Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed.
OPINION.
By Citizens United Against Political Injustice.
Ordinarily I’m not the type that pay attention to noise makers, talk more of airing my opinion to their lousy tones.
However as a patriotic Nigerian with a high sense of justice, fairness and equity, I can’t fold my arms while others try to tear apart the fabric of our unity in the name of politics or whatever ill notion they harbour in their minds, thereby threatening to tear apart the basic tenent of our national cohesion by dubiously blowing tribal and ethnic trumpet.
My opinion is prompted by the resent unguarded and uncalled for utterances of Mr. Lai Mohammed published in a national daily and discussed on NTA where the minister danced naked in Eagle Square. After going through that piece Lai robbed himself of all the presumed respect he had among right thinking Nigerians and left them wondering if he (Lai) was speaking for the APC, the Government or he is just exposing the ethnic dirt hidden deep within his rotten political mind. It is quite unthinkable and unreasonable that a man charged with disseminating information for the FG will stoop so low to attack a particular ethnic group using foul and street language in discrediting the entire people of South Eastern region of the country.
Lai threw all caution to the wind and appropriated the powers of Almighty God to himself when he mentioned that (they, though I don’t know who those he referred to as the “they” are) will never allow the South Eastern region to have a shot at the presidency of our great country which is actually made great by the collective efforts of all the ethnic and tribal nationalities making up the country.
While dancing to the crazy bits of the mad man’s drum, Lai said the South Eastern people of Nigeria are nuisance and pose a threat to the continued corporate existence of our country, forgetting that he sits with their sons at the Federal Executive Council meeting and even dine and wine with them. Even while throwing his tantrums, Lai forgot that the same region he comes from and his people are equally engaged in the struggle to secede from the larger entity, the various Yoruba violent fora have been agitating for the ODUA PEOPLES REPUBLIC, so are the other unpatriotic South Western States and people.
In his bid to demonize the industrious sons of the South East, Lai closed his eyes, blocked his ears and sense, and choose to look the other way deliberately ignoring both the very resent violent activism of his Odua fellows to break out from Nigeria. He equally elected preventively not to know that his fellow Odua brothers have joined the IPOB in their agitation to split the country and instead laid all the blame on the entire people of the South East.
Is it not so soon for Lai to have forgotten that in fact both Shonekan and Obasanjo were made to lead the nation just to assuage the blood thirsty Odua People Congress who threatened to annihilate all other tribes and pool down the skies if one of theirs is not made the president of this great country. Little wonder then it is that Lai is resorting to black mail just to deprive the South East from its peaceful agitation to occupy the office they truly deserve to have a shot at. As an elder statesman, the minister should have acted in the best interest of the nation by supporting those politically deprived people instead of blackmailing them just to kidnap their rightful claim.
Just few weeks back the ODUA and IPOB joined hands to fight against Nigeria by taking their battle to the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) which is an international organization established in 1991 and headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands to assist ethnic nationalities that are repressed in the countries they are part of and help them make a case for independence before the United Nations (UN). This act indeed raises serious concerns over the risk of Nigeria breaking up with some ethnic nationalities including Lai’s kinsmen posing a threat to the unity, peace and progress of Nigeria.
While spitting his venoms at the South East, Lai conveniently shielded his kinsmen from the same accusations he levied against the Igbos even at the face of the strong alliance between the two groups to halt Nigeria completely, ignoring the fact that this unholy union makes the risk of Nigeria breaking up now higher than ever before due to Yoruba, Biafra UNPO membership: In my opinion Lai should not have generalized the entire South Eastern citizens of Nigeria as unpatriotic, but being callous as he is known he packed them all in the same ship which is quite unfortunate and grossly unjust for a man of his standing. His actions and utterances clearly revealed that he is not prepared for a new Nigeria where political justice and fairness should form the bedrock of our peace and unity.
Without intending to take the basket mouth through history classes, it seems he falls short of recollecting that since the declaration that brought an end to the unfortunate Civil War, the measures taken are the three Rs (Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation), but Oga Lai decided to throw the third R(Reconciliation) to the dogs for his and his mentor’s political gains at the expense of our peace and unity by supporting socio political Justice.
Lai should better tell us if he has no scintilla of patriotism left in him and then quit henceforth, because he was appointed on that platform. He should be seen to be uniting and not dividing.
Also, it is worthy to note that unlike the North which had truly been accused of laziness (the Almajiri) is a point of reference here, I have never come across any South Eastern Almajiri. On the contrary the south easterners are industrious and can move a quarter of the Nigerian economy which I strongly believe will translate into more success when they are (without decades of unfounded sentiments) allowed to lead this great country.
The problem with Lai like many other ethnocentric fellows is whenever they think South East what readily comes to their polluted minds is IPOB which in reality is not the case. I am a full blown Northern Nigerian and have no reason or benefit to gain in supporting the splitting of NIGERIA.
LIE PLEASE TAKE NOTE AND STOP FALSE PROPAGANDA AGAINST SOUTH EAST, YOU ARE NOT MORE NIGERIAN THAN THEY ARE.
CITIZENS UNITED AGAINST POLITICAL INJUSTICE
