AGBAKOBA GOOFED
By
At 50 years, Olisa Agbakoba seems to be exhibiting tell tale signs of mental declivity. Otherwise how do you explain his wholesale vilification and denigration of the ethnic rock from which he was hewn (vide. The SUN newspaper of August 9,2003.) If he was that smart, Olisa should have taken a cue from the astute Yoruba people whom he grovels after. They have a proverb, which says thus: “ it is only a bastard who points at his father’s house with a left finger”.
That he was outwitted by well grounded Igbo politicians and shunned by OHANEZE, was indicative of a vote of no confidence passed on an ex- NADECO running dog. suffering from media over exposure. People don’t really mind; if he limits his indiscretions to the political economy of extracting forex from cross-border donor organizations under the pretext of human rights activism, but to inflict our sensibilities with this incoherent nonsense of Green party politics and not been able to pay for PDP ticket; is stretching chicanery to a ridiculous dimension.
The fact is that, he had no discernible structure nor political outreach in Anambra nay the South East. He said as much in his submission “I am more relevant in the south-west than the south-east”. But the poser is how come the AFENIFERE/AD did not consider him fit to run on their ticket? Was it not the height of political buffoonery to neglect the ‘sophisticated’ Yoruba constituency where he enjoyed a critical mass appeal to dabble into the “medieval” Igbo domain bristling with “demons” like Arthur Eze, Chris Uba, Nzeribe, Emeka Offor?
As a Senior Advocate of Nigeria ostensibly grounded with the rhetoric’s and tools of public discourse, one did expect a well articulated and unassailable appraisal of the turmoil ravaging Anambra State, and not the inane analysis arising from a mind inebriated with the fall outs of a mid century birthday bash. In one breath. Olisa posits that “Igbo’s are caught by tunnel vision “ but in another he somersaults by extolling the Obi of Onitsha and Chuba Okadigbo who massaged his ego.
True the politics of Igboland is undergoing a cataclysm of some sorts, reminiscent of the wild, wild western political rascality of the early sixties. The bad, the ugly, the hoodlums, idiots and shrine patrons have over taken the political driving seat while the gentlemen have stepped aside until these ne’er-do-wells neutralize each other.
Most perceptive and sensible Nigerian detect, this is a re-run of an old film wherein the script, story line and characters fit into the broad thematic objective of deploying reprobate sons-of-the soil to act as political saboteurs. Recall that Ladoke Akindola’s perfidy against Obafemi Awolowo derived its dynamics from Tafawa, Balewa’s strategy of destabilizing the old western region. However, it took the direct intervention of an Igbo premier Michael Okpara of the United People Grand Alliance (UPGA) and the young Igbo majors in the Nigerian Army to provide succour to the embattled Yorubas.
One would like Agbakoba to name how many of his Hausa or Yoruba heroes, would stick out their necks on the chopping block for Igbos. At the risk of repetition; it is apposite to reiterate, that since the end of the civil wall, it has been an unwritten mantra of the federal Government, to exclude, marginalise and cleanse the Igbo race from the commanding heights of governance, economy and bureaucracy. Igbo nonentities are appointed as ministers to contribute to the underdevelopment of their area. While nincompoops, fly-by-night scallywags are empowered with eye-popping contracts and tons of money to precipitate tumult, crisis and pandemonium on a perpetual basis. The upshot of these is to portray the south eastern zone as a hotbed of neo- Biafrans; constantly colliding that cannot be trusted with power.
Last time it was an Igbo Minister who described his people’s presidential aspiration as “idiotic”. Today Agbakoba is abusing his kinsmen as medieval. In any case he is in distinguished company. Some time ago it was Chuba Okadigbo who consigned Nnamdi Azikiwe’s lamentations as the “ rantings of an ant”. Till today, that choleric outburst against an icon of Igbo civilization has haunted and jinxed the political career of the very cerebral philosopher-king.
The jostling permutations and jockeying for the 2007 presidential campaign has begun in earnest. Some of the leading contenders up the Northern divide, have a sneaky suspicion that the Igbo agenda might scuttle their maneuvers.
So what to do ? get some noisy but visible political pretenders from the Eastern flank to plant a Judas kiss on his follow “Nyanmiri” aspirations in return for some errand boy appointments in a future government. It is all well and good for Agbakoba to make his choice of preferences. It is also within his rights to reflect on the themes of history and proffer perspectives on the way forward, but for goodness sake, he must not defecate in the church cathedral and clean up his backside with a Bible. Many happy returns to the attorney, but remember that a goat that keeps the company of a dog will soon learn how to eat excreta.
August 2003