By Churchill Okonkwo | NNP | Dec. 14, 2012

While I agree with Dr. Okonjo-Iweala on the concept
of oil subsidy removal, I disagree with her on the roadmap. While Dr.
Okonjo-Iweala believes that our resource curse will be reversed by simply
removing subsidy, I believe that corruption and corrupt practices in Nigerian
oil industry remains the main problem and as such, should be the starting
point.

Of what use is oil subsidy removal for a government that cannot account to its crude oil production(with a fifth of our crude oil
stolen), running an inefficient and oversized NNPC with dilapidated refineries?
Of what use is oil subsidy removal in a country that spends over 70% of its
budget on recurrent-expenditure, servicing bogus and extravagant lifestyle of
the executive and legislative arms of government? Has Dr. Okonjo-Iweala learnt
anything from the present subsidy scam with President Jonathan’s unwillingness
to prosecute the likes of Otedola and co that financed his campaign?

I sincerely hope by now that Dr. Okonjo-Iweala has realized that she is being used by the GEJ
administration as a camouflage while confusion and corruption reigns. To truly succeed
in helping Nigeria overcome the oil curse and corruption, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala
must force President Goodluck Jonathan to confront the demons in his (himself)
administration. To help her, I came up with ten provocative demands she should
confront Jonathan with.

1. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should bluntly tell
   Dr. Jonathan that he is not just incompetent but that he is impotent in
   fighting corruption in Nigeria. She should thus advise him to honorably resign.
   We know President Jonathan will not resign so, she has to demand a pragmatic
   approach to tackling corruption with this second demand;
2. Paraphrasing Benjamin Netanyahu, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala
   should bluntly tell Dr. Jonathan that the fight against corruption in Nigeria
   should not be fought with Diezani Alison-Madueke on his laps but with a
   rocket-propelled grenade between his teeth.  She should tell President Jonathan to stop his eyes from beholding and his concupiscence
   from coveting his concupiscible and corrupt mistress at NNPC.
3. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should bluntly tell
   Dr. Jonathan that Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke must be removed as the Petroleum
   Minister as a condition for her continued involvement with the establishment of
   the sovereign wealth fund to manage our oil riches
4. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should then admit to
   Dr. Jonathan that she was wrong with her approach to tackling the endemic
   corruption in the oil sector through subsidy removal. She should then tell him
   that all our refineries must be sold out rightly, the management and board of
   NNPC sacked and restructured as a pre-condition to future subsidy removal
5. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should bluntly tell
   Dr. Jonathan that EFCC as currently constituted and empowered is not effective
   because of the obstructive interference from him, through his Attorney General
   Adoke. She should therefore go ahead and ask him to sack Adoke and appoint
   someone that will not only assist EFCC in fighting corruption in Nigeria but
   one that will ensure that corrupt judges are not rewarded by appointment to
   Supreme Court and federal high courts.
6. In the words of Chinua Achebe, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala
   should bluntly tell Dr. Jonathan that he has surrounded himself with corrupt
   “Politicians with plenty of money and very low IQ.”She should remind Mr.
   President that money
   without brains is dangerous. She should ask him what he is doing with second-rate
   friends including Dr. Doyin Okupe
   and Tony Anenih. She should remind him that since the start of the oil
   boom in the 70s, we’ve had all the money, but unfortunately not the brains to
   take the country in the right direction.
7. With her mouth closed, Dr. Okonjo-Iweala
   should shout to Dr. Jonathan’s hearing that the few smart people he appointed
   to work with him are intellectually lazy (including herself and Dr. Abati). With
   her gaze firmly resting on Mr. President’s nostrils, she should tell him that
   there is little excuse for obviously well paid and well educated professionals to
   be deceiving themselves and those around them that Nigeria is being moved in
   the right direction by this administration.
8. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should bluntly tell
   Dr. Jonathan that he is a diet of underdone roasted yam and owner of the
   trumpet of misery and deceit
9. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should bluntly tell
   Dr. Jonathan that he is an epitome of a school master that cannot read nor
   write. Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should tell Mr. President that she sometimes wondered
   how he managed to engage his students in critical problem solving in designing
   research as a professor. She should then pick a piece of paper, write this down
   and hand it to Mr. President:  “I’m afraid
   Mr. President, but you are a
   model of foolish consistency.”

10. Finally, Okonjo-Iweala should advise Dr.
Jonathan not to run for office in 2015 if he has ever cared for Nigeria in his
adult life. She should quietly tell him that he is dumb and does not possess
the leadership qualities needed to take Nigeria to where we should be heading
to. She can simply convince him by reminding him that his administration has been not just one of poor moral
level of leadership and competence, but also one with blurred vision.
Vision blurred by corruption, intellectual dullness and moral depravity.

Then Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should turn in her resignation, tell Jonathan to call her when demands 2 – 10 are met, quietly go
home and think. Between oil subsidy removal and addressing the oil theft and
government-assisted corruption in the oil sector, she should take time and
think about what should come first. Critical thinking, that’s what “Global
Thinkers” do.
Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com

By Churchill Okonkwo | NNP | Oct. 12, 2012 -

Peter Obi is a man of many contradictions. It is an open secret that Peter Obi has heavily bribed and chained the State House of Assembly into a state of comma. Now all the house members do is gallivant around town and wait for “bills” or any form of executive action that requires their approval and then demand that it be “dressed up” before the house will give it due consideration. For a bill to be “dressed up,” it means that Peter Obi has to spend millions bribing the House members to have his way. That was why Governor Obi boasted in 2011 that, “I have known the rules of impeachment. Nobody can impeach me again. If they try it again, I will scatter them.” It is a sin for Peter Obi to continue to “scatter” the State House with ego Ndi Anambra.

Peter Obi’s other sins include metamorphosis from a defender of democracy to active rigger when he colluded with the likes of Dora Akunyili and Uche Ekumife to massively rig the Anambra Central Senatorial election in Aniocha LGA. His recent romance with Chuma Nzeribe; a celebrated evil with criminal mind further points to a man whose actions on a Sunday mass does not reflect his corrupt actions in the other 167 hours of the week. Perhaps, we should forgive him because as an English poet and novelist Aphra Behn said, “there is no sinner like a young saint”.

But Peter Obi is not young. He has been the governor for more than six years. Six years that the locust ate in Anambra State. Six years of performance that revealed hypocrisies in spades and yet he still claims to be sanctified. Peter Obi has been living in two worlds; half-sinner and half-saint or should I say 100% sinner and 100% saint? After months of offering  “financial inducement to senior editors as well as placing advertising supplements in various newspapers in exchange for flattering reports and columns about his administration” as reported by Sahara Reporters, the governor recently compensated the reporters for a job well done by offering them the positions of caretaker committee chairmen in various local governments in the state. The reporters are one Tony Okafor, Emeka Odegwu, Chuks Ilozue and Jude Atupuluazi. The book of proverbs told us that it is better to be a sinner than a hypocrite. Governor Peter Obi has however chosen both.

It has been augured that Governor Peter Obi has succeeded in ‘chasing’ away looters and corrupt politicians out of the state. But in the process, he has made himself the “Alpha and Omega” of corruption in Anambra State. Awarding contract to cronies and friends without due process and open bidding; using his influence and the name of Anambra State to acquire shares for himself and children at SABMiller while the rest of us continues to wallow in poverty; appointing commissioners who are figureheads that cannot execute projects worth even fifty thousand Naira without the his “exclusive” approval. 

Theodore Roosevelt once said “The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” In Peter Obi however, Ndi Anambra has a Governor that is equivalent to tortoise in the animal kingdom. Governor Obi is the only ‘wise man’ in Anambra State, the king that deceives his subjects, and ultimately a one-man administration that has no regards to democratic principles and ethics.

Following the devastating flood that affected parts of the state, the government just opened several accounts named “ Anambra State Flood Disaster Emergency Fund.” I feel the pains and suffering of those affected by the flood and encourage all that can help to do so. However, it is worth noting that the LGAs recently affected by flooding in Anambra State officially gets about 400 million Naira monthly federal allocation. Where is this money? For the governor’s media assistant, Valentine Obienyem (a big beneficiary of the corrupt practices of the governor) to be telling Ndi Anambra not to politicize the devastating flood is absurd. The question for Obienyem is: how much of this money that rightfully belong to these LGAs is being deployed to help the homeless and the stranded?

Mr. Governor, I commend you for leading the rescue effort, but having yourself pictured on a lonely boat is like “killing a snake and carrying it in our hands when we have a bag for putting things in.” I believe that those affected will love it more if their money from the federal government is deployed for their resettlement and rehabilitation. Mr. Governor you sinned by appointing commissioners and LG caretaker chairpersons that do not even have the resources to hire a boat and tour the areas affected by the flood not to talk of resources needed to relocate and resettle the affected population.  It is OK for Peter Obi (an acclaimed miser) to be selfish enough to deny his butts faeces. But is a sin to refuse to use the fund allocated to these LGs in this current rescue and rehabilitation operation.

Finally, I leave Governor Peter Obi with the words of Chinua Achebe from ‘Things Fall Apart’: “Travellers with closed minds can tell us little except about themselves.” We have seen you Governor and we have also seen the deceit, corruption, the lies and worst still the arrogance. Your story in the past six years has been that of clouded and distorted vision. My Anambra State can and should be doing better.

Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com

By Churchill Okonkwo | NNP | Sept., 3, 2012 -

Let’s start with Jega; since he took over as INEC chairman, no tangible change has been introduced to track and verify rigging of elections at all levels. While the increased competition at the state and national assembly elections ensured high turnout with party agents that refused to compromise, the low voter turnout at the presidential elections and the subsequent massive rigging exposed the total lack of any mechanism for preventing rigging. What this shows is that Jega is displaying a willful ignorance with regards to the evidence in the flawed 2011 presidential election.  Jega’s unwillingness to challenge cherished acts of systematic rigging and come up with a simple measure that will ensure random verification of votes (using finger prints) during election tribunals is a display of intellectual dullness.

Other than ‘personal integrity’, what has Jega done differently from Iwu? Nothing! With all that money we spent on capturing fingerprints during registration you begin to wonder whether Jega and his team could not smartly come up with a mechanism to randomly match fingerprints from ballot papers with fingerprints from voters register and thus guard against rigging. What Prof. ABC Nwosu did with option A4 as imperfect as it was, was the smartest formula to free and fair election in Nigeria.  Prof Jega is a scholar and should have known through research that the act of improving is by expanding or refining. As a professor of political science, all Jega needed to have done is to call for research proposal from the academia and policy analysts on how to improve on Option A4 or what he inherited from Iwu. Rather, he has chosen the path of intellectual laziness that has failed to move our electoral process beyond where it was in 2003. In a free and fair electoral system, you do not need have even a single agent in a state to be assured that only credible votes are counted. Until Prof Jega comes up with that formula, he will remain intellectually lazy.

Abati’s case is not just that of intellectual dullness but one that included physical laziness and intellectual dishonesty.  To paraphrase Cyril Connolly, Abati with all his talents he started out with, has now condemned himself to second-rate thought and second-rate friends including Dr. Doyin Okupe. The very idea of Abati joining this present administration was frighteningly ambitious, but the writer had since showed himself to be intellectually lazy and shallow: peddling ignorance as an actual governing alternative. It is very interesting watching Dr. Abati descend to the lowest level of a sycophant shining his oga’s shoes in other to save his job from the “attack dog” Doyin Okupe. Maybe Abati is taking a rest before he gets tired.

I had earlier written extensively about Dr. Okonjo-Iweala’s second coming as an example of “how smart people can be stupid.” It will certainly be more beneficial for Dr. Iweala not to believe in something that allows her to be intellectually lazy. The Nigerian economic dynamics is riddled with corruption and as such, our policy directives require some element of intellectual craziness rather than laziness and confusion Dr. Iweala is championing.

Talking about confusion, I was working on a piece titled “ Prof Barth Nnaji must either be incompetent or confused or both” as he threw in the towel. Suffices to say that he has been consistently inconsistent in handling matters at the energy sector. Prof Nnaji’s very thought of attempting to blame the epileptic supply of power in Nigeria to unwillingness of consumers to pay is contrary to the basic economic principle of demand and supply shown by the high demand for generators and diesel as alternative to PHCN. Nigerians should not be deceived with the “apparent” short term improvement in power generation. These power stations will be privatized shortly and it is very important that Prof Nnaji should tell Nigerians how much he spent in the power generation drive with or without his resignation. 

Now that Prof Nnaji is gone, let me restate here that the significant remaining obstacle to successful privatization of the power sector in Nigeria is the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and government’s lack of political will to expedite reform.  But to effectively jump-start the reform in the power sector, the next minister must be a professional that can approach equity with clean hands. He should be an individual that can effectively challenge NUEE with clean conscience and no personal interest while pushing for a successful conclusion of power sector reforms. The next minister must be a champion that can dictate to Goodluck Jonathan what needs to be done. In fact, he should be someone that will give conditions before accepting the position for minister for power.

This brings me to President Jonathan who is an epitome of a school master that cannot read nor write. The bad news for Nigerians is that GEJ is a diet of underdone roasted yam.  What happens when the yam comes out of the fire half-done? “Unexplainable” stomach aches, political infertility and repeated miscarriages to diagnosed inherent illness in the system. Over the past two years, it is becoming clear that he has not fully identified his priorities, does not fully understand the problem facing the nation and where he does, is coming up with the same tried and tired solution. An underdone roasted yam needs to be re-roasted before served.

How can we escape intellectual dullness? Getting rid of intellectual laziness is important first step. All people are guilty of being intellectually lazy at one time or another, but a consistent pattern of intellectual laziness is a death knell to clear and substantive thought. The Profs and Drs in this administration need 101 basics on Escaping Intellectual Laziness. What Abati and co needs is intellectual energy which can be psychologically uncomfortable. They have to challenge cherished assumptions in approaching Nigerian problems. They should start thinking for themselves rater than allowing the sycophants in this administration do that for them. They have to develop sound criteria and standards in approaching their respective responsibilities with this administration.

Robert Half said that laziness is a secret ingredient that goes into failure. But it’s only kept a secret from the person who fails. President Goodluck Jonathan is a ‘confirmed failure’ with Prof Nnaji jut joining him. Our duty as Nigerians now is to let the likes of Abati, Iweala and Jega know that they are intellectually lazy and drifting towards failure.

Churchill Okonkwo

Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com

By Churchill Okonkwo, NNP – Jan. 15, 2012 -

Without begrudging his “successes” and without prejudice to qualities people are valorizing in the man, it will be deeply foolish to believe that his incredible rise to becoming a major player in the downstream sector of the industry is genuine. His rise is definitely not free of corrupt practices and nepotism. In fact, it is being rumored that like Mike Adenuga, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah is being fronted by some of the past corrupt military dictators and their apologists.

A look at his recent philanthropic gestures is also raising a look of questions on the genesis of his link with the corrupt political elites in Nigeria and what his interest in Anambra State is. In a fund raising ceremony for IBB’s school in Minna, Ubah donated 18 seater bus, educational materials as well as several branded laptops to the school. The $20,000 Dollars he recently gave to Actors’ Guild of Nigeria (AGN) generated some rumble that threatened unity among the actors.  His donation of 100 tape recorders, 50 camcorders and 50 to NUJ Anambra State after an earlier donated N5 Million to the council could be interpreted as a buy-out of the media in Anambra State. Having been a close ally of Governor Peter Obi, Dr. Ubah has quickly learnt how the media can be gagged and made praise singers.

It is therefore not surprisingly that while the media have been all over the places, talking about Ubah’s “philanthropic” gestures, they ignored the fact that his Capital Oil and Gas was recently listed as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the oil subsidy removal in Nigeria and currently enjoys a near monopoly in the distribution of kerosene in Nigeria.  It is sad that Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah with all his philanthropic camouflage and political masquerading is the owner of the trumpet of misery and deceit through Capitol Oil.

In a facebook exchange someone said “there is only one Governorship Candidate in Anambra State in the person of Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah.’ In a response a governorship candidate in Anambra asked: “Does Ubah understand the pains of the suffering masses? Is he not part of the corrupt political elites that are defrauding Nigeria? Can Ndi Anambra State allow another hypocrite that lie with sincerity to lead us?”

I don’t think we can. To this end, we must ensure that the 2014 governorship election in Anambra State is contested purely on ideology and issues parenting to the credibility, honesty, and understanding of what governance is. Not on who has the stolen largesse to throw around. It is high time we start questioning the sources of wealth of individuals in our society just like in the good old days. Ifeanyi Ubah and his likes that are defrauding the country and the poor masses from oil subsidy removal are like the pre-modern doctors who bled patients in a misguided effort to cure them. Ifeanyi Ubah and his likes should be informed that the good people of Anambra State cannot be taken for a ride in 2014. They represent the political otondos of our time: plundering the national wealth with reckless abandon.

The good people of my state, our friends and lovers of democracy in Nigeria are by this piece notified that another battle for the soul of Anambra State is brewing. The dragons have not given up. The truth is that we all know the dragon is not going to rest until the mission of “conquering” Anambra state is accomplished. There is a saying: that if you can’t take the heat, don’t tickle the dragon.

I know that by this piece, I will most likely tickle the dragon. The objective however is to force an overdue conversation on the type of leadership Ndiigbo needs. I have the responsibility to speak out. Anambra state has dwelt too long in the dark valley and need someone to bring Anambralians to the ‘sunlit mountaintop.’ I’ve dedicated myself to championing the cause of good governance in Anambara state, to lead the ‘hot crowd’ of Ndi Anambara in a rapid climb out of the valley.

Not all Anambralians will be subdued to the level of keeping mute and thus contributing to yet another madness and maladministration in the state. It will however, only take the collective determination of the good people of the state to weather the storm. I ask all Anambralians to join me in keeping up the beat of sanity, accountability, purposeful leadership and vision for the state.

As the “oil mogul” repositions himself, the small and big masquerades (including bishops) are dancing in the arena, singing praises and laying the foundation for the appearance of the unstoppable one.

Ifeanyi Ubah is oiling his clutches. When the moon is shining the cripple become hungry for a walk.  If he succeeds, he will disobey the law of gravity, disprove the law of demand and supply and will keep the country in perpetual darkness (by sabotaging the power sector revitalization) so that he and his friends will continue to benefit from diesel importation for generators .We will then be left speechless like a fish on a dry land.

The wind is going mad and the air is filled with smoke and it is becoming increasingly difficult to see through to 2014 in Anambara state unless you are using a political microscope. I’ve volunteered to be the political microscope of Ndi Anambara – speaking truth to the bloody power and the politically corrupt.

Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com

By Churchill Okonkwo, NNP,- June 27, 2011 -

By owning Geometric Power Limited – a private power plant operating in Aba – is there not a conflict between Prof Nnaji’s personal and national interest? Does the issue of ethics and integrity no warrant that he either relinquishes his role in the power company or declines the role of power minister? Most importantly, if according to the power sector union, the said company has nothing to show on ground after six years, doesn’t that raise the question of efficiency and derivable?

I asked these questions bearing in mind that the significant remaining obstacle to successful privatization of the power sector in Nigeria is the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and government’s lack of political will to expedite reform.  But to effectively jump start the reform in the power sector, we need a professional that can approach equity with clean hands. We need an individual that can effectively challenge NUEE with clean conscience and no personal interest while pushing for a successful conclusion of power sector reforms. We need a minister that can dictate to Goodluck Jonathan what needs to be done. In fact, we need a professional that will give conditions before accepting the position for minister for power.

Prof. Barth Nnaji (I’m sorry to say) does not bring these qualities and may have been compromised personally and politically. That was what happened to the likes of Prof Dora Akunyili and Prof Chkwuma Soludo and co.  And that was what the likes of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala avoided by bowing out when an attempt was made at making her a political tool. A look at the history of Nigerian political office holders reveal that renown technocrats and critics becomes ineffective and are easily compromised the moment they start acting as professional politicians. Prof. Nnaji – an active PDP member- looks more like a politician to me

The problem with Goodluck Jonathan however, is that like his predecessors, he appears incapable of comprehensively addressing the challenges we face as a nation by picking a complete team of incorruptible “hardliners” that can help the country actualize our dreams. Agreed that any meaningful economic reform in Nigeria needs a corresponding power sector reform; of what good then will Dr. Okonjo Iweala’s ‘expected’ economic reform policy be with a fury of activities in the power sector albeit most times unfocussed?

Also, to guarantee uninterrupted gas to the will-be new private gas plants, the federal government must comprehensively resolve the Niger delta crisis. Failure to do so will be like building on quick sand which is what the present amnesty to Niger Delta militants represents. Unfortunately, this is a critical issue to the power sector reform that Prof. Nnaji does not understand or is not making clear to Jonathan.

Even as the new tariff is introduced, the poorest Nigerians ‘in real terms’ are still paying more than N80/kWh burning candles, kerosene and firewood. The argument that private investors are wary of the current low tariff and are not willing to invest is no longer valid and Prof. Nnaji therefore, has no reason not to successfully select successor companies to Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).  Common sense also detects that action that will lead to cheaper power sources while minimizing environmental hazards is the only way forward for Nigeria. This we can only do by falling in line with the rest of developed countries in exploring low carbon energy resources and greening our economies.

As we presently await the selection of core investors in the 11 Distribution and six Generation Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), common sense warrants that the next minister for power must be strong willed and fully independent. What we need is a champion who can respond with foresight and grace to this electricity challenge that demand swiftness and determined focus. Prof Barth Nnaji may have the foresight, but he lacks the grace and the political will, moreover, he is not a champion.

In the final analysis Nigerians need abundant, affordable, modern energy, and this points to private property and free markets and not government ownership and control of energy resources as is currently being pursued. The role of government should start and end with regulation. That is common sense.

Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com

By Churchil Okonkwo, NNP – May 8, 2011

Why is there such a lack of integrity in Igbo nation’s political discourse? What is the issue underlying this lack of integrity as demonstrated in the just concluded general election? This article will try to explain the deeper causes of this lack of integrity with regards to the just concluded national election. As Onyeigbo, I will attempt to assure the rest of my Nigerian brothers and sisters that the ‘magu magu’ and inflation of votes in the South- east is not a representation of who we are as Ndigbo.

How we think determines our level of integrity. When we are addicted to thinking thoughts that create fear, we may end up behaving in ways that lack integrity. Why would Ohakim, Peter Obi and co, want to think thoughts that create fear in their subjects? Because this is what their programmed mind – their wounded ego self – knows and thrives on. Having lost the confidence of the electorate, their ego programmed mind – learned many ways to protect them from the things they feared and could not handle in an open election. The same goes for almost all Igbo politicians elected under PDP platform.

For the members of the South-east caucus in the House of Representatives to say that “The South East whole heartedly and unconditionally backed the candidature of President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR.…with a total votes of 5.1 million (which) represent almost a quarter of the total valid votes…” is very fraudulent. The actions of APGA chairman who colluded with Peter Obi and other PDP politicians in the South-east to rig the 2011 election signifies  lack of high moral principles that is not in alignment with who we really are as Ndigbo.

At least, that’s not who my father was, that’s not who Chinua Achebe is, that’s not who Dr. Alex Anene is, most importantly, that’s not who I am and that’s not who the silent majority of Ndigbo are. I know, that’s a tough one to prove but I will attempt. Without having to dip deep down the memory lane, I will draw my inferences from three recent events.

The fact that people of Imo state stood their ground to vote out Ohakim even in the face of intimidation and harassment gives me hope and is a confirmation that Ndigbo still believes that integrity is doing the right thing, not necessarily the popular thing. The popular thing would have been to align with PDP and get the booty from Abuja. The right thing though was to vote against a man that has proven not to understand what governance is all about. Whether Rochas has the integrity and credibility to govern Imo state in ways and manner for the rest of Igbo states to follow is left to be seen.

Secondly the Returning Officer for Anambra Central senatorial election in the person of Dr. Alex Anene also demonstrated courage and integrity in the face of intimidation and monetary inducement. In fact if the DNA of all the returning officers in South-east were close to that of Dr. Anene,  there wouldn’t have been a re-run in Imo state to begin with and the magic numbers from the South-east in the presidential election wouldn’t have been manufactured.  What Dr. Anene demonstrated was that integrity is being honest, upstanding and having a strong character. He is thus a role model for Ndigbo and represents who we are. Ndi Anambra central especially the wards where a re-run between Ngige and Dora was conducted also demonstrated integrity and honesty.

In the final analysis, it is clear that there is a huge poverty of integrity from Igbo politicians currently jostling for position in the senate and house based on the strength of fictitious votes. However, the majority of Ndigbo especially professionals are full of integrity. Our problem is that because of our republican nature we’ve too often allowed the professional politicians in our midst to keep manipulating the electoral system in South-east thereby denting our integrity.

The recent election in Imo gives me so much joy because it will serve as a moment of awakening in Igbo politics. An awakening that hopefully will keep Rochas on his toes, knowing that come 2015, his fate will also be decided by this same electorate that based on personal conviction and integrity made their votes count.  That was what the people of Anambra central did when they elected Ngige and not Akunyili after so much intimidation and inducement. That is what Ndigbo are and must start doing to restore our integrity in the Nigerian comity of Nations.

For Rochas, he should be reminded of the Igbo proverb that “”Those whose palm kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble.” It is the good people of Imo state that cracked this palm kernels and I hope he will never forget them. He should totally detach himself from the present governance of lie and dictatorship in Anambra, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi states.  

For Goodluck Jonathan, what happened in Imo should be a reminder to him that while he seem to have the sympathy of some Ndigbo (excluding my humble self), the magic 5.1 million votes he supposedly got from Ndigbo was a fraud. It was a systematically manipulated number from the scavengers and vultures in South-east. But that’s not who we are as Ndigbo.  He should also be reminded of the huge change in 2011 result if (when) the magic numbers from South-east and South-south are taken out.

For Peter Obi, congratulating Rochas and claiming that with “the victory of APGA, the difficult journey for reclaiming Igbo political identity has just begun” is very far from the truth. Was this not the same Rochas and APGA candidates that you and Victor Umeh abandoned while you openly campaigned with Jonathan and PDP governors in South-east? Only people who don’t have integrity think it’s hard to detect. Where is your integrity Peter?  Where is the “impressive outing of APGA in Anambra State” that you are now claiming? Peter Obi needs to be reminded that supreme quality for leadership is unquestionable integrity. Having helped PDP rig the 2011 presidential election he has lost all moral rights and integrity to talk about “a new dawn for APGA” or “Igbo man’s political consciousness.”

For Ohaneze, our people say that when a mad man walks naked, it is his kinsmen who feel shame, not himself. I’m ashamed of Ohaneze who under the pretence and cover of having giving Jonathan “5.1 million” votes are now clamoring for positions at Abuja. I was so ashamed of the actions of governors in south-east, the returning officers – professors who are expected to epitomize integrity – that I changed my name from Obinna to Adeyemi.  When Ndi Anambra central stood their ground, I dropped Yemi and went for Ade-Obinna. With this result coming out of Imo state, I’ve restored my full names to Obinna Ebelechukwu Okonkwo. Yes, Okonkwo! That’s what we are as Ndigbo. – outgoing fearless, hardworking, high moral standards with reasonable sense of integrity.

Churchill.okonkwo@gmail.com