Just as well Twitter is temporarily off. It would have staged the maniacal roasting of the latest “Satan” in town, on the irreverent altar of social media, simply because hated-filled citizens disagree with his views! Still, expect some paroxysm, on the matter, on Facebook and allied social media.
Chris Ngige, Labour and Employment minister, was, to use that popular lingo, vigorously “shaking the table”, against his co-Igbo elite, who he accused of deploying hate to poison the minds of the unwary. He warned: a campaign powered by hate is counter-productive.
Though Ngige referenced fellow Ndigbo, that message is true of every elite nationwide — for many, if not most, seem to have embraced hatred and cheep passion, when facts and figures should have better anchored their message. It’s as Ngige said: at best, such rabid techniques are ignorant; at worst, they are mischievous. Either way, the common wealth is the loser.
On President Muhammadu Buhari’s “hatred” for the Igbo, Ngige countered such couldn’t be logically anchored. For starters, he says the Igbo enjoy an additional minister, above their due, in comparison to other geo-political zones, in the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Yeah: you could taunt, ad hominem: Ngige is taking rubbish, he’s too close to the government! Maybe. But that doesn’t vitiate the facts he stated.
On the present government’s legacy federal projects, Ngige insists the Igbo got their fair share: the 2nd Niger Bridge (South East), which he named alongside Lagos-Ibadan expressway (South West), Mambilla agricultural/electricity project (North East), East-West Road (South East-South-South), Abuja-Kaduna-Kano road (North West).
On general infrastructure, including aviation, Ngige points at on-going road works — Owerri-Aba, Enugu-Awka-Onitsha, Owerri-Umuahia — aside from the uplift of the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu.
“We had three Aviation ministers — Fidelia Njeze, Stella Oduah and Osita Chidoka,” Ngige recalled, appointees of past administrations that ‘loved’ the Igbo, but “they did nothing there. Buhari put N10billion in Enugu Airport. He does not hate Ndigbo.”
On Igbo clamour for security and other “juicy” appointments, Ngige told co-elite not to forget in a hurry. Time was when Ogbonnaya Onovo and Mike Okiro were IGP, almost back-to-back. Anyim Pius Anyim was secretary to the government of the federation, aside from his stint as Senate President.
“We had four Senate presidents,” Ngige recalled of a near-hegemonic era. “Twice we produced Deputy Senate President and Deputy Speaker, Ike Ekweremadu and Emeka Ihedioha. They were in charge of federal budgets for eight years from 2007 to 2015.”
Do all these then mean the Buhari government has been excellent with the Igbo and that they have absolutely no cause to grumble? No. But if they must, it should not be on the basis of presumed hatred. That can’t be supported: not by present facts; not by recent history.
But the Ngige charge is true of the Igbo as it is of the Sunday Igboho school of push-me-I-slap-you Yoruba activism. Always marshal facts to back your demand. Hate and explosive passion is equal-opportunity mess: it would first mess up your head (though initially making you feel good) and mess up your cause (eventually making you out as a joke!).
(The Nation)
