One thing I can say for Ortom Adorogo is that he frequently makes a prophet out of me. He never fails in my predictions on what he would say on any issue. Just last night, I was chatting on the phone with a colleague of mine. He said, “I am surprised your friend, Ortom, has not said anything on the re-arrest of Nnamdi Kanu.” I assured him that Ortom would certainly not keep quiet over the act of bringing Kanu back to Nigeria to face his 11-count criminal trial. I told him that Ortom would indirectly condemn Kanu’s capture by comparing how far and how relatively fast the Buhari administration responded to Kanu versus the rather slow response of the administration to the ravages of Fulani terrorists in Benue.
What I did not predict that Ortom would say was to refer to Kanu as a “man fighting for the liberation of his people.” Now, I know that Ortom sees himself as a man at war with Buhari, and to be sure, it is appalling that so far, no terrorist responsible for the killings and wanton destruction of property in Benue has been arrested.
True, three Tiv men were recently apprehended, but they were referred to as killer-contractors for Fulani terrorists. So, in other words, a few messengers have been arrested, but the men who sent them out on their errands of death and mayhem have not been arrested. That is not right. Ortom was right to express his anger and frustration on the non-arrest of murderers who have been terrorising Benue for many years.
Ortom was, however, absolutely wrong, irresponsibly wrong, to have described Kanu as “a man fighting for the liberation of his people.” First of all, that is a most reckless and irresponsible statement from a sitting governor of a country that Kanu wants to dismember and which he refers to as a zoo. Only animals live in zoos. By Kanu’s pejorative description of Nigeria as a zoo, Ortom, despite his status as a governor, would merely be an animal in the Kanu world.
Ortom is among the highest beneficiaries of the best things Nigeria has to offer. He lives better than 99.99 per cent of Nigerian citizens. Second, who are Kanu’s “people” and from which bondage is he seeking to liberate them? Is Ortom aware that a sizable chunk of Benue State, the entire southern part of the state, is part of what Kanu includes in his definition of his “people”? So, Ortom wants Kanu to “liberate” part of Benue from under Ortom’s feet?
Those of us who were victims of the first Biafra do not seek to be part of the new Biafra. We are indigenous people of Nigeria and not a republic which would treat us as animals. We are not part of Kanu’s people and we do not see Kanu as a “liberator.” We see him as a megalomaniac who would do anything to become a president even if that republic is only a social media sensation.
What exactly is the bondage that Igbo people are under in Nigeria? People like Ortom, who see the Igbo people as under a Nigerian bondage, have a duty to spell out what that bondage is. The Igbos have held every leadership position in Nigeria, except the presidency. We have had two vice-presidents of Igbo descent. Of the 108 senators in Nigeria, there are 15 Igbo. Of the 36 state governors, there are six Igbo governors. Igbos have headed some of the “most lucrative” federal ministries and agencies. Some Igbo people have boasted that the Igbo own over 80 percent of the real estate in Abuja. Igbos have headed the army, the police, the central bank, etc. Mind you, we have over 400 ethnic groups in Nigeria. If political positions were to be apportioned on the basis of ethnicity, the Igbos would have had more than their fair shares. If the Igbo people’s desire to be president on the ground of ethnic equity, what denies an Etulo man or a Tiv man the same claim? If the presidency is apportioned on the basis of ethnicity and each president has a right to serve for eight years, the Igbos would suffer greatly. It would mean that an Igbo man would be president of Nigeria only every 32,000 years (4,000 multiplied by 8).
Is that the “liberation” that Kanu is fighting for and for which Ortom refers to so positively? Third, what is the method that the ESN, the armed wing of Kanu’s organisation, using to effectuate this “liberation”? Killing policemen (so far, 130) and burning INEC offices and other federal facilities in the South East. Ortom is a beneficiary of democracy in Nigeria. One would have expected him to vigorously defend the institutions of democracy that are under attack by ESN.
Prof. Pita Agbese sent this piece from USA
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