Hon. Chinedu Nkwonta
Nigeria and the entire world know that the
highest victims of the insurgency in the Northern part of this country has been
the South East, Ndigbo. There is no State in Igbo land that has not gotten
reasonable shares of the consequences of the bombings and killings perpetrated
by this callous and deadly sect.
It clearly amounts to insensitivity from
the part of the decision makers on security matters in this country to lumber us
with the same people that have killed most of us, maimed some of us, displaced
some of us, made some of us refugees in our country, chased so many of us away
from the locations we have lived and invested our efforts and sweat over the years.
These internally displaced brothers and sisters of ours,instead of getting compensated by the
Government, instead of being rehabilitated emotionally, psychologically and financially
for irreparable and irreplaceable losses that they have suffered, are now being
pursued into the villages by dumping the same people that have been dealing
with us ruthlessly at our door steps.
Nigeria needs to understand that this
insult is the peak of insensitivity, abuse and ridiculing of a people that have
not
committed any offense except being decent
and hard working than most. This abuse amounts to pushing the people of the
South East to the wall and saying blatantly without any atom of consideration
that the Igbo man shall do nothing, after all, who is or who are their leaders,
who will speak for them, what will they do?
It will be a mistake and distraction for
anyone to suggest in
any way or manner that this heinous
insensitive act was approved by any son or daughter of Igbo land. This of
course is not to defend anyone but a position to state categorically that even
in our internal political sand throwing, every Igbo man knows that such a
matter is not a joke for any of us, reason is that we all have felt the pains
at one time or the other. There is no governor in the South East that has not attended
one burial or the other of Boko Haram victims.
It will be clearly unfair and
irresponsible for anyone to suggest that anyone of us can directly or
indirectly support the relocation of such deadly prisoners to any part of the South
East even if we have the most secure prisons in the country.
The Igbo nation must be careful to read in
between the lines and know when the seed of division is being sown among us, a
seed that purely removes any bit of cover of our collective nakedness still
left.
It will be wicked of any Igbo person to
blame the present government of Chief Dr. Willie Obiano for this terrible slip.
In the quest to get redress as quickly as
possible, we must be
reminded that it is a collective battle
that must be carefully,
intelligently and persistently fought. All
hands of all well
placed Igbo persons and well meaning
Nigerians must come on deck. I added all well meaning Nigerians with great
sense of responsibility recognising that if all well meaning Nigerians from all
parts of this nation do not put pressure on the senses of the insensitive
security decision makers as it concerns this matter, it may be their turn for
one issue or the other tomorrow.
These prisoners may be in a prison in
Anambra State, it is not
the exclusive responsibility of the
government of Anambra
and our governor to fight this, the
challenge is directly on the
shoulders of the entire South East
governments., it is on the
shoulders of all well meaning Nigerians.
It is important to state that for the
oneness of this great nation to be sustained on a long haul, it is very
important that the sensitivities of all regions in this nation are dully considered
in all decisions that governments make be it in the Federal, State or the Local
Governments.
The truth of the matter is that the
government of Anambra State jumped into action immediately she got the hint of
the plan. The markets in Anambra State that were shut down in peaceful protest
was not organised by ghosts.
Governor Willie Obiano immediately moved
into actions, while making the right political noises by contacting and talking
to the right quarters concerned, he mobilised our people in peaceful
demonstration to tell the decision makers that it will be too much for us to
bear if this decision is allowed to stand. Nigeria, being a truly inconsiderate
nation, went ahead to execute the plan.
Anambra people are hurting and
complaining, yet we are still peaceful, it is simply due to the trust the citizens
have built on our Chief Security Officer in the State, Governor Willie Obiano,
a man that has always dealt with us with truth and respect.
Without a governor with the temperament
and coordination that we have in Governor Obiano, the South East would have been
on fire today, the secret agenda of the perpetrators of this iniquity on Ndigbo
would have been accomplished.
The effects of Boko Haram is very real to
Ndigbo, it is not a
political matter. Our dear Governor is
doing his best to reverse the decision, we believe that he will conquer.
Governor Obiano knows the effect of such act in a State that he is passionately
modelling and packaging, a State he has wisely graphed with clear visions of
attaining certain levels and standards at given times, it will amount to
destroying his personal dreams.
In this his effort, Ndigbo must be told
the blunt truth, the people at the centre must be collectively pressured to reverse
this decision. We must bear in mind that the wickedness being perpetrated so
far is by design therefore there must be some unreasonable resistance from the
imposers. We must collectively under the
circumstance keep pressuring within peaceful and reasonable means till we get
result.
We must equally be told that a slip like
this does not diminish the laudable successes and sincere governance that has
been continually dished out by our dear governor.
At
this time, our support to him need to be reaffirmed as to encourage him to
fight better.
Akpokuodike is not a coward, God is with
him, he will always do his best for Ndi Anambra, more importantly, he will always
tell us the truth, like he has done in this case.
Ndi Anambra, thank you for your
understanding, endurance and patience, we must keep trusting God and believing
in our Governor.
This is my personal opinion.
I salute you all.