The Nuremberg trial of former Senate Deputy President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, reminds one of the challenges of Brother Jero of the immensely hilarious playlet, “Trial of Brother Jero,” written by Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka.
The lesson from the senator’s experience is that Nigeria’s political elite cannot hide from their constituents, even outside the country. The world is now “flat,” as the convergence of computer, telecommunications, and air travel technologies, has reconfigured the world into one unit.
It is now difficult, though not impossible, for a traveller to avoid being monitored. A telephone call made in the Pakistani boondocks created a virtual trail through which bodyguard Al Kuwaiti unwittingly led the Americans to the lair of Osama bin Laden.
If bin Laden, conscious of the capacity of virtual technology to locate anyone (as monitoring of space travels have shown), can be ferreted out through a virtual slip, no one can escape being found out by those determined to find them.
Senator Ekweremadu had responded to an invitation to deliver a lecture at the 2019 Yam Festival in Nuremberg, Germany. But on arrival at the venue, he got a hostile and downright dangerous reception.
His hosts’ efforts to protect him failed, and he was pelted with what looked like sticks, eggs, and yam tubers, by individuals said to be members of the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra. They described their action as mere picketing.
At a point, Ekweremadu ran into a building, for safety, it seemed. But he was beaten back unto the street. It must have taken sheer luck for him to escape what looked like a lynching-about-to-happen. He certainly stood at the verge of losing his life, or a limb, if he had not been spirited away.
The interesting aspect is that some individuals, who looked like German police officers, stood by, watching the incident, as if what was happening was neither dangerous, nor a breach of the public peace.
Ekweremadu’s immediate offence, some claim, was that the “isiagu,” or Igbo ethnic jumper, that he wore, bore the insignia or coat-of-arms of the Nigerian state, which the IPOB believes no longer serves the interests of the Igbo nation.
The remote cause of the assault is the allegation that the senator, and many members of the Igbo political elite, have failed to steer the course of the Nigerian ship of state to address the geopolitical interests and existential needs of the Igbo people of Nigeria.
The IPOB has accused governors of the Southeastern states, and the Igbo political elite, of giving at least subterranean approval to Operation Python Dance I, II, and III, the military expedition despatched by the Nigerian state to the South-East.
Recall that these dance steps led to the death of many IPOB members, and the miraculous return of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, to exile. To date, there has been no clear information about the safety or health of Kanu’s father, the traditional ruler in Afaraukwu, Umuahia, Abia State capital.
Despite being partners in the national politics of the First and Second Repulics of Nigeria, the Igbo, have yet to completely recover from the political and economic dislocation they suffered immediately before, during, and after, the civil war that caused the loss of many lives, limbs, and fortunes. The Igbo are still treated like outsiders in the Nigerian political space.
Yes, an Igbo, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, was ceremonial President of the First Republic; another, Gen J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi, was briefly a military Head of State; and yet another, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, was Vice President in the Second Republic.
Though a fourth, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, was Chief of General Staff to military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, it still appears that there is an unwritten code that bars the Igbo from leading Nigeria politically.
The Igbo have a sense that they have been railroaded out of the scheme of things in Nigeria, and it does not look as if the Nigerian state intends to right the perceived wrongs anytime soon. That informs what is panning out as an urgency of the Igbo to exit, or BIAFREXIT, Nigeria.
It also informs the frustration of the Igbo in the Diaspora, one of whom complained that if Nigeria had been properly run, he would have had no reason to migrate to the harsh weather and other conditions of Europe or North America, to search for economic succour or the famed greener pastures.
But the charge of the insensitivity and negligence of the plight of constituents by Nigeria’s political elite is not exclusive to the Igbo. Practically every national group, the Yoruba, Ijaw, and even the Hausa-Fulani, whom others allege solely hold the levers of power in the country, complains of marginalisation, and of being schemed out of the privileges of citizenship.
Running throughout the nation is a thread of frustration, arising from poverty, unemployment, insecurity, and dilapidated and inadequate infrastructure. In the face of all these is the crass display of power and wealth inordinately acquired by politicians who have unbridled access to the common wealth.
Not a few other Nigerians have expressed support for the Igbo’s extra-territoral approach to “knocking” the Nigerian political elite into shape. You see, Nigeria’s political elite have perfected the art of remaining in the corridors of power whether the electorate like it or not.
Firstly, Sections 65(2)(b), 106(d), 131(c), and 177(c) of Nigeria’s constitution provide that “A person shall be qualified for election to the (offices of legislator, President of Nigeria and State Governor only) if he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by a political party.”
Secondly, Sections 66, and 110, of the Constitution, which provide for the recall of national and state legislators are cumbersome, labourious, and prescribe as many as 90 days before the process can be concluded.
Thirdly, Sections 143 and 188 of the constitution also provide an elaborate mechanism, that can take about six months, before an erring President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor can be impeached.
The Nigerian state has so impoverished the people of Nigeria that any crumb from the table of the political elite will keep them from rocking the political boat. By paying each senator N14 million per month, while still having problems paying a mere N30,000 minimum wage to workers, the Nigerian state is ensuring that the masses will forever kowtow to the political elite.
A maverick Nigerian suggested that it is probably time for the Nigerian Diaspora to extend the Ekweremadu “courtesy” towards or children of Nigeria’s political elite who are studying in foreign higher institutions.
This, he argues, should compel the political elite to upgrade the crumbling local tertiary institutions. Despite the potential danger that this suggestion may pose to the poor children, he thinks there is merit in it.
If you are law-abiding, civilised, and do not like violence, you will not support lynch mobs. But this novel method of communicating the thinking of the ruled to the political elite could compel a positive review of government policies to favour all Nigerians.
Despite Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi’s bravado in declaring, “I will tell IPOB anytime I want to travel,” observers say Nigeria’s political elite must watch their back abroad. The Orwellian Big Brother is watching: 1984 is here!
Now that even “regular” Nigerians are being sent out of other countries, everyone should sit it out here to salvage Nigeria.
