The fortunes of Ndigbo in Nigeria’s appear to be waning. With the present Nigeria’s political equation, the Igbo who hitherto occupy prominent positions in the nation’s political power equation are now relegated to the background that the highest office an Igbo man is occupying today is that of the deputy senate president.

In this interview with Daily Sun, a political activist and medical doctor, Ezuma James Ezuma attributed the disorder to the fact that two great Igbo leaders, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu did not groom successors amongst the Igbo. But that notwithstanding, he was delighted that Dr Orji Uzor Kalu is gearing up to fill the vacuum.

Today’s politics and those of yesteryears As at today, the politics of Nigeria is assuming regional connotation as it was during the Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo era. Today, we seem to admire their type of politics because they were in talking terms and their interests were the common man and Nigeria’s unity. That is what we should have wished that our present crop of leaders should be doing, but that is not the case. Rather, it is looting spree or struggle for the treasury. Our present leaders do not have the people they are meant to govern at heart and that could inform the present state of affairs in the country. Nobody appears to be interested in the welfare of the masses and the funds that were to have been used to better their lots are shared by a greedy few who masquerade as leaders. In Nigeria today, what we have in place is politics of acrimony, politics of winner takes all, politics of ‘we are in charge’ which has been dubbed ‘ politics of I pass my neighbour’, politics of where political office holders are no longer accountable to the electorates and this is too bad for the country.

We must go back to the era when opposition was tolerated and do away with the present situation whereby governors in some states do their opponents make use of government facilities.

Place of Ndigbo

The unfortunate thing about the Igbo man is that we have somebody seemingly assuming the position of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the  West  in the name of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and many assuming  the  same position in the North for Ahmadu Bello, like Alhaji Adamu  Ciroma  and others. But in Igbo land, I don’t know who Dr.  Nnamdi Azikiwe  groomed to replace him; I don’t know who Chief  Odemegwu Ojukwu  prepared to replace him. I don’t even know  who Dr. Alex Ekwueme  prepared to replace him and today, we are at  crossroads. The Igbo need  a leader to discuss with the likes of  Tinubu and Ciroma. Tinubu started  with one state, but today he has  more than four and he is still moving.  The North is controlling  three major political parties and they are still  moving. That’s  why they can talk of consensus candidate and they are  taken seriously  by the rest of the country. The Igbo have no such persons and that accounts to why they are taken for a ride in this  But all hopes are not lost. I see Orji Uzor Kalu as an emerging  Igbo  leader and that is why every right thinking Igbo man should  support his  present ambition to become a senator because from there,  he will  launch into the Igbo leadership circle proper. You know  he had two  states, but because of what is inherent in the Igbo man,  those he  entrusted with the affairs of those states made him lose  them and the  Igbo were the worst for it, and they went back to square  one. But if he is  supported by his people in Abia North as I know  they would and he gets  to the Senate, he would have re-launched  himself into political  relevance preparatory to assuming the Igbo  leadership position. I am saying all these because there is no rallying point now for  the Igbo  man in the nation’s political equation. A leader  is supposed to emerge  now like David did in Israel when they were  in the same position. Let  that leader step out and save his people  from further exclusion.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/national/2011/mar/30/

Kalu is being groomed well, the only problem is that the people of the east do not support him.

sad but truth, at the end of the day Kalu will take is rightful place

Alj Uche:

Kalu is being groomed well, the only problem is that the people of the east do not support him.

sad but truth, at the end of the day Kalu will take is rightful place

You made sense there. One thing i've noticed amongst Igbos is their tendency not to support somebody with the beleive that that person is a criminal. Orji uzor Kalu and Tinubu are no different but Yorubas support Tinubu while Igbos don't support Kalu.

Ibo people are always crying and whining over something sha. Shebi you people have Odechukwu?

Eko Ile:

Ibo people are always crying and whining over something sha. Shebi you people have Odechukwu?

MUMU, when did GEJ become Igbo.

If all that is left for Igbos to offer is OUK, to hell with Igbo presidency!
Too much desperation is BAD!

I really hate this reference with Tinubu. I thought I saw a thread here about how those judges were allegedly bribed to sway the rulings in favour of ACN?

afam4eva:

MUMU, when did GEJ become Igbo.

When he picked up ibo name and begin pandering to ibo people, promising them ridiculous things like the presidency when in fact he just snatched it away from them. Dude is the ibo leader ibo people never had, he's their knight in shinning armor,



You people are so self destructive, you know how to work against your own interests.

There is no way this guy is not Babapupa aka Seanet.

Eko Ile:

When he picked up ibo name and begin pandering to ibo people, promising them ridiculous things like the presidency when in fact he just snatched it away from them. Dude is the ibo leader ibo people never had, he's their knight in shinning armor,



You people are so self destructive, you know how to work against your own interests.

We cant stop him from claiming to be Igbo. It's a free world, dude.

mbatuku1:

We cant stop him from claiming to be Igbo. It's a free world, dude.

Not that it matters to ibo people anyways, even if his name is Jacob and Papalolo, ibo people go still do follow follow. You people have no sense of belonging and you know how to sell away your interests.

In as much as I am not of the school of thought that Igbos should have a leader,we need a town crier.Orji Kalu served as the town crier during his 8 years as governor but has been humbled by his presumed successors.He no longer has the voice and moral justification to cry against marginalisation.

Eko Ile:


Not that it matters to ibo people anyways, even if his name is Jacob and Papalolo, ibo people go still do follow follow. You people have no sense of belonging and you know how to sell away your interests.

guy, relax jor! must u belittle everyone? today is their turn , 2mrw it might be yours.

Eko Ile:


Not that it matters to ibo people anyways, even if his name is Jacob and Papalolo, ibo people go still do follow follow. You people have no sense of belonging and you know how to sell away your interests.

[b]Mumu[/b]pupa

jason123:

guy, relax jor! must u belittle everyone? today is their turn , 2mrw it might be yours.

Must you feel belittled? It could be anybody's turn, but we learn from our mistakes, it's foolish to keep making the sames mistakes over and over.

Ojo Maduekwe

Ojo maduekwe is a goat and a houseboy. Orji Kalu is the way forward. Pat Utomi is also a way forward but he doesn't have grassroot followership

@OP

To locate individual philosophical and political indentation among the current so-called political leaders in Nigeria is very hard or absolutely none in existence. Since after the Nigeria/Biafra civil war, the polity of Nigeria has been dominated by the need to dip into the polity of crude oil money and propagation of ethnic differences.

Azikiwe had followers across the political landscape of Nigeria. It is unfortunate that such followership has been decimated by slew of ethic jingoism. Ojukwu should not be weighed on political scale as do Awolowo, Azikiwe or Bello because he was a soldier. I personally do not see Ojukwu as a political leader. The political leaders do not groom their replacements literally. However granted an atmosphere with all things being equal, a leader’s socio-political school of thought and personal demeanor shall engender such anticipated followership.    

I must reiterate it is a waste of time to deliberate on any form of political followership in country that had experienced protracted civil war which magnified the essence of tribal differences in any phase of human endeavor such as Nigeria.

I will never support Orji Uzor Kalu. If he is ever chosen to run for president, I would support a Northerner, before I support Orji Kalu. That will tell you the disdain that I have for the man.

Anyway, Pat Utomi is the way forward for me.

EzeUche:

I will never support Orji Uzor Kalu. If he is ever chosen to run for president, I would support a Northerner, before I support Orji Kalu. That will tell you the disdain that I have for the man.

Anyway, Pat Utomi is the way forward for me.

Not GEJ again? Rambler

^^^ hes a confused idio.t

pat one day gej the next - the guys a cown

seanet02:

Not GEJ again? Rambler

sbeezy8:

^^^ hes a confused idio.t

pat one day gej the next - the guys a cown

I said I supported both candidates. Read my post and you would see. I prefer Pat Utomi, but if GEJ wins, I have no problem with that.

How hard is it for you two to understand that point? It is not a zero-sum game.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

sbeezy8:

^^^ hes a confused idio.t

pat one day gej the next - the guys a cown

why insult him

he has his own options u know

EzeUche:

I said I supported both candidates. Read my post and you would see. I prefer Pat Utomi, but if GEJ wins, I have no problem with that.

How hard is it for you two to understand that point? It is not a zero-sum game.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

guy which one you dey sef

today na Gej tomorrow Pat utomi

you should have a political candidate which has principles be it pat or GEJ

I am not Ibo but I have said it before that Ibos should have rallied round Orji and pose a common front

While they can make the "misdeed" of GEJ an internal matter.

In Nigerian politics you need a strong headed and courageous man to tackle the beast in the middle.

Do you think Fashola would have the guts to tackle OBJ for instance?

Some ppl are the technocrats who develop the state/region- Fashola, Some are the Bully and "I no go gree" guys who would fight for you-Tinubu

In Nigeria you need the two.

Orji Kalu would have been the attack dog while maybe Chime the guy under doing the development

professors in igbo matters , a jjc would think your all from igboland.

Igbo people sef!

Igbo kwenu

The Igbos will neverr have such "leaders" whom everybody will follow like aturu.
We are republicans by nature. Period.

^^ Didnt Igbos follow Ojukwu and Azikwe in the past? or were they Aturus at that time?

EzeUche:

I will never support Orji Uzor Kalu. If he is ever chosen to run for president, I would support a Northerner, before I support Orji Kalu. That will tell you the disdain that I have for the man.

Anyway, Pat Utomi is the way forward for me.

Eze, you have to be very careful what you wish for. Our people say " Oye n'di iro julu (juru) anaghi a ju owe ya",,,,,,he who the enemy has rejected cannot reject himself! We must always stand as ONE, in terms of dealing with others in nigeria. Nigeria is like hell,,,,in hell, you don't live like an angel for it will be tantamount to suicide, since others around you are living like demons We don't have a 'Biafra' YET, until then let us play the game others are playing.
Do you think an Orji Kalu will ever lead in an Igbo only country? Think brother! Think!

Now, look at it this way as I lay it down bellow, as follows:
The north gave us the following crooks : Murtala, Abacha, IBB, Abdusalam, Shagari et.al

The yorubas gave us their own crook- OBJ, Shonekan

When it is the Igbo turn, they are demanding for some of our best and brightest like Soludo, Iweala I say to you brother, there is nothing wrong for us Ndigbo offering this dungeon called nigeria an Orji Kalu

Nigeria is the easiest place to maneuver,,,,,just stick to one thing/position, however bad it is,,,,, with that, you can tell nigerians that it snows in hell and they will believe you because quite frankly, most folks there are brain dead

dayokanu:

^^ Didnt Igbos follow Ojukwu and Azikwe in the past? or were they Aturus at that time?

What is this supposed to mean? Didn't the yorubas follow Awo like Aturus at some point?