The Trouble With Ndigbo
BY OKOROMA JAMES
As a Scholar and Politician, I have painstakingly studied the character and content of the Politics of NDIGBO.
The trouble with NDIGBO in Nigerian Politics, is that they do not have a TRIBAL AGENDA. They are too individualistic.
Furthermore, this lack of a Tribal Agenda, has been worsened by transactional politics which the Igbos play. Today in Igboland, any Criminal who makes money, is declared an Apex Leader in his Community, even when it is obvious that he lacks an understanding of contemporary leadership issues.
Ndigbo see everything as business. This is the mindset they have deployed to politics. This is why men and women of questionable character who cannot command respect at home and at the national level, are occupying commanding political positions in Igboland.
These men cannot defend Igbo collective interests. Their only business in politics, is to make money . They can kill, maim, blackmail or frustrate anyone who poses a threat to their interests.
As long as we continue to produce leaders with questionable moral and academic credentials, other Nigerians would never take us serious.
I am tempted to believe that if Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola were Igbos, they would have been contesting elections and meddling in Politics just as their likes do in Igboland.
It is our type of Politics that is making the rest of the Country believe we do not have men who can be entrusted with sensitive leadership positions at the Centre.
Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was the rallying point of the Yoruba race. He developed a Yoruba Agenda and groomed successors who pursued this Agenda after his exit. Senator Bola Tinubu continued from where Awolowo stopped. He moved to the Centre and became the major issue in Nigerian Politics.
Ndigbo lack leaders like Awolowo and Tinubu.
While Tinubu groomed his kinsmen and used them as Pillars to capture Power at the Centre, the so-called Igbo Politicians are busy conniving with the enemies of the Igbo race to exterminate their brothers who challenge them.
In the unfolding politics of who controls the National Assembly, the Igbos have been completely sidelined. Their Governors lack the national clout to attract major principal positions to the Southeast.
We must sanitize our Leadership recruitment Process to check the influx of dubious characters who lack the character, competence and vision to re-direct the fortunes of Ndigbo and regain lost grounds in national Politics.
…Okoroma wrote this article from Owerri, Imo State
