Here Comes the Biggest band of Idiots of Britain!

I have just read that some idiots who call themselves Atheists plan to arrest His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the UK and that their solicitor has advised them that they would be able to do so because in their small world, His Holiness is not a Head of State.
I have always known that there are professional attention seekers in Britain, but I have never imagined this kind of foolery among people who are supposed to be educated!
Even if it is correct (which is clearly not so) that the Pope is not a Head of State, no idiot would ever think it is possible to attempt to arrest him in Britain let alone any other country of this world for whatever reason, without grave consequences!!
This must be one of the most stupid dreams ever dreamt. The so-called Solicitor, who claims that the Pope is not a head of state, surely is incompetent because a few seconds research would have informed him that the Pope is the Head of State of The Vatican City as well as the head of the Holy Sea.

Any individual or group whether or not backed up by some fame-seeking solicitors, thinking about arresting the Pope must be suffering from a very bad malaria!!

Why Must Nigerians Abroad Vote?

This is a response to an email from a group of fellow Nigerians celebrating a recent Nigerian Guardian news publication, “National Assembly Raises Hope of Voting by Nigerians Abroad”, on 18 April 2009.


Dear All,

I feel quite disappointed that supposedly better enlightened and informed Nigerians abroad see the issue of making provisions for Nigerians abroad to vote as a key issue they should be clamouring for or celebrating about our Nigeria.

In my view the questions we ought to first ask ourselves are:

1. How crucial to the development of genuine democracy in Nigeria, is it that provisions must be made for Nigerians abroad to vote?

2. Knowing, that one of the cardinal problems with our democracy is that genuine elections hardly ever hold especially since recent times (since 1998 in particular), why should the interest of a tiny minority of Nigerians abroad supersede the interest of the overwhelming majority of our suffering compatriots at home. To put it more succinctly, why must Nigerians abroad vote when Nigerians in Nigeria have never really been given free and inalienable right to vote in elections?

3. How much of a priority is it to the general development of Nigeria that provisions for Nigerians abroad to vote must be made soon?

4. What is the wisdom of creating for our largely dubious and wasteful “public servants” another avenue for diverting and wasting our resources in the name of voting for Nigerians abroad?

5. What have Nigerians abroad contributed to the enthronement of democracy and good governance in Nigeria?

My fellow Nigerians in civilised societies of Europe and America, we bear a natural responsibility, to help save Nigeria and the Black race from inferiority and backwardness. Having escaped real poverty and deprivation of fundamental freedoms in Nigeria, we are in the best position to fight for the rights of ordinary Nigerians at the highest levels in the world. By virtue of our very significant presence and influence as immigrants in Europe and America, we have the opportunity to influence positive changes in Nigeria by influencing some local and foreign policies of governments of our host countries.

It is our greatest failure that we have not done any significant thing towards genuine development in Nigeria. We have not shown any proper or adequate concern for suffering Nigerians beyond sending monies to our relatives to celebrate their betterments. Rather than engage ourselves with honest efforts towards helping to develop our motherland, we have generally channelled our energies towards cosmetic projects such as voting for Nigerians abroad and idiotic programmes like “Miss Nigeria UK” which I painfully watched NIDOE discuss on or around 15 July 2006 or worst of all, going to queue along with sycophants for the attention of elected officials in Nigeria.

We must begin to do our part by first of all properly organising ourselves and genuinely giving ourselves the opportunity to understand the problems underpinning Nigeria’s development. It is a big shame that there has never been any genuine effort by enlightened and distinguished Nigerians either in Europe or in America, to sit down and deliberate on what we can do about our motherland. One does not intend to ignore the significant efforts of hundreds of pockets of organisations springing up everyday among Nigerians abroad including the great jobs organisations like Sahara Reporters are doing, but the fact remains that without solid umbrella organisations or forums of Nigerian elders and leaders of thought in Europe and America no significant impact will ever be made on the ground in Nigeria.

I do not advocate that Nigerians abroad should be militant or should be at war with Nigerian leadership, but simply that Nigerians abroad are capable of influencing the policies of our “White masters” in the EU and US on Nigeria and Black Africa as well as influencing real changes in Nigeria.

We can influence western policies on foreign aid, trade, legitimacy of African government etc by organising ourselves under reputable bodies and forums that study situations on the grounds in Black Africa as affected people and advocate our own people oriented ideas. Enlightened Black Africans (led by Nigerians) abroad can do much better than the likes of Bob Geldoff or some sentimental White journalists in representing Black Africa’s interest before western governments and global bodies.

We can also influence policies in our host countries that can directly check the culture of embezzlement of public funds by our state and federal government officials by influencing the enactment of certain laws where necessary to punish and repatriate our stolen funds without fear or favour. This is probably the easiest work that Nigerians abroad can do with little resources and efforts other than just sincerity.

We can directly influence real developments in Nigeria and by extension the entire Black Africa and even the Carribbean, by being genuinely committed to taking our wonderful Great Britain, Ireland, US, Canada etc to Nigeria. It is probably evil on our part that in our respective locations in Europe and America, we enjoy fundamental freedoms and at the slighted provocation seek redress in courts and tribunals with little or no mago mago or obstruction to justice, but have never made any significant effort at ensuring that such good things of life reach our people back home.

I know that some of us do believe that it must take us hundreds of years to become like our civilised host countries, but I do believe that we owe our compatriots at home the natural duty of care to make our own contributions towards alleviating their sufferings. Alleviating the sufferings of our people at how cannot be achieved by sending some textbooks and even hospital equipments to some privileged schools and hospitals as some of us do, but by helping to impact fundamental changes in the way our people perceive and run modern governments and leadership.

Since we are overtly more excited about voting in elections, one immediate job for enlightened Nigerians whether home or abroad before ever contemplating about making provisions for Nigerian abroad to vote is to device and advocate for the best ways to conduct free and civilised elections in Nigeria where there would be no need to employ gunmen or some dubious security men to annihilate oppositions.

I have since 2001, out of field experience of elections in Nigeria been proposing for audio-visual voting method (see for e.g. http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/john-iteshi/audio-visual-voting-method.html ) as a foolproof and inexpensive solution to election violence and malpractices, but unsurprisingly, being an undistinguished individual, that idea has never been considered by more than just a few enlightened individuals.

Genuine and or well organised Nigerian forums in Europe and America are therefore invited to deliberate on my idea or better ideas toward campaigning both internationally and locally for the best election methods that will usher in genuine democracy and development in Nigeria and Black Africa.

Until we have paid our dues by genuinely doing something for the development of our country and not just for our personal development, our Nigeria and Black Africa will remain backward and exploitable by people of other racial groups. The journey towards building successful societies (not individuals) out of Black Africa and Black Carribbean must start with enlightened Black individuals especially those with all the opportunities to influence the views of the masters of the world at the highest level. Nigerians abroad must start working responsibly towards taking genuine development to Nigeria not by going to lobby for some ludicrous projects called “Diaspora Village, but by genuinely contributing ideas and projects aimed at building a civilised society out of Nigeria.

Count me in for any project aimed at genuine development in Nigeria including discussions on how we can expose Nigerians who have stolen public funds to acquire properties in Europe and America and their collaborators. Count me out in programmes and projects geared towards self aggrandizements on the back of our suffering compatriots in Nigeria. Count me out of ridiculous and primitive ideas like Miss Nigeria UK or Diaspora Village!!

Yours,

John Iteshi

Will President Obama Save the Black Race?

Will President Obama Save the Black Race?

Perhaps, Barack Obama is the greatest thing that has happened to the Black race since the independence era. The joy and unity Obama has brought among Black people irrespective of their colonial backgrounds can only be compared to the kind of unity of purpose and belief in shared destiny said to have existed in the Black world during the 1950s through to 1970s before the White colonizers driven from most of our lands regrouped and conquered our brains. The hope for President Obama has ecstatically gripped not only African Americans, in the Black world, but apparently all people of Black African ancestry all over the world. President Obama commands the kind of acceptance and adulation no other Black person has ever attracted in modern history.

President Obama appears to be Gods timely answer to our prayers for unity and leadership. It appears the prophecy of the great Bob Marley and the aspirations of our great leaders like Kwame Nkrumah are finally coming to pass. Knowing that lack of unity of purpose and lack of leadership have blighted the Black race, having a person generally respected and accepted as our leader by all Black people may signal the beginning of our salvation from backwardness. President Obama appears to have provided the much needed unity and leadership needed to propel the Black race towards development and the improvement of the lives of our people.

Of course, President Obama is not coming to be the President of the Black race more than the President of the United States of America, but it is a matter of fact that President Obama will equally be the president of all the presidents of the Black race. He is being elected to lead America first and foremost, but the primary purpose of the White liberals who groomed and marketed the “project Black president” to the world has always been to give African Americans and the Black race this extraordinary opportunity. The making of President Obama by White liberals has always been more about making history by installing a Black president than any other interest. To the cream of White liberals, the issue of President Obama’s policies for America has always been far less important than the interest in ensuring the emergence of a Black president.

The almighty western media shares the dream for a Black president and all over the white world; racism has almost disappeared for the sake of President Obama. Far beyond America, from London to Berlin, Rome and all over the White world all you are allowed to say aloud is support for President Obama, if you are not and do not wish to be branded a racist. Call it bullying or hypocrisy if you like, but it is official! A BBC weekend programme, Reporters last Saturday night featured a White reporter touring the American State of Virginia to interview people about the election. He went to a café and asked a White lady, who she would vote for and when she replied McCain he asked her whether she was not voting Obama because he is Black. Meanwhile, he did not ask the Black woman he later interviewed whether she was voting Obama because he is black.


BBC news and documentary coverage of the US election appear more like campaigns for Obama than information to the public. There is little doubt that the cream of British media and the society have officially adopted Barack Obama.

Prime Minster Gordon Brown and his ministers have voiced aloud their support for President Obama. Across Europe, we hear that Germany and possibly some other European countries are declaring that they are either Obamaland or Obama-friendly. There is no doubt that a powerful group of White men supported firmly by the cream of the western media are committed to hand African Americans and the Black race our greatest opportunity ever, to change our world. It appears the Black world has no choice but to embrace Barack Obama.

However, the intolerant and crude manner with which the cream of the American and British media are manipulating African Americans and bullying White Americans to vote Obama, besides being very annoying, appear to undermine the quality and potency of President Obama. It is deeply worrying to think that President Obama may be yet another fake or half or useless victory for the Black race. It is very sad that Obama is actually not a Black victory, but a victory for some self righteous White men who made him. President Obama has been made with little or no Black contribution except as followers.

One would not advocate a segregated America where Blacks isolate themselves and do their own thing, but it worries one deeply that African Americans and indeed the whole Black race have remained so disunited and conquerable, that the White media can drive, push and shovel us as they please. We have been proven so weak and vulnerable by the way and manner some self-righteous white men and their media now determine what is good for the Black race, when and how they get it.

Today only leaders of Black Africa endorsed by white men in New York and London become good leaders no matter how corrupt and ho horribly they treat their people. We have become much weaker and useless as a people that our independences now seem like massive mistakes. Hence, the grooming and global marketing of brand Obama actually demonstrate more of our weakness and failure as a people than our resurgence. It has and will always continue to undermine our existence and survival as a people to allow ourselves to remain swayable as we are today.

It is gladdening to see an unprecedented level of unity of purpose and commitment among African Americans today for President Obama, but one cannot suppress the urge to wonder where this highly motivated and united African America had been that we never heard of it since the time of Martin Luther King Junior. If African Americans can be so well mobilised to the extent that we saw in a recent BBC panorama, even children as young as under 10 year olds begging money on the roadside (an act the western media of the old would have termed child abuse) to support the emergence of a Black president. We now seem to have an African America that is almost 90 per cent united for one good cause, but it is baffling why African Americans have never since the 1960s civil rights movement, mobilised themselves in a similar way towards greater participation and embracing of the great American ideals. The shameful fact that Obama is currently the only Black senator out of 100 elected Senators despite Blacks constituting about 13% of the population further highlights the seriousness of the failure of Black people in America and that having a Black president should not have been the priority of African Americans. Integrating themselves properly and taking full part in the socio-political development of America as natural Americans should have been the main priority of African Americans. Starting the renaissance of African America with President Obama appears like building from the top!

Of course, President Obama could still fulfil our dream of building a better integrated and successful African America and Black Africa and the Carribbean, despite the way and manner of his emergence. Of course, if he possesses the right vision, he could still be the messiah we are waiting for irrespective of how or who made him what he is. There are many signs, that Barrack Obama is a really nice bloke. His continued link with his people in Black Africa is particularly commendable, but there are signs that suggest that President Obama could be another wasted opportunity for the Black race.
The fact that nobody has really heard him express serious concern about the situation of Black Africa is deeply worrying. All that can be inferred is that he shares the White liberal view that African America and Black Africa should not take responsibilities for their inexcusable failures, but must continue complaining about slavery and colonialism.

Even if President Obama has the best intentions for African Americans and the Black race the lack of any consensus and or any ideological framework for our development would mean that his best intentions would not yield any progress on the ground. We must not fail to realise that the Black race has already enjoyed great opportunities although not as great as what we are about to, courtesy of President George W. Bush whom some dubious journalists have so wickedly demonised as racist. The rare opportunity of having Colin Powel and Condoleezza Rice in the most high profile political positions ever to be occupied by any Black person along with Koffi Annan as Secretary General of the UN provided the Black race the chance to chart a new course, but we blew it. The principal reason why we wasted the opportunity of using Powel/Condi and Koffi Annan to organise the Black race must be the lack of structures (in terms of organised people, forums and or ideological frameworks) on the ground and not lack of good intentions on the part of those leaders. Those who follow the zombie view that great Black leaders like Condoleezza Rice do not care about Black people fail to understand that having our own up there without an organised people on the ground would result in a wasted opportunity. No where in this world do people build from the top!

Modern governments are based on well reasoned policies. Positive impacts are made though sound policies. A President Obama will only help African Americans and the Black race through policies and programmes and not through waving of some magic wands. The only way president Obama can save African Americans and the Black race from inferiority and backwardness would be through well thought out policies. The fact that we do not have any consensus and any Black-led ideological framework for our development may mean President Obama’s African policy would be more financial aid and more IMF loans in line with contemporary white liberal beliefs.

Enlightened Black leaders across the world must get organised now to ensure that President Obama delivers the good leadership he is expected to deliver. He will not succeed in changing the status of the Black race without some useful structures on the ground. Hence enlightened Black individuals must start organising themselves now, not for selfish gains, but for the harnessing, debating and building of ideas and understanding for the development of the Black race. The most likely consequence of Black people not organising themselves now is that Rock Star policies like Band Aid and make Poverty History will define Obama’s African policy.

We must understand that having President Obama is not just for feeling good that we have our own person there, but seriously about our greatest opportunity to organise ourselves and pursue development like other racial groups. Every enlightened Black person whether as African American or Caribbean or Black African, must be worried that there is no civilised or properly organised society of Black people anywhere on this planet and that being able to organise ourselves is our greatest collective challenge. The White people giving us this great opportunity are very well aware of our shameful situation and probably want us to take our destinies in our own hands. We must therefore not waste this great opportunity to prove that we are not inferior by utilising it towards building civilised and successful African American communities and successful societies out of Black Africa and the Caribbean. Even if in the end Americans decide otherwise, we must not abandon President Obama as the rallying point for our renaissance! We must not fail again!!




John Iteshi

London
29 October 2008

Kenya: Why is Britain not doing Zimbabwe?

It is a shame that Britain and her media cannot afford not to be biased especially on Black African issues. It was Britain who colonised Kenya as well as Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria and many other failed Black African states. Britain ought to be acting like a father nation to Anglophone Africa as a whole, but unfortunately it acts like a biased and dubious father. Britain applies different rules to its former colonies as it suits her selfish interests.

After one of the most civilised general elections in Black African history was held in Zimbabwe in 2002, the British government could not accept the will of the people because Robert Mugabe whom it loathed for sacking white British farmers was re-elected. The British government and its overbearing media have been campaigning for the total collapse of Zimbabwe to the extent of severally encouraging civil uprising. Britain and her media have also tried to persuade South Africa to stop allowing Zimbabwean immigrants in their bid to ensure the total collapse of Zimbabwe.
It was particularly significant that the same British government and British media that turned democracy defenders over Zimbabwe in 2000, after the sacking of white farmers, did not react against Nigeria after far worse general elections were held in Nigeria in 2003 by the worst president in Nigeria's history, General Obasanjo who killed and maimed to ensure a re-election. A number of top opposition leaders and perceived opponents of the president even within his own party were assassinated to ensure a smooth re-election yet; the same British government which condemned Zimbabwe did not even issue any strong statement in condemnation of the Nigerian government. We all know that nobody was killed by Mugabe in 2002 in order to get re-elected.
Again in 2007, the same evil president conducted the most fraudulent elections imaginable. International observers unanimously condemned it entirely because there were no elections at all. Father Britain and her media declined to condemn what even openly racists would agree was far worse than anything that ever happened in Zimbabwe.
Right now, it is happening again in Kenya. Another case of massive electoral fraud has occurred in one of Britain's ex-colonies, and rather than greet it with the same measure applied to Zimbabwe, Britain and her media are dancing about to thwart the very kind of revolution they have been sponsoring and campaigning to happen in Zimbabwe since 2000.
The entire British media is now focused on Kenya, tactically demonising the opposition leader for no justifiable reason. Times online called Odinga ruthless, stubborn and desperate and made him look like the cause of the violence. Odinga is being blamed for the civil unrest in reaction to the massive election fraud perpetrated by the incumbent president. Odinga is being demonised for refusing to compromise over an indisputable case of electoral fraud. He is in fact being condemned by British media for allegedly doing that which the entire white world has been urging Morgan Tsvangirai to do in Zimbabwe which has failed because the majority of the people continued to support Mugabe. One wonders what kind of father nation Britain is when it cannot apply the same rules and standard to its former colonies.

It may be right to argue that Britain is entitled to be selfish and protective of her economic interests as she does by way of supporting the worst governments in Black Africa. Mohammed Buhari, the main opposition leader in Nigeria in both the 2003 and 2007 general elections, despite having an impeccable record as an incorruptible Nigerian leader (having been tested and trusted) did not attract the kind of support Mr Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe have always enjoyed because having a reformist president in Nigeria would not favour western economic interests. Odinga is being demonised because he sounds too radical and Britain is not comfortable with having people like him in power to wake up the sleeping giants in Black Africa. Today we get all sorts of patronising British media reports about Kenya as being the most successful African country all in the bid to demoralise ordinary Kenyans determined to make the kind of history Britain supported the Ukrainians to make in 2004. British media reporters and analysts have been drumming “tribal” war songs in their perverted desire to scuttle the general ill-feelings among ordinary Kenyans irrespective of ethnic background by consistently insinuating ethnic crisis rather than political crisis which is the case.
For those that care to think, the question is how the anti-Kibaki disturbances can be said to be entirely about the Luos against the Kikuyus when the Luos are only the third largest ethnic group (not tribe as White supremacists choose to regard Black African ethnic groups). How did the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Mr. Odinga enjoy so much support if it is just a party of 13% of Kenyans which translate to just about 4.8million of the population of Kenya which is about 37 million?

Clearly, western governments might be entitled to play dodgy tactics because it does not seem reasonable on the face of it, for Britain or any other successful western economic giant to genuinely support the emergence of successful Black African states because it does not make sense for any merchant to close his sources of cheap goods large profits. It is even right to say that neither Britain nor any other former colonial master owes a dime of support or sincerity to failed Black Africa because each sovereign state ought to fend for itself as we all claim to be equal human beings.

However, considering the real fact that Black Africa desperately needs to build successful societies for the survival of its people and the fact that Britain seeks to be a father nation with conscience, based on its history of fighting injustices both internally and externally, it may be right to expect a more genuine leadership from her. Britain can rightly lay claim to being a beacon of justice and political morality based on its leading roles in ending slavery and ending colonialism and apartheid regimes. The British media is respected across the world and is arguably, the most powerful opinion leader in the world. With a little bit more of genuineness, Britain and her media can truly change this world. Britain and her media do not owe Black Africa anything, but they are highly welcome as genuine helpers. If the Britain truly cares about the Black race, she must change her style in Black Africa. Britain must change from being purely mercantile and often dubious to a more respectable role that befits her leadership status in the world. Britain and other colonial masters might be entitled to manipulate us as it suits their economic interests, but it seems more sensible to play good masters than continuing to play hypocrisy especially now that China is becoming a real threat to their supremacy!
It is plainly obvious that turning good masters and genuine father nations would benefit both the White world and the failed Black world. It is not difficult to be fair-minded as leading nations in international affairs. Simply setting the same standard for everyone and applying the same rules would do. It is unacceptable to set a very high standard of democracy for Zimbabwe and sing a different tune when it comes to Nigeria or Kenya. Democracy and good governance must mean the same in all situations and in all societies. What is good for the Zimbabweans must also be good for Kenyans, Nigerians, Ugandans and other failed Black African states!!

John Iteshi

London, 4th January 2007

Baroness Amos, I thought you were better than this!

I have always looked at you as one of the proper role models we should be showcasing to our young ones both because of your exalted position and the fact that you admirably wear your natural hairdo without attachments. Yes, I have always celebrated people like you and Condoleezza Rice as the Black women that should be celebrated rather than the Beyonces who are destroying the Black race with the notion that Black women cannot be beautiful enough in their own skin, but must wear some dead White women’s hairs.

I honestly believed that people like you are the future of the Black race because you are in positions where you can influence European policies on Black Africa and the Black race in general. I was in fact, about to write letters to you and other prominent Black British leaders to suggest the need for a forum of Black leaders in Britain as an umbrella for forging a strategy for the development of the Black race. This thought was inspired by my realization that Black British leaders are too individualised and not working in unison for the development of Black Africa and Black societies in the Caribbean. I thought there was a great need for leaders like you to get together as a step towards articulating our problems and possible ways out. I passionately believed that people like you are the future of the Black race( despite your unfortunate remark to BBC earlier this year that Toyin, the ignorant Black man who disrupted the celebration of the 200 years of end of slavery, “…reflected the anger and the pain that still exists” ), until some minutes ago when the BBC News 24 showed you in Lisbon doing the most dishonourable job of promoting the misguided British notion that Zimbabweans are starving because they sacked white farmers.

I find it very sad that you agreed to be used to show that the White world’s irrational obsession about Zimbabwe is not founded on racism. I think it is very disgraceful for the Black race that people like you in the year 2007 are being used in this way. It is plainly obvious that the only reason you were sent to Lisbon was because the British government wanted to use a Black person against Robert Mugabe.
I definitely do not have anything against Britain as I am most grateful for the fact that this great country has accepted me and treated me better any Black country in this world (not even my miserable country Nigeria) would have treated me. I am also very much conscious of the shameful fact that the most racist white country would treat even Black criminals better than the best Black country treats its best citizens. I am most importantly well informed about the fact that but for the White race, Black Africa would have been under slavery today. However, I believe very strongly that we must make some concerted efforts to change our status today before it becomes too late as it would indeed be in no distant time with the rise of China and India!

The way to change our status in this world is not by accepting the White supremacist notion that we cannot develop modern farming techniques either in Zimbabwe or anywhere else and must rely on White farmers to feed us. I think it is a grave disaster that in the year 2007, there is no successful society of people like us and you are aligning with the view that we should not even attempt to make efforts to be successful. I believe, irrespective of whether it was right or wrong to taken over White farms that the step towards self determination which Mugabe is taking Zimbabwe is the right way to attempt to build our own Singapore Thailand and Malaysia and that enlightened Black people ought to support him. I believe that this is not the moment to talk about how bad Mugabe as a person is, but to face the challenge which White supremacist have thrown to us, to build a successful Zimbabwe without White farmers.

You are of course entitled to have a different understanding of the issue in Zimbabwe, but I do not believe you are entitled to deny the real fact that the main challenge facing the Black race is to build our own successful societies. As I commented earlier today at the Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre during the MP Dianne Abbott‘s conference on the underachievement of Black boys, our children’s self esteem would improve greatly is we could have Singapore and Malaysia emerging out of Black Africa tomorrow. People like you should be most concerned that the Black race is failing and that there is nowhere to run to tomorrow if White people ask us to leave their land. People like you should be organizing Black people towards surmounting the great challenge of proving we are not inferior by building our own successful societies. People like you should have used their positions to influence more favourable British of EU foreign policies on Black Africa and Black societies in the Caribbean. You have disgraced the Black race by allowing yourself to be used in the racial war against Robert Mugabe.

John Iteshi

London 8th December 2007

Even If Ebonyi has no Male Child

Most Nigerians would readily lavish praises on the governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu of Ebonyi state because of the glowing pictures often presented by the Nigerian media about his administration. He has been named various glorious names and given innumerable number of awards both within Nigeria and beyond. Just search the internet and news archives and see one governor in Nigeria that seems to have no stain on his name, courtesy of the disgustingly corrupt Nigerian media. Thisday Newspaper in particular cannot deny its culpability in this “mother of all frauds” against a hapless people. There is hardly any Thisday issue that passes without a potion for praising either the governor or his wife for some bogus achievements. Sometimes, one wonders whether it is about not being strategically located or just the fact that Ebonyi indigenes are barely represented in the mainstream media which is responsible for the apparent poor media coverage of true events in the State. One also wonders whether the fact there are not many rich and powerful enough citizens of Ebonyi State could be the reason why the governor simply does what he likes with public resources without regard for anyone. This is a case of one man desperately plundering the state government resources as he pleases with those who are supposed to challenge him either scrambling for their own cuts or intimidated by the large armies of assassins and thugs he pays with public funds. Even the Human Rights Watch has long observed the terrible state of basic human rights and freedoms and the dearth of media reportage of the situations to the outside world in its report on the conduct of the 2003 sham elections in Nigeria with focus on Ebonyi State. Their website details the series of assassinations and other violent incidents spearheaded by the state government against political opponents before and during the heavily flawed elections. However, what astounds one most is the fact that the people of Ebonyi State especially those who reside there and feel the pains directly are not known to be complaining at all.

The fact that one man has wickedly commandeered the resources and entitlements of over two million people for over seven years with no reactions from the people in terms of protests and oppositions is deeply disturbing. It is puzzling that a supposedly elected civilian governor having no command over any armed forces (except perhaps, illegal armed thugs) could muscle up every arm and institutions of the state government for over seven years without protests either by civil servants, elders or even politicians. So many atrocities that cannot even be dreamt of elsewhere have happened without any squabble and the governor seemingly emboldened by the general ignorance and primitiveness of his people has continued to go beyond bounds.
For instance, in 2001, he sought to convert his minority people into a majority by embarking on a fraudulent creation of more Local Government Areas (LGAs) with the effect that his clan Ngbo/Izhia which was one of the smallest groups would become a majority by way of more administrative units and most importantly more electoral constituencies and therefore more votes than majority clans such as Izzi for example which is about seven times larger both in population and land mass. Even though the federal legislatures outlawed the exercise, he has used it as a basis for distribution of infrastructures and amenities within the state. For the sake of non-Nigerian readers who might not understand the issues here clearly, this primitive act could be compared to having a Scottish Prime Minister in the United Kingdom who decides to delineate extra 100 constituencies for Scotland and only 40 extra for the whole of England which is 80% of UK. One can then imagine where such evil act could happen unchallenged.

To say that Mr Sam Egwu runs Ebonyi State like a conquered territory might not be adequate to describe the level of impunity with which he has trampled on the rights and entitlements of the people. Even an Emperor from the much we learnt from history classes could not have been so callous in running a conquered land. A governor who has been striving desperately to ensure that he acquires more wealth than the state government which he is supposed to be running for the benefit of all, must be a terrible bandit. Perhaps, the clearest demonstration of his disregard for the people has been his style of dissolving the state executive council and running the government as a sole administrator for up to six months, only to reappoint the same people back. This shameful act of denigration of his people has happened on three occasions and as usual without complaint from anyone. Those supposed to challenge him even scramble to be appointed into the cabinet to participate in the looting of their own resources.

However, the most humiliating insult to everybody in Ebonyi state has been the building of an ultra-modern private school for his wife obviously with public funds, while public schools are generally left in dilapidated conditions. Hence, the only standard primary and secondary schools reasonably equipped in Abakaliki is the Hope High International School, built by the governor’s wife at the expense of the people as a private business venture. Top government functionaries in the state are mandated to send their children and wards to Mrs Egwu’s private school while ordinary people are left with the uncared-for public schools. Of course, the governor’s children were immediately taken away to the best schools in the world at the expense of the state government on his dubious rise to governorship in 1999. As if that was not enough slap on the face of the hapless people of Ebonyi state, he embarked on crazy property acquisitions ostensibly to ensure that he literally grabs as much estates in Ebonyi State as the royal family owns in England. He has built the best hotel in the state with public fund as his private enterprise. The worst aspect of this is that he embarked on building what he touted as a five star hotel for the state (even though it was never a necessary need for the people) and suddenly as if stung by something, abandoned it and built a powerful edifice which is clearly the tallest and most magnificent building in Abakaliki, the capital city as his own private hotel. We are not yet talking about the properties and funds stashed abroad or elsewhere in Nigeria by he and his wife because those ones are unseen by the people. All that we know clearly is that a man who probably never travelled beyond Nigeria, on becoming a governor of the poorest state in Nigeria on 29th may, 1999 has today made well over 200 foreign trips mainly to the richest countries like USA, UK, and Australia for missions which cannot be far from dubious. It is also bitter to know that a man who has siphoned the monies meant for the provision of Medicare for his people flies himself or his family off to the US for every trivial medical need at the expense of the people.

One can go on and on to enumerate the acts of wickedness being perpetrated by the so-called democratically elected governor of Ebonyi State of Nigeria on his own people, but the most critical issue of deep concern is why there has never been any serious opposition to this evil ruler till date? Where are other political figures as well as traditional and religious leaders in Ebonyi while all these atrocities are being perpetrated against the people? Where are the women of Ebonyi state whose children’s future are at stake assuming there are no men left standing? We all know the power of women in Igbo land where men have failed to act as in the well documented Aba women riot against British colonial rule in 1929. It is true that challenging a ruthless state governor in Nigeria without federal support is a very dangerous game to play, but everybody cannot hide under fear to allow one man uninhibited power to play with the destiny of two million people for over 7years. Even if all the supposed opposition politicians have been bought or silenced by intimidation, one wonders why a person like the Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki diocese who is the spiritual head of more than 60% of the population has never stood up to condemn the fraudulent system or even mobilise the people against the rogue government. I have already written to His Lordship Dr. Michael Okoro, the Bishop on this issue because one believes that a person of his calibre is best positioned to speak for the people being a respected beacon of morality acceptable to the generality of the people including non-Catholics. It is also reasoned that since, religious leaders have the most advantaged access to the people that they generally have the greatest power and influence to bring about change in their immediate societies. This is because the kind of change needed is mass mobilisation for better awareness of modern societal structures and governance.

The greatest problem we suffer is not really about wicked or corrupt leadership, but more critically about mass ignorance and primitiveness. The fact that nobody sees the looting of public treasury as affecting him or her personally is the greater problem in not just Ebonyi State but the entire Nigeria. We must understand that the fact that Tony Blair or George Bush cannot fiddle with public funds is not because white men are saints, but more crucially because the people will not let it happen. Even if you can buy over the media and all opposition politicians in those countries, the Cardinals and Bishops would not fail in their duties to mobilise their flocks. Our cardinals and Bishops are therefore failing their people by having not stood up against bad governance. The most important point which ought to strike the mind of any enlightened person from Ebonyi State whether a Bishop or a Politician or Professor is the fact that their share of the good things of modern life such as motorable roads, water supply, electricity and good medicare and shool facilities has been wasted over seven years by one man, unchallenged. We must realise that if there occurs a serious health emergency in the state anyday, that our own people are going to die needlessly because the monies that should have been well channelled into providing quality medical centres and road access to them have been siphoned by one man and his cronies. Sam Egwu and the few big men from Ebonyi state might be able to afford treatment elsewhere from their ill-gotten wealth, but at the end of the day they will all be losers because a handful of opportunists alone will not enjoy life better in Ebonyi State if a deadly disease wipes out the poor.

Moreover, it is necessary to consider the grave implication not challenging a fraudulent government would have on the future of the state. It is not only that the next governor would come with vengeance and would strive to surpass Sam Egwu in fraudulent wealth acquisition, but that a bloody conflict may not be avoidable since a terrible seed of discord has been sown for seven years among a relatively homogenous people. One wonders, what moral justification, anyone would have to ask the next governor who would probably come from another section of the state, not to buy his own assets overseas, build the best private university and a 7star hotel in Abuja and also seek to multiply the number of his local government into ten. Of course, without mass actions, only a military coup in Nigeria can stop Egwu from installing his wife or any trusted person as governor in 2007, but the real issue is that a potentially bloody crisis awaits the future of Ebonyi State. All that needs to be done now to avert the despicable level of hatred hatching among people now before it becomes terribly late is for a trusted leader and elder like the Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki to rise to his responsibility as a leader, elder and father by calling for reconciliation or carrying out a mass action against an evil ruler. The Bishop must realise that he is part of the society for now and owes responsibility as per what he has done on his own part. Preaching at the pulpit is not enough. We must begin to build a good and responsible society beyond the church environments. God knows that one has not set out to be seen as challenging His anointed, but merely expressing one’s harmless thoughts on the way forward for the future of our people. Since, the media and politicians have failed us, the only trusted leaders people are prepared to listen to, being the religious leaders cannot also fail to show leadership for their flock. It would be most unfortunate!
John Iteshi
London, July 8 2006.