Elliot Uko is the founder of Igbo Youth Movement and Leader of South East Democratic Coalition. In this interview he expresses concern over the position of Ndgbo in Nigeria and the ability of the APC-led government to make much impact without first restructuring Nigeria’s federalism.
The South-east seems to have suddenly become the bastion of opposition. How do you react to this?
We don’t agree with you. Yes, the PDP would like to use anybody to bounce back to relevance, whether they deserve the continued support of the zone, which depends largely on how the ruling APC treats the zone. If the APC is smart enough to generously carry the South-east along, I don’t think my people really care about any political party. We don’t know the difference between the APC and the PDP; we just want to see a restructured Nigeria, where no man is oppressed, where all are equal, where nobody is born to rule, where true federalism reigns. Political parties are merely constitutional vehicles politicians use to drive their quest for power. The South-west has moved from AD to PDP to ACN then to PDP/APC. The North has moved from APP/PDP to ANPP to CPC and PDP and now to APC and PDP and now to APC.
Political parties do not matter to us, justice and equity matter more to us. We want to see a functional Nigeria. Regrettably, Nigeria can never function well under this quasi-unitary structure.
A section of the political class is trying hard to deceive Nigerians by pretending that once the new government fights corruption and Boko Haram that all will be well. That is not true. Yes we need to fight sleaze and the Boko Haram madness, but beyond both lies the foundational disease of a dysfunctional political structure of 36 unviable states and 774 lecherous LGs, on a monthly cake-sharing formula that will never grow our economy nor create jobs. We are simply stuck with a clearly unworkable political structure; we are deceived by the euphoria and excitement of a change of guard amongst the guardians of the till and the dispensers of political patronage. Not much has changed really. New guys just took over the till.
Do you have confidence in the new administration led by President Buhari? Do you believe APC can make a change?
President Buhari seems to mean business. We all must support him and pray for him. Yes, I think he knows Nigerians expect so much from him. At 73, I do not think he came on board merely to play around. I think he wants to etch his name in history as the man who united and rebuilt Nigeria. I think he knows this is very serious business.
Why do you think former President Jonathan failed?
Jonathan meant well for Nigeria. The hyenas that held him hostage grossly deceived him. Some of them from the South-east who loved to be called Jonathan’s handlers, who walked with a swagger and blocked everybody else from him and they have all abandoned him. They are now all in hot pursuit of Buhari’s boots, with their tongues dangling out. They are desperately searching for anybody who will lead them to Buhari’s boots. They are expert bootlickers. Surprisingly, when I spoke with some of them soon after the elections; they were heaping all the blames on Jonathan and his wife.
I was horrified. Men without conscience, lackeys and servile pseudo leaders who will worship anybody in power just so they could pick the crumbs that fall off under the table. The tragedy of the Igbo nation is that these are the characters that see themselves as Igbo leaders. They equate right to leadership with the billions they made under Jonathan. They are only hoping to use the hapless, over-burdened and long-suffering Igbo masses as cannon fodder as usual to re-launch their quest for continued political relevance. It is tragic, but it’s true.
Jonathan tried his best, but the hawks around him who eventually led him to and drowned him at the river were singing his praises just because they could easily manipulate him. He was their darling simply because he seemed the easiest president you could manipulate to have your way. He could not say no to any suggestion, so all of them ruthlessly used him mercilessly for their own ends. Jonathan was a victim of the fierce and volatile Nigerian power struggle. He has his own weaknesses though. But I know he meant well for Nigeria.
The swan-song of the leeches around him simply overwhelmed him. The problem with the presidency is the carnivores who usually find their way to surround the man. This brings me to the Igbo situation, the huge disconnection between the Igbo political elites and the masses is so frightening. The two groups have absolutely nothing in common. The only point of contact is when one comes to ask for and the other dispenses handouts. The later do not believe that the former has the capacity to think on his own. He has no regard for him whatsoever.
The Igbo Abuja politicians live in a world of their own, separate and so far away from reality. For them, the people are mere pawns to be used to advance their interest at will. Most of them only plot and scheme on how to be accommodated in any government, even as P.A.s or S.A.s, to anybody including Abubakar Shekau if they could access him.
They don’t believe in anything. Their credo is individual survival at all costs. They have no shame, under Jonathan, they were so powerful, they had power of life and death. Some of them even challenged God himself by deciding who survives and who doesn’t. It was that bad. They looked down at everybody as sub-human, many of them taught they were in heaven, some actually ran amok, choosing who and who to paralyse and who they can use as a tool weaving lies and turning the security on those they don’t like. Clearly playing God. Power and excess cash made them mad.
They lost the election partly because they spent so much energy planning how to hurt and block other people, they were so busy positioning themselves for higher office while drawing a list of people they will deal squarely with during Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s second term, that they offended God, instead of working hard for Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election, they were busy sharing campaign funds, buying properties in Dubai and elsewhere, blocking those they didn’t like, encircling Jonathan and fending off everybody. Well they would console themselves now with the huge fortunes they made under Jonathan.
And the elders are not guiltless, though there are a few good Igbo elders, most are mischievous fellows who pursue only self interest all the time. I hear they are only hoping the pro Biafra boys would do something silly, so they would quickly deliver them to the authorities and use them to endeared themselves to Buhari, I hope that is not true. What we expect from our elders is direction, leadership by example. These pro Biafra groups emerged out of frustration. They are expecting leadership form the elders. We want to see genuine, sincere, committed leadership.
This appalling situation only exist because the elders and so called political leaders of Igbo land have consistently failed in setting an agenda and following it up with leadership by example. As they scramble for crumbs under the table in Abuja, the masses are watching with disappointment. They regrettably don’t seem to care. You can’t fight for Ndigbo while struggling and lobbying for accommodation into government at the same time.
The two are incompatible. When you desperately come to beg for job or plead to join to eat in any government, they treat you like a new initiate into a cult, they make you take an oath of allegiance, nothing is free, you must pay a price, whatever they give you is at a cost. You can no longer honestly fight for truth and justice. You are co-opted and corrupted; you can’t fight for self and the people at the same time. You can only fight for one at the cost of the other. Elders and leaders must lead by example; they must show that they have the capacity to make sacrifices for the common good of their people. They must place group interest above self interest. That is the only way they can earn both respect and mass followership.
Many believe that the emergence of President Buhari at this time, is best thing that happened for this country in recent time. What is your take on that?
I don’t want to go into the role the international community played nor do I wish to talk about the key roles some powerful Nigerians played. I also choose not to talk about the traditional regional and sectional struggle for power in Nigeria and how they all played out. The important thing is that God knows everything. It is God’s will that Buhari will be president today. How he runs the country will greatly decide the future and answer your question. His style of governance will also determine the fate of the opposition party, the PDP. If we march along a divisive or sectional agenda, by not treating all fairly, then the aggrieved zones will gather round the PDP and strengthen it. The future depends largely on president Buhari’s large heart and style.
The South-east voted massively for PDP. Do you have any fear that APC-led federal government may decide not to award projects that would benefit the zone?
In as much as a lot depends on President Buhari’s style, Ndigbo themselves must sit up and decide on what they want. Igbo will never survive nor get justice in Nigeria until their leaders learn to lead by example, chart a noble course, work hard and walk steadily towards the goal, make the needful and quite necessary sacrifices that will lay a solid foundation for a better tomorrow. The rat race of falling over themselves for crumbs in every government will not help us. It is a calamity when any people are led by a bunch of hustlers who are only out for themselves. No people ever made meaningful political progress that way. Buhari and his team made huge sacrifice for twelve years. They got there because they persevered without compromising their set goal like the biblical Esau, who mortgaged his tomorrow for the fleeting satisfaction of today. Only sacrifice and commitment pays in the end. Cutting corners do not pay. Ndigbo are ashamed of the bootlicking culture the elders seem to have mastered since January 1970.
It is nauseating, it is despicable, it is unacceptable. People should be able to stand up for the truth. The situation is so bad that the younger generations are now forced to break out on their own in desperate search of how best to redeem their honour and better their lot as a people. Nigeria as constituted does not offer them hope or assurances of justice for their children in the future. They are trying out both sensible and not quite sensible options all in desperate bid for solution to their fears.
Elders and political leaders who would have shown direction are painfully only interested in bootlicking and crumb-picking. Ndigbo are scared of their future in Nigeria, stuck in a political structure that ensures unemployment and inflation grows steadily, fellow Nigerians stubbornly resisting to restructure the country and ease up economic development for all, with no respite in sight. The future looks quite bleak.
