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THAT ATTACK ON DR. JULIUS KPADUWA
By
Austen K.Oghuma
On July 13, Dr. Julius Kpaduwa was assaulted by a band of assassins who had invaded his country home in Mbano, Imo State and proudly announced that they had "come to put an end to your governorship aspirations with a death sentence." They followed with a smack on his head with gun butt after which they shot his leg and left him to die in the surrounding shrubs. By the time Kpaduwa got back to the United States his hemoglobin count had dropped to 8 from its normal level of 14, which means he would have died but for the timely intervention of his numerous associates and professional colleagues.
No one needs to be told of the chilling effect such an announcement and the subsequent shot on his leg had on this modest, harmless and philanthropic physician based in Los Angeles whose only offense was to respond to repeated calls to come home and contribute to national development.
Before he decided to seek the higher office of governor in Imo State, Kpaduwa, with his money and in collaboration with his professional colleagues, had organized several medical missions to the state to bring health services to the people of Imo who are groaning under the weight of corruption, ineptitude and lack of vision. The efforts, he has always said, were placebos, band -aids that could be firmed up with good leadership. He often romanticized on how the creative energies of Imo people and indeed Nigerians could be unleashed with proper leadership. The United States and the rest of the world are waiting, he told his numerous supporters at every stop in Houston, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and San Francisco. He cited the example of South Korea, a country that was in the same position as that of Nigeria about 40 years ago. It took the leadership of South Korea to refocus the development effort of Korea to elevate it and its people to its present status. We all saw it during the recently conclude world cup tournament.
The other issue is the derision made of Nigerians by other nationals who often cite the chaos, corruption, and the near always-permanent disorderliness in our country. They can�t understand the basis of the Nigerian arrogance. To them Nigeria and Nigerians tend to behave like a mental retard, a child suffering from arrested development, or more precisely like a teenager who erroneously believes that he has come of age when the facts point to the contrary. How can anyone challenge their assertions that the black man is ungovernable? Of particular reference was that of a Chinese professional colleague of Kpaduwa who asked gleefully some time ago: Why is it that Nigerians are so highly intelligent, hard working and are found in all parts of the globe and yet Nigeria is so backward? We always tend to blame it on lack of credible leadership. To some of these other nationals, it is inconceivable that with the level of intellect and successes some Nigerians have displayed and achieved in their various fields, no one can emerge to show some traces of leadership that could find some admiration beyond their immediate ethnic enclaves. Here lies Kpaduwa�s burden. He has dared to step up to the plate and offered to re-invent the wheel with some form of purposeful leadership in Imo.
NOT RANDOM TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY
The attack is being passed over as one of those numerous violent incidences sweeping across Nigeria. But we believe that this particular one was more than just a coincidence. He could not have been a random target of opportunity for those who had benefited immensely from his philanthropy. First his medical mission trips that included Americans and other Nigerians who are not from Imo have touched virtually every family within the very area the attempted assassination occurred. He is well known, loved and respected. The people always looked forward to these trips, which seems to be their only source of medical services. The point here is that they had no need to want him dead. He has become a veritable part of their daily lives by providing them with free health services. This is a service the governor, Achike Udenwa, has tried to claim as one of his political achievements. So Kpaduwa could not have been the wrong man in the wrong house at the wrong time. They were sent.
The second point is their declaratory statement that they had decided unilaterally to end his "gubernatorial aspiration with a death sentence." Ordinary robbers are often not political and therefore have nothing to do with political aspirations. We know that Nigerians eat and breath politics since is the only thriving industry, but not to the point that mere robbery incidence could suddenly be turned into a violent political convention. Also shooting rarely occurs if the intention is simply to dispossess the victim of his valuables unless there is resistance. In this case, Kpaduwa obeyed and followed every of their instructions. As a resident in the United States, he knew better than to argue with an armed person either in law enforcement or otherwise.
It was therefore a well-orchestrated and calculated assassination attempt on Kpaduwa who has a genuine desire to serve the people of Imo. It was an attempt to intimidate and perhaps discourage him from further contesting the election. He rightly stated in his press interviews that he knows those who want him dead. We also know them. You don�t need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out.
They are the self-serving politicians who have contributed nothing tangible in their lives to benefit the poor. They are those who want to maintain a perpetual hold on the pulse string of Imo State and divert its entire content to personal use. They are those who prefer to attend the funeral of their opponents in grandeur than to face them alive in modesty for a fair contest. They are cowards.
They are those who spend long hours perfecting their strategies to transfer millions of dollars into their private accounts than to spend few moments to contemplate on how best to provide milk for sick children and their mothers. They are those who lived in thatched houses today but suddenly desire to transfer to glass houses at public expense. They are those who are morally bankrupt and would do anything to keep the state and its people in servitude. But this will never happen.
IT SERVES HIM RIGHT
We are very grateful to God that Kpaduwa survived the attack. But there have been very disturbing statements that came from those we thought would be in sympathy. They came from those who are high up in the state political structure. Some of the statements go as follows:
Ordinarily, one would be tempted to dismiss these statements with a wave of hand believing that they were made out of ignorance. We know those who stood up against the military, those who were courageous enough to campaign against Abacha and his henchmen. We know of MKO Abiola and his wife Kudirat, Alfred Rewane, Frank Ovie-Kokori, Anthony Enahoro, Pa Ajasin, and Abraham Adesanya, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti. Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana, Chief Ralph Obiorah, Wole Soyinka, Clement Nwankwo, Abdul Oroh, Bola Tinubu, John Oyegun and numerous others who were either killed, jailed or driven into exile.
Part of Nigeria�s problem is that those that seek to make genuine change for the benefit of the masses have never had the chance to rule. For example, the leaders that demanded independence from Britain ended up in opposition while those who preferred to remain under colonial rule formed the government for independent Nigeria. Also the failure of the January 1966 coup paved the way for revisionist forces to seize control of government. The same scenario seems to be playing itself out in Nigeria today. Those who fought for the democratic rights of Nigerians as being inalienable rights by opposing the annulment of June 12, those who stood up against military dictatorships, those who sought a total restructuring of the system are again not in government. This is the Nigerian dilemma. It clearly explains the on-going theatrics in Federal Republic Nigeria today at every level of governance.
Where were Senator Ifeanyi Ararume and our beloved governor Udenwa during the Abacha era? Where were the now famous political warlords who arrogate to themselves the right to hold the people of Imo in perpetual servitude by attempting to frustrate Kpaduwa�s desire to contest the elections? Democracy thrives on competition and free expression of people�s will. We know the roles these military apologists played during those years as they now display their autocratic disposition.
OUR ROLE AGAINST MILITARY RULE
At this point we would attempt to provide some answers to the issues raised regarding the role played by Kpaduwa and other Nigerians against military dictatorship. First, they provided and are still providing the financial under-belly on which the Nigerian economy is rested. According to Western Union officials, Nigerians remitted more than $100 million to their families and relatives at home in fiscal 1999. This remittance sustained the economy when nothing else seemed to work and government officials were busy wrecking it and stealing all the proceeds from oil.
Also as a democrat, who believes in civil liberties, Kpaduwa was in the trenches with the pro-democracy group in Nigeria. As chairman of the Nigerian Democratic Task Force based in Los Angeles, he provided the leadership to sustain the campaign. It was not beneath him to carry placards to protest in Los Angeles urging the United States government to impose sanctions on Abacha and his bandits for all their crimes against the Nigerian people. He embraced those chased out of Nigeria by the regime and provided them with comfort. He was in constant touch with similar Nigerian organizations across the United States and Canada to plan action. Ask those who should know---Chief Anthony Enahoro, General Alani Akinrinnade, Gordon Johnson, an American who is crusading against the oil companies and their activities in Niger- delta. He first met Johnson at picket line in 1997 and they have become friends ever since. It is to his credit that Southern Californians became fully aware of the viciousness and intensity of Abacha�s dictatorship. He mobilized Nigerians in Los Angeles to challenge the Rt. Rev. Jesse Jackson at a public function for urging the United States government not to isolate and impose sanction on Nigeria. The problem with Kpaduwa is that he is too modest, too civilized and too cool to blow his own horn.
No one in Imo State government today has touched as many hearts, for as many years in as many ways as Kpaduwa. He is well marinated in democratic values, which also include accountability. Democracy is all about responsible leadership and being accountable to the electorates. In the trenches as a physician and a pro-democracy advocate, he acquired habits that define him: a bottomless capacity for work, a talent for forging consensus and a knack for climbing past rivals without making enemies. These are the basic ingredients of leadership.
It is trite to attempt to address the issue of "coming to Nigeria to enjoy" because Kpaduwa has always enjoyed serving the people either in Nigeria or in the United States. His concept of enjoyment is not diverting public funds to personal use. It is not to amass wealth at the expense of the poor. He can become richer than he is today by practicing his medicine in the United State, but his call for service is more compelling and overriding than to further build ephemeral things. "I can continue in my medical practice, expand my financial base here in the U.S. and go home and touch the lives of one or two people. I will feel unaccomplished in life. I want to impact the lives of a lot more�"he said. In other democratic societies, people go into politics to serve, not to enjoy. It is only Nigerian politicians that do that. It has to stop.
Austen K. Oghuma,
San Fernando Valley, CA
Forwarded by Ambrose Ehirim