Atiku: A Conspiracy Against Strong Igbo Leadership

The appointment of Peter Obi by Atiku Abubakar without consulting South East PDP leaders is a grand conspiracy by the north to weaken Igbo political leadership.

I believe there are issues. I also think this is the time Igbo elders should rise to the occasion.

From what I understand, the North will not want to build up a strong leader from the South East like we have in Tinubu for the South West. They detect this possibility in Ekweremadu. So, in seemingly acting for Ndiigbo, by picking Peter Obi as Atiku’s VP, they use the same stroke to deal with their fears.

They are better crude politicians than us. We play crude politics here in Nigeria. We have to see through their scheme. I consider this important.

Going forward, the problem has now come down to Peter Obi, on the one hand, and Igbo PDP leaders whose arrowhead is Ekweremadu, on the other. It will be great if Ndiigbo, on their own, can solve this problem. That will be a commanding sign of our political recovery and attempt at some measure of political sagacity.

Before now, and even currently, Ekweremadu occupies the highest political office by onye Igbo. That rallies the leadership of Igbo political structure and interests around him. Ekweremadu was the man that picked up PDP from the tatters after 2015, traversed the country to reconcile PDP members heading a Committee established for that purpose. That PDP is today can directly be attributed to that effort. That made him an emergent, strong political leader from Aniigbo.

Ekweremadu’s political dexterity also came to play at the onset of the current senate. It was such skill and adroitness that saw PDP taking over the Senate from a minority status.

The North and the rest of Nigeria saw a strong leader emerging from Aniigbo. they can’t stand that. This is what they want to destroy. We must see this. The North is not comfortable with Tinubu. To allow another Tinubu emerge in Aniigbo is a task they must prevent. A double tragedy that must not happen. Please umu nne m, we must see this from this perspective.

When Peter Obi becomes VP he automatically becomes the highest political office occupant from Aniigbo. That should place him in the leadership of the Igbo political trajectory. The North knows this. So making him emerge _the way the other Igbo leaders are complaining about_ is to weaken him, ab initio, from performing that leadership function in the future. They are making him owe his emergence to them rather than to his Igbo brothers and roots. He who pays the piper dictates the tune.

They did it in the days of NPN. K. O. Mbadiwe had already concluded himself the VP pick to Shagari, but suddenly, Ekwueme emerged almost from nowhere. They sold to us that Ekwueme gave Shagari N1million and influenced his choice. Mbadiwe was awarded a nebulous Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, whatever that meant. But with the benefit of hindsight we can clearly see they never wanted either Mbadiwe or Ekwueme to become strong Igbo leaders. That hangover remained till both passed on.

So you can see, from my analysis, by the mere one political move of picking Peter Obi, *in the manner they did*, they are hitting directly at the *future* strong leadership potentials of both Ekweremadu and Peter Obi.

*They aim at removing the possibility of Ndiigbo ever having a strong political leader like what we see today in Tinubu. None of them wants to see another Zik, another Ojukwu, another rallying voice rise from Aniigbo. In my considered view, this is the problem facing Ndiigbo now.*

Ekweremadu must see this trap. Obi must see this gaping hole. Igbo elders must see this slavery ditch. Ndiigbo must see these eternal chains: smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter.

The issue is not Ekweremadu. The issue is not Peter Obi. The issue is not Ebonyi leaders fearing marginalization. The issue is not Wawa people “hating” Anambra people. The issue is not only Anambra producing VPs. Those are divisive tendencies thrown at us to keep us really busy and make us not see the real issue.

*The real issue is that no strong leaders must again emerge from Aniigbo. Never Allow Igbo Rule Again – NAIRA – is the issue. Leadership is rulership. Without strong leadership, rulership is not in view.*

This is the problem. This is our problem today.

This explains why Saraki failed Ekweremadu at this point. It is inconceivable. Even if Saraki, as a person with conscience, did not want to do it, their larger political interests must compel him to fall in line.

So the Igbo must rise beyond the booby traps set for us in the above narrated divisive tendencies. We must realize that our collective future is in bounds. We therefore through this opportunity, by the way we handle this matter, make a bold political statement that Ndiigbo can no longer be pocketed.

The feudal system they practice concentrates leadership in one man. We have been trying to imitate them, at the expense of our *time tested culture of collective leadership*. But that is the potent weapon we have. The weapon they can’t even understand.

*Umu Igbo, we have the weapon of effective collective leadership.*

Let’s deploy it. Let Ekweremadu be. Let Peter Obi be. Let us structure Igbo political leadership under them, for now. Northern interests made Saraki back down when he should have stood up. It is a credit to him, I must confess. He looked at the larger picture and personal friendship faded away. Same way, Igbo interest must make Ekweremadu, Peter Obi warmly embrace themselves and strengthen each other. They must, like Saraki, see the larger picture.

I plead with the leaderships of Ohanaeze and ADF, the Obi of Onitsha and leaderships of Traditional Councils around Igbo States, all our Archbishops, Obinna, Anikwenwa, Edeh, others to see my point and rally to the future of Ndiigbo. Task: to ascertain Ekweremadu and Peter Obi see this problem from the *no strong Igbo leader* perspective and resolve to work together as *strong* Igbo leaders to reverse that curse. Collective leadership is home to us. It is in our DNA. Let’s wake it up. That’s our potent weapon for the now.

Let’s deploy it.

Okechukwu Chukwuemeka. Sunday October 21, 2018.