BY
PROFESSOR STEVE A. OKECHA
“One secret of success
in life is for a man
to be ready for his
opportunity when it
comes.”
– BENJAMIN DISRAELI
When my friend [no, our friend] took his oath of office in 2023 as the senator representing Delta North, I personally congratulated him. I had hoped that there would be good tidings for us in Delta North. To my greatest surprise, the senator immediately and smartly surrounded himself with a bunch of jobless, rude aides and highly uncultured media men and women. Some of them were Ukwuani weed boys.
Then, he embarked on a wild goose chase – agitating relentlessly for the creation of Anioma state. That eventually became his main pre-occupation, to cover up his incompetence in the Red Chamber. Google where he said that Anioma state would be created, sealed and delivered to him. Hmmmmm. This is sheer display of imperiousness, arrogance and pomposity. The senator appears to turn every opportunity into his own personal publicity stunt. His deliberate humiliation of other people’s dignity is utterly despicable. He acts with impunity, thus, treating rudeness to grab attention.
We watched as events unfolded. Histories were re-written, twisted and grossly distorted. Lies were copiously told. Elders were insulted with reckless abandon by the aides. Highly revered traditional rulers in Delta North were wilfully disrespected and embarrassed. What shocked me most was the senator’s inability to call his aides [with drug-reddened eyes] to order. The senator would have endeared himself to Delta North citizens if he had cautioned his wild aides to curtail their excesses. His aides, stricto sensu, were responsible for his mounting unpopularity. Sometimes, I feel for him.
Some of our people were busy as rats in corn, clamouring for the creation if Anioma state with their principal – chasing the shadows. I understand that our people had been penciled down for the positions of Deputy Governor, SSG, HOS, Speaker, Senator, Ministers and Commissioners of the phantom state. Hip hip hooray! Is the would – be state going to be created for Ukwuani people alone? Of course, no.
A number of our hungry young men have found their way to Idumuje Ugboko to flatter the senator and have some bread. Some of our women in their thirties, forties or fifties, put on their Sunday best as they troop in their numbers to the senator’s village with their begging bowls to “sisternise” with the legislator in his quest for Anioma state creation. See what hunger has done to our people!
From the onset, I pointed out that state creation, according to the Constitution, is an uphill task-almost an impossible exercise by any civilian political process. A few of our people joined me to elucidate the process, but all we had were blatant insults from the senator’s weed boys.
Believe me, some Ukwuani lawyers [yes, learned gentlemen], some academics [yes, intellectuals], some politicians [elective and appointive office holders], and some community elders said that my position was wrong. They were of the opinion that the exercise could be effectively carried out by the president by fiat. I laughed. No civilian president in Nigeria, no matter how powerful, can single-handedly create a state. I can say it again and again.
The principal agitator for Anioma state, at some stage, tried to single-handedly merge Delta North with the South East – without due consultation, without any sense of history and geography.
In trying to trace our origin as Ukwuani people, experts, semi-experts, and quacks have used such terminologies as edoids, iboids and other “oids.” Maybe, we should add: Akashiadoids, Aboids, Utagbaoids and [Androids, in the higher mood.] I am not carried away by these highfalutin words. We are UKWUANI, simpliciter. Our ancestors were proud UKWUANI.
A few years ago, some of our men and women began to classify themselves as Ibos. No problem. There is freedom of association. But it becomes absurdity or madness when a 30-year old man says that he is Ibo, while his TWO parents are proudly Ukwuani. I repeat, this is naked madness. Ukwuani is Ukwuani, Ukwuani is NOT Ibo, and will NEVER be Ibo. Period. I have written and written, spoken and spoken about the sanctity of our Ukwuani identity. We should be proud of ourselves. We should NOT give room to outsiders to regard us as worthless human beings. I am sad, that those who were our inferiors yesterday are now our superiors today. Retrogressive politics is the cause.
I love a great deal the recent words of admonition of the young, brilliant and dynamic monarch [Dein] of Agbor Kingdom, His Majesty, Keagborekuezi I to the youths in his domain. Listen to him:
We are not Igbo, we are Agbor.
We speak Agbor. Do you want
to give up a kingdom that
existed for 2000 years to
a legal entity created 40
years ago that has no history?
Which one do you prefer?
I have said it times without number, that from 1999 to the present day, Ukwuani-Ndosumili land has not had a functional senator. And I have no apologies. There is no signature of the current senator anywhere in our land – in Obiaruku, Ogume, Kwale, Aboh, Utagba-Uno, Abbi, Umutu, Ossissa, Amai, Ashaka, Emu, Ezionum, Umuebu, Ebedei, Isselegu, Okpai, Umutu. This is definitely insulting. Some first-timers in the Senate from Taraba, Kogi and other states have done wonders for their constituencies. Our own man wasted our precious time, beating about the bush. I once said that, “we sent him to buy groceries for us in the supermarket, and, he, instead, went searching for the ceramics section.”
When I hear some people say, that the senator should be allowed to do and complete his second term, I become offended instantly. There is nothing like automatic continuation for any legislator in the Constitution. For my money, the man did not really do anything tangible in the first term as expected. He played around with irrelevant bills, and abaridoned his constituency. Zero impact. A man cannot do a second term, when he has really not done the first term satisfactorily. He took us for a ride, and the consequence is rejection. I, nevertheless, sympathise with him.
The senator wasted countless man-hours agitating for the creation of Anioma state – hunting mirages. He loved pursuing illusions. The man once arranged for two teams from Delta North to interact with the Senate Adhoc Committee on State Creation, meeting at Uyo and Enugu. The team to Uyo was to make a case for the creation of Anioma state in the South-South, while the team to Enugu was to stress the need to create the state for the South East. That was first-class gambling, showing that the principal agitator was clearly confused and focusless.
From the results of the APC primaries yesterday, the senator has been emphatically crushed, and may not do a second term. While I blame him for nonperformance, I also scold his impudent, insolent, dishonest and tactless aides. The men and women were all a nuisance, who simply “chopped” the senator’s money for nothing. The man and his aides owe us an apology.
I am compelled at this juncture, to pose some pertinent questions, now that Anioma state is no more:
• Where are the senator’s attack dogs now?
• Why did they, with all their fangs, allow their principal to be defeated in the APC direct senatorial primary election?
• To the senator and his rabid dogs: how country?
How market?
• Have the aides known now the difference between khaki and leather?
• From where will the aides eat their breakfast tomorrow, now that their oga is no longer relevant in the scheme of things?
• Have the rabid dogs realised that the TRUTH will always stand the test of time?
• Have they seen that rascality does not pay?
• I hope they have seen the importance of sound education, have they?
• Do they now know fully what a seasoned professor is made of?
• Do they realise that elders deserve respect?
• What is the status of Anioma state, after all the gragra?
• The senator’s errand boys and girls told us that the referendum for Anioma state creation would be in December, 2025, but it did not take place. When will it be carried out exactly?
• The weed boys are now JOBLESS. Will they go to the farm, or will they search for a new master?
• The senator, often described by his aides, as a political genius and an achiever extraordinaire, was mercilessly and hopelessly beaten by his opponent yesterday in their party’s primary election in Delta North. What really happened?
People of my intellectual mould and exposure, would probably stay at home, puffing on long Cuban cigars, sipping whiskey intermittently. Instead, I elected to comment occasionally on Ukwuani-Ndosumili Whattsapp platforms. To educate our people, show the light and the way forward-actualising my chieftancy title: Okwanuzo Osa, meaning, one who clears and widens the road for others to pass. To explain myself to people who have already decided not to understand.
In the process of airing my views, I was insulted by brats, while some people benefited immensely from my scholarly contributions. My position on Anioma state creation has come to pass. And Anioma state is dead – as dead as a dodo.
My brothers and sisters, no doubt, we have all learnt something from the senator’s misadventure. Never again shall we engage in blind, follow-follow politics. Now, sing my Song of Self Identity:
Let us restore our self pride
Let us restore our dignity.
Let us restore our self esteem.
Let us restore our self love.
Let us restore our self confidence.
Let us restore our self worth.
Let us restore our self respect.
Let us not allow others to define us.
Let us not live for the approval of others.
Let us strengthen, forever and ever,
our bond of brotherhood.
Verbum sat sapient est – A word is enough for the wise.