The Opinion expressed by Ugo Okeke, the author of the article, does not represent the opinion of Mayor of Lagos.

http://ynaija.com/ndigbo-agenda-match-realities-elections-2015/

It is heartbreaking that we the Igbos have become politically irrelevant and directionless. No one is interested in articulating an agenda that will move the zone forward.

I visited my ancestral home, Ufuma in Anambra state this past weekend, and once again realised that a lot of Igbos haven’t moved past the bigoted notion they have towards the APC and its candidates.

It was so bad that I almost got cursed by elders in my community when I said the APC and Buhari have a chance of ruling the country come May 29th. They said, ‘How can you claim to be a son of the soil and be supporting that Yoruba party?’

My discussion with the elders and even educated youths revealed that many people from my home town neither support Buhari nor the All Progressives Congress.

Questions that ended up running through my mind were: What is the Igbo agenda in the current political dispensation? Who are those articulating it? Why are Ndigbo reluctant to engage the wind of change currently blowing in the country? What is their reason for the fixation with the status quo?

Many of the people masquerading as Igbo leaders are individuals of questionable character preoccupied with only pecuniary objectives.

The educated youths who even agreed that the current administration had performed below expectation swore that they would rather continue with this administration than vote for the opposition which they see as the enemy.

What crossed my mind after the rants from my village elders and youth was that many have not moved past the hurt from the civil war.

Yes, it is an important part of our national history but isn’t it about time we moved on? Could it be the main reason to like or hate Buhari and the northerners? So, what about Olusegun Obasanjo? What about the Ijaws who took over our abandoned properties in Port Harcourt?

To my mind, and the minds of many young Igbo men, the Ijaw, who colluded with other majority tribes and benefited mostly in the acquisition of properties and wealth in Port Harcourt from a tribe lying helplessly prostrate from a civil war, committed a greater atrocity towards the Igbos.

The Yorubas recently came out to declare that they would not waste their votes for anyone without demanding something in return. Have the Igbo made any similar declaration? What have they gotten from the PDP for the past 16 years to continue to ‘dash’ them votes?

Will the Ijaw presidency guarantee a national redress on the injustice of the civil war and the abandoned property saga? Will President Jonathan, as an Ijaw, a ethnic group that orchestrated and benefited from the abandoned property saga, compensate the Igbo the same way he has guaranteed amnesty to the Niger Delta militants?

Have Ndigbo asked for all of these, especially since a continued support for the south south may jeopardise fresh investments in wealth acquisition in places like Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Bauchi, Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos, Abeokuta and Lokoja?

You will recall that Ndigbo subconsciously redirected their business investments to these new territories as a result of the sense of insecurity following the abandoned property saga. Will they now jeopardise all of these new investments and wealth accumulation in support of the kinsman of the same tribe that stripped them of their old wealth?

Why are we not assessing the candidates on what they can offer the nation as a whole? What plans do they have to develop our textile industry, commerce and our other areas of comparative advantage?

What plans do they have to develop Aba, Onitsha and Nnewi where our industry and entrepreneurship are defined daily? How can we expand the infrastructure and capabilities in these cities and expand opportunities for our creative youth population? Does a leader have to be a Christian or a Muslim to attend to these needs? How come Igbo leaders have been unable to demand and extract some of these promises from our politicians? Must we continue to play the second fiddle in this country?

It is heartbreaking that we the Igbos have become politically irrelevant and directionless. No one is interested in articulating an agenda that will move the zone forward. No one considers why someone as comfortable as Eze Festus Odimegwu will throw his support behind Buhari or why President Jonathan’s kinsmen are beginning to reconsider their support for their son.

What you hear when you travel around the Igbo states are unsubstantiated rumours and unjustifiable fixation over the history of yester-years. I will not join my uncles to continue to bemoan the past. I have chosen to engage the present and project, positively, for the future.

Although it’s no crime for one to openly cherish his candidate, as everyone has the right to vote his preferred candidate, the Ndigbo should advance beyond ethnic and religious bigotry and reassess its strategies strictly against the present realities on ground vis the opportunities offered by all political parties. After all, most of the leading political parties have members spread across the ethnic mix in the whole country.

The civil war, regrettable as it was, is in the past. It is a past that even Nigeria has chosen to pretend never existed. It is a past that the curriculum officials have refused to recognise and approve to be taught to our young people officially. But if we continue to dwell on the past, there is no moving forward for us.

The civil war ended 45 years ago and if care is not taken, we may lose out in this current political war. We are losing it already unless we redefine our current priorities from an individual to a group survival and sustaining agenda. For a people so talented and resourceful, this will be nothing but tragic.

Dude! Just what is it with you and Ndigbo!?

IGBOSON1:
Dude! Just what is it with you and Ndigbo!?

do you know what "ndigbo" stand for?

Ndig - is short for indigene

Ndigbo means the Indigene of Iboland.

Count me in! .

Are you from Anambra?

MayorofLagos:
It is heartbreaking that we the Igbos have become politically irrelevant and directionless. No one is interested in articulating an agenda that will move the zone forward.

I visited my ancestral home, Ufuma in Anambra state this past weekend, and once again realised that a lot of Igbos haven’t moved past the bigoted notion they have towards the APC and its candidates.

It was so bad that I almost got cursed by elders in my community when I said the APC and Buhari have a chance of ruling the country come May 29th. They said, ‘How can you claim to be a son of the soil and be supporting that Yoruba party?’

My discussion with the elders and even educated youths revealed that many people from my home town neither support Buhari nor the All Progressives Congress.

Questions that ended up running through my mind were: What is the Igbo agenda in the current political dispensation? Who are those articulating it? Why are Ndigbo reluctant to engage the wind of change currently blowing in the country? What is their reason for the fixation with the status quo?

Many of the people masquerading as Igbo leaders are individuals of questionable character preoccupied with only pecuniary objectives.

The educated youths who even agreed that the current administration had performed below expectation swore that they would rather continue with this administration than vote for the opposition which they see as the enemy.

What crossed my mind after the rants from my village elders and youth was that many have not moved past the hurt from the civil war.

Yes, it is an important part of our national history but isn’t it about time we moved on? Could it be the main reason to like or hate Buhari and the northerners? So, what about Olusegun Obasanjo? What about the Ijaws who took over our abandoned properties in Port Harcourt?

To my mind, and the minds of many young Igbo men, the Ijaw, who colluded with other majority tribes and benefited mostly in the acquisition of properties and wealth in Port Harcourt from a tribe lying helplessly prostrate from a civil war, committed a greater atrocity towards the Igbos.

The Yorubas recently came out to declare that they would not waste their votes for anyone without demanding something in return. Have the Igbo made any similar declaration? What have they gotten from the PDP for the past 16 years to continue to ‘dash’ them votes?

Will the Ijaw presidency guarantee a national redress on the injustice of the civil war and the abandoned property saga? Will President Jonathan, as an Ijaw, a ethnic group that orchestrated and benefited from the abandoned property saga, compensate the Igbo the same way he has guaranteed amnesty to the Niger Delta militants?

Have Ndigbo asked for all of these, especially since a continued support for the south south may jeopardise fresh investments in wealth acquisition in places like Abuja, Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Jos, Bauchi, Zaria, Ibadan, Lagos, Abeokuta and Lokoja?

You will recall that Ndigbo subconsciously redirected their business investments to these new territories as a result of the sense of insecurity following the abandoned property saga. Will they now jeopardise all of these new investments and wealth accumulation in support of the kinsman of the same tribe that stripped them of their old wealth?

Why are we not assessing the candidates on what they can offer the nation as a whole? What plans do they have to develop our textile industry, commerce and our other areas of comparative advantage?

What plans do they have to develop Aba, Onitsha and Nnewi where our industry and entrepreneurship are defined daily? How can we expand the infrastructure and capabilities in these cities and expand opportunities for our creative youth population? Does a leader have to be a Christian or a Muslim to attend to these needs? How come Igbo leaders have been unable to demand and extract some of these promises from our politicians? Must we continue to play the second fiddle in this country?

It is heartbreaking that we the Igbos have become politically irrelevant and directionless. No one is interested in articulating an agenda that will move the zone forward. No one considers why someone as comfortable as Eze Festus Odimegwu will throw his support behind Buhari or why President Jonathan’s kinsmen are beginning to reconsider their support for their son.

What you hear when you travel around the Igbo states are unsubstantiated rumours and unjustifiable fixation over the history of yester-years. I will not join my uncles to continue to bemoan the past. I have chosen to engage the present and project, positively, for the future.

Although it’s no crime for one to openly cherish his candidate, as everyone has the right to vote his preferred candidate, the Ndigbo should advance beyond ethnic and religious bigotry and reassess its strategies strictly against the present realities on ground vis the opportunities offered by all political parties. After all, most of the leading political parties have members spread across the ethnic mix in the whole country.

The civil war, regrettable as it was, is in the past. It is a past that even Nigeria has chosen to pretend never existed. It is a past that the curriculum officials have refused to recognise and approve to be taught to our young people officially. But if we continue to dwell on the past, there is no moving forward for us.

The civil war ended 45 years ago and if care is not taken, we may lose out in this current political war. We are losing it already unless we redefine our current priorities from an individual to a group survival and sustaining agenda. For a people so talented and resourceful, this will be nothing but tragic.

the igbos hate we yorubas,dey are even refferin to APC as a yoruba party,I will rather die dan to vote for apga or any omo ibo

each time I listen to my people and hear the level of ignorance that has beclouded their reasoning, I weep!

That others don't support our views should not make us tag them all sorts of names. The Ndigbos are unique in their own ways. That majority don't support your views should not make you see them as sell out too. God bless Nigeria.





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yorubas had their 8 years hausa took over but couldn't finish their eight years which leaves them grumbling,why not the Igbos sit down and dialogue to give hausa man his four years and then the Igbos can also demand for their 8years in 2019....just my own thoughts

[s]

kuuljay:
yorubas had their 8 years hausa took over but couldn't finish their eight years which leaves them grumbling,why not the Igbos sit down and dialogue to give hausa man his four years and then the Igbos can also demand for their 8years in 2019....just my own thoughts

[/s]

Omololu007:
the igbos hate we yorubas,dey are even refferin to APC as a yoruba party,I will rather die dan to vote for apga or any omo ibo

Ibos are 45% Lagos, 45% Kano, 60% Abuja, 100% Alaibo.....yet APGA, an Ibo party, has 0% influence in everyone of these locales or anywhereelse in Nigeria.

What's wrong with Igbo

MayorofLagos:



Ibos are 45% Lagos, 45% Kano, 60% Abuja, 100% Alaibo.....yet APGA, an Ibo party, has 0% influence in everyone of these locales or anywhereelse in Nigeria.

What's wrong with Igbo

only god knows wots wrong wit dem.dey are d majority in lagos state,yet dey can't win a local govt election in lagos,as for me,I fink d igbos need help,dey are really confuse

N

Omololu007:
only god knows wots wrong wit dem.dey are d majority in lagos state,yet dey can't win a local govt election in lagos,as for me,I fink d igbos need help,dey are really confuse

They are forever foreigners - Bet you sooner or later Yoruba and Igbos will clash in Lagos. Wishful thinking to think otherwise.

IgboMonk:
N

I won't go through the stress of helping you.