March 28, 2005

Corruption: the Bane of Nigerian Polity

by Ifeanyi Geoffrey Ekenasi ---- The removal of the minister of education Professor Fabian Osuji and others of Igbo extraction has raised some dust in Igbo circles with the serious allegations that the action of the Federal government on this matter is tantamount to conspiracy and selective punishment against the corrupt.

I read the hue and cry over this matter among the Igbos with not only a sense of shame but also that of sorrow. Sorrow, because the feelings nursed by the Igbos over this matter reminds me that Nigeria is still wallowing in a miserable ethinic chauvinism of the lowest ebb. I worry about this situation because in my humble opinion, ethnic bias ranks second only to corruption in the lethal heirarchy of Nigeria's social malaise. There is no gainsaying the fact that it has threatened the very existence of our national life for over forty five years. It has inhibited social cohesion, stability and hence progress. It is dangerous and must be avoided.

Conceded that Nigeria has continued to play the game of hide and seek with the Igbo nation since the end of the civil war, over thirty five years ago. It is true that Igbos are a marginalized group in Nigeria. However, we must not attribute every thing that happens to an Igbo person as a part and parcel of that mistreatment. To always react negatively against everything non-favorable to Igbo makes no sense. We must be careful to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In the Osuji et al case, some Igbos have failed to do this separatation with substantial accuracy. Even before all the the facts were out, we had started to cry ethnicity, tribalism and what have you. Why the current Obasanjo's war against corruption will again fail like every other thing Nigerian is the silly cry of ethinicity and the kinsmanly show of solidarity when these will serve no useful purpose.

If Osuji's alleged corruption is true, then I do not regard him as a good Igbo because he has not by so doing represented the honor, the dignity and the prestige for which Igbos are known. By his corrupt practices he acts against the interest of the posterity of Igbos who will grow up to inherit a corrupt and moribund nation. Any Nigerian privileged to hold a public office no matter his extraction must keep off corrupt practices if our children must have a future to inherit. For such an officer to do the contrarary is to provoke the anger of people of good conscience and make himself a public enemy.

Listen, every corrupt public functionary must be made to pay dearly for his crimes. We must not overlook the fact that every public officer in trouble for corruption must come from somewhere. We must not worry ouselves where he comes from. I would worry if Osuji was wrongfully accused of corruption. If not, may we Igbos steer clear and allow a culprit to pay for his misdeed.

That is the best, and in fact, the only way we can successfully fight and win the so-called war against corruption. A nation can survive wars, and famines, and pestilences, however, no nation in human history has been known to survive the level of corruption prevalent in Nigeria today.

GEOFFREY IFEANYI EKENASI
ATTORNEY AT LAW
KENAX LAW OFFICES
CHARLESTON, WEST VRIGINIA

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March 18, 2005

The Exclusion of Ojukwu: A Nigerian Affair

by Geoffrey Ifeanyi Ekenasi The regret expressed by former SSG of Imo state Mr. Enoch Anyanwu on the exclusion of Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu demands further discussion given the mundane and backward nature of the philosophy behind this exclusionary policy, and the potential consequences of such a policy on our newly recreated democracy.

I agree almost completely with Mr. Anaynwu that Ojukwu is conspicuously missing in the national confab, however, I disagree with this gentleman when he blamed Ohaneze ndi Igbo for not protesting over the exclusion, thereby making it sound like and Igbo problem.

That there is a national confab in Nigeria and Ojukwu is excluded is not an Igbo question, it is a question of right and wrong. I submit that the exclusion of Ojokwu from the national confab is wrong.
Yes, Ojukwu is just one among about 130 million Nigerians. Yes, not everybody must attend the conference and yes, Ojukwu is just a human being like all of us. Nevertheless, Ojukwu has been an outspoken political Nigerian who has often projected the other view without fear or favor and whose sense of logic and intellectual prowess is no news to most of the reasonable Nigerians.

He has demonstrated a wealth of knowledge of the Nigerian situation; has been a part and parcel of the inner dynamics of the politics of Nigeria and appears to comprehend its details. Has he not often articulated the issues in such a manner that, whether you agree with him or not you know where he is coming from.

His vision of a modern polity and the position of the black man in the world was made manifest in his famous (notorious?) Ahiara Declaration. When ever provoked to do so or called upon occasionally his thesis has proven to be a serious outburst of brain energy. Why doe this writer seem to heap all this encomium on a living soul? One reason is that this is the writer's way of protesting the dwarfist policy in Nigeria of shying away from the brightest and the best, and instead, wasting a great deal of time trying to run him down rather than encourage, tap and utilize his/her mental energy. Chief Obafemi Awolowo was a victim of this rubbish. That is why he was never a Nigerian President. Nigerians were too intimidated to put him in the forefront and utilize his bewildering mental abilities. We debated more of Awolowo's tribalism and his role during the civil war (which is personally disgusting to me though) than tapping his mental enrgy for the good of Nigeria. I was ready to forgive and forget his civil war thing so we could forge ahead and tap what he had upstairs for the sake of our nation but fellow Nigerians were not as ready.

Awolowo is now gone and we all lost. Today, Ojukwu is alive but again, many Nigerians are intimidated by his mental power. They are afraid to debate him. They quake and shake at the other view, the opposing view. They think hell will be let loose if the intellectual giant is not held in chains.

Fellow Nigerians, if I must ask, if Ojukwu is not qualified to sit at the confab and air his views, who is ? Oh! by the way, did I mention when I appeared to be presenting his credentials that he was the leader of the break away Biafra? Methinks, that he knows more than any Nigerian dead or alive why he led the then Eastern region out of Biafra. If that is so, would it not benefit Nigerians to hear him now that he is no longer a rebel discuss in a national confab the panecea for resolving those probelems that angered his people? Being a living rebel leader in our great nation would he not have a lot to say in a conference that is aimed at making Nigeria better?

I have friends who believe that the exclusion of Ojukwu is a clear indication of lack of seriousness on the part of Nigerian government in the confab as a means of moving Nigeria forward. Could it be true? May be the future will tell. For the present, as long Nigeria as a nation continues to close our eyes against talents due to petty jealousies and silly prejudices, so long will Nigeria continue to lag within the comity of nations and regrettably remain the shame of Africa and the black man.

IFEANYI EKENASI
ATTORNEY AT LAW
KENAX LAW OFFICES
CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA.

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