the
grassroots are best sent to
them through far away party
leaders? Do our politicians
know that after elections,
those elected are expected to,
as statesmen, serve everyone
and not only members of their
respective political parties?
Answers to these questions are
best sourced from the way and
manner, covid 19 palliatives
were hoarded and diverted far
away from the ‘most-needy’
in society.
Over the years, the Nigerian
legislature has sufficiently
attracted too much power to
itself to the discomfort of
many sectors of our society.
The clamour to be ‘carried
along’ in every subject often
beyond constitutional limits,
is becoming suffocating. What
many people expect now is for
our legislators to use such
powers and privileges, like
constituency projects
judiciously. Oversight should
now be better organized to
put an end to the misadventure
of the power probe or how the
subsidy scam became a
celebration of corruption or
how corruption fought back
through tendentious oversight
behaviour in the capital
market. The on-going
accusations between the
Niger Delta Development
Commission, NDDC and
legislators, past and present,
are distasteful. Our
legislators will do well to
enable societal institutions
utilize their initiative,
discretion, age-long expertise
and established processes to
carry out their functions.
The NDE is sufficiently
widespread enough and
well-tested in the execution
of its nationwide functions
without daily routine
supervision.
E
ven our revered erudite
Emeritus Professor
Chinua Achebe failed to
appreciate the bold divide
between Awolowo’s, call it
local patriotism if you like,
and Zik’s manifest egomania
and selfishness. Because of the
Igbos’ blind, crass and
uncritical evaluation of our
Igbo leaders, I am writing a
book with title, ZIK IRONSI
OJUKWU – WRECKERS
AND GRAVE DIGGERS OF
IGBO
NATION
DEMYSTIFIED. At 79 years
plus, I hope I will complete
writing the book before I pass
on. Achebe said in his booklet,
The Trouble with Nigeria, “As
a student in Ibadan I was an
eye witness to that
momentous occasion when
Chief Obafemi Awolowo
“stole” the leadership of
Western Nigeria from Dr.
Nnamdi Azikwe in broad
daylight on the floor of the
Western House of Assembly
and sent the great Zik
scampering back to the
“Niger” whence he came.” In
that same book, Achebe
correctly and rightly stated as
follows, “Here was a true
nationalist (Zik) who
championed the noble cause
of “one Nigeria” to the extent
that he contested and won the
first general election to the
Western House of Assembly.
But when Chief Awolowo
“stole” the government from
him in broad daylight he
abandoned his principle
which dictated that he should
stay in the Western House as
Leader of the Opposition and
give battle to Awolowo.
Instead he conceded victory
to reactionary ethnic politics,
opuruiche2000@gmail.com
Zik is the trouble with Nigeria! (2)
“
PhD,Department of Philosophy,
University of Lagos
08116759758
fled to the East where he
compounded his betrayal of
principle by precipitating a
major crisis which was
unnecessary, selfish and
severely damaging in its
consequences.
“Professor Eyo Ita, an
urbane and detribalized
humanist politician who had
just assumed office as Leader
of Government Business in
Enugu saw no reason to
vacate his post for the fugitive
from Ibadan. Neither did most
of his cabinet which in sheer
brilliance surpassed by far
anything Enugu has seen or is
likely to see again in a long
time. Using his privately
owned newspapers and
political muscle, Azikiwe
maligned and forced Eyo Ita
and his team out of office and
proceeded to pack his own
cabinet with primary school
teachers, ex-police corporals,
sanitary inspectors and
similar highly motivated
disciples who were unlikely to
dispute anything he said. So
the rule of mediocrity from
which we suffer today received
an early imprimatur in Eastern
Nigeria of all places! And that
was not all. Professor Eyo Ita
was an Efik, and the brutally
unfair treatment offered him
in Enugu did not go
unremarked in Calabar. It
contributed in no small
measure to the suspicion of the
majority Igbo by their
minority neighbours in
Eastern Nigeria – a suspicion
which less attractive
politicians than Eyo Ita
fanned to red-hot virulence,
and from which the Igbo have
continued to reap enmity to
this day.”
Zik probably thought that
everybody was on mental
holiday when he wrote in his
autobiography- MY
ODYSSEY on page 305 as
follows-”Before the end of
1952 a crisis loomed in the
ranks of the NCNC as a result
of the unwillingness of certain
NCNC-appointed Federal
and Regional Ministers to toe
the party line.(This is a long
story which I hope to expand
in a later volume.)
Consequently, I was drafted to
contest an election into the
Eastern House of Assembly
and regularize this
irregularity.” According to Dr.
Okechukwu Ikejiani, in his
autobiography, Zik did not
write the later volume and I
am aware that there was no
crisis in the ranks of the
NCNC anywhere at that time,
except that introduced by Zik
when he fled Ibadan, stormed
Enugu and sacked Professor
Eyo Ita, and his brilliant team
even though Professor Eyo Ita
was his party man and fellow
easterner! Zik deliberately
and knowingly caused his
party the NCNC to lose the
government of Western
Nigeria to Awolowo’s Action
Group, created the eternal
minority problem for the
Igbos in Eastern Nigeria and
above all, handed the fruit of
independence struggle to
feudalists who contributed
nothing to the struggle, save
delays and obstructions.
Some Nigerians, mostly
Igbos contend that Awolowo’s
action which was legal and
constitutional was unfair and
below the belt, even though he
fought for the Yoruba nation
and Westerners. Accepting
this proposition as correct for
the sake of argument as the
Since the end of the
civil war, Igbos have not
been accepted as
partners and equal
citizens in the Nigerian
Project
professors say, for whom was
Zik fighting when he drove
away Eyo Ita, his party man
and fellow easterner out of
office? I entered Ibadan
University in 1964 with my
advanced level papers in
Physics and Mathematics to
study Physics. During my
second year in 1966, Major
Chukwuma Nzeogwu and his
men struck. After the long
vacation of 1966, I packed my
things from Ibadan and
sought safety in flight at the
Physics Department of the
University of Nigeria, Nsukka,
where I graduated with a B.Sc.
hons. degree, in Physics,
University of Biafra 1967
because Biafra had been
declared while we were doing
our degree examinations and
everything Nigeria in former
Eastern Nigeria changed to
Biafra. While we were doing
our degree examinations, Oil
Companies and others
interviewed us for possible
employment on graduation
only to be confronted by a war
of survival which was imposed
on Biafra by Nigeria,
therefore dashing our hopes
of a greater tomorrow. I am
proud to say that I served as
an officer in 12
COMMANDO BRIGADE,
BIAFRA ARMY during the
war. Though Biafra did not
survive, Biafrans to the
discomfiture and against the
expectations of the Nigerian
establishment survived in
large numbers. This made the
Nigerian government to
device new methods of giving
the final solution to the Igbo
problem by repressing,
suppressing and oppressing
us. For example, of the six
geopolitical zones in the
country, only the South East
Zone where the Igbos are
located has five states. The
other zones have six states
with one northern zone having
seven states!
The alternating of the
presidential seat between the
north and south has been
holding. For the 2023
elections when the
presidential slot will go to the
south, Ahmed Bola Tinubu
from the South West zone is
warming up to take the slot
even though the South West
and South South have had
their turns. Bola Tinubu is
planning to do to the Igbos
exactly what Awolowo
prevented Zik from doing to
the Yorubas in the Western
House of Assembly in 1951.
Perhaps it is convenient for
Tinubu to forget that many
Igbos such as Commodore
Ebitu Ukiwe, Rear Admiral
Ndubisi Kanu, late Mokwugo
Okoye, Echukwu myself and
many others were his
compatriots in the
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC
COALITION, NADECO,
under the bold and brave
leadership of Chief Anthony
Enahoro which valiantly
resisted the autocratic
maximum leader, General
Sani Abacha. Anyway, to me,
without restructuring the
Nigerian polity, the
presidency is not a worthwhile
occupation for any patriotic
southerner save the shameless
lackeys of the northern feudal
establishment. I do not agree
with those who ask God to
bless Nigeria without their
leaders working hard to
attract God’s blessing; for the
ancient Romans said,
“laborare est orare” which is,
to work is to pray.
Since the end of the civil war,
Igbos have not been accepted
as partners and equal citizens
in the Nigerian Project. What
MASSOB and IPOB are
saying is, since you don’t
accept us, PLEASE LET US
GO IN PEACE. In the
concluding part of his
broadcast to the nation
during THE GLORIOUS
JANUARY REVOLUTION as
Comrade Ikenna Nzimiro,
Emeritus Professor of
Sociology , termed it, Major
Chukwuma Nzeogwu said,
“….WE PROMISE THAT
YOU WILL NO MORE BE
ASHAMED TO SAY THAT
YOU ARE NIGERIANS.
Since October 1960 till now,
excepting the brief
excruciatingly herculean but
exciting time we spent in
Biafra, I have always felt
ashamed to say that I am a
Nigerian.”
Mazi Chike Chidolue’s
indictment of Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe is quite interesting.
But I will not engage in
detailed critique of his main
arguments now. Obviously,
Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe’s
obsession with One Nigeria
compelled him to take
decisions that eventually
proved extremely radioactive
to southern Nigeria, on the
one hand, and quite
congenial to the stifling
northernisation of the country,
on the other. Chief Obafemi
Awolowo, who had been
excoriated for introducing
ethnic politics in Nigeria,
seemed to have understood
better than Dr. Azikiwe that
forging a stable, harmonious,
and egalitarian democratic
country with the Fulanidominated
Muslim north is a
mission impossible and
wisely advocated a highly
decentralised system of
regional government. But no
matter his justification for
joining Lt. Col. Yakubu
Gowon to destroy the eastern
region, that singular decision
entails that Chief Awolowo
cannot be genuinely regarded
as a committed democrat and
humanitarian. In all this, the
extremely nauseating
duplicitous role of British
officials in handing over
political power to Alhaji
Tafawa Balewa who lacked
the philosophical sagacity to
govern has remained an
albatross in Nigeria’s
chequered history. One thing
is clear though: great political
leaders make great mistakes.
Of course, Dr. Azikiwe was a
great political leader and he
made great mistakes. But to
claim that “he is the trouble
with Nigeria” is an
unwarranted exaggeration.
CONCLUDED.