By Raph McJulius Enechi
While it takes a great leader many years of effort, labour and sound morals to build a good reputation, a single silly and careless decision could rubbish his or her reputation and confine the individual to the wrong side of history. Chief John Nnia Nwodo, the President General of Ohaneze Ndigbo is one man who have always been in the news for the right and noble reasons until the current uproar that greeted his decision to lead the Ohaneze Ndigbo to endorse Atiku Abubakar as the preferred presidential candidate of ndigbo in the forthcoming general election.
As it’s said “once beaten is twice shy”, the Igbos should be more careful this time around, going by our recent experiences. It’s true that Atiku chose an Igbo man in the person of Mr. Peter Obi as his running mate, but the question every objective Igbo person should be asking is, is that enough reason to make the Igbos put all their political egg in one basket? We should be more diplomatic this time around. The Igbo nation is too big to play the politics of open endorsement, even if Atiku is an Igbo son.
The question people are asking is, what of Igbo sons and daughters who have thrown their hat into the ring in this presidential contest? Honestly speaking the Ohaneze endorsement of Atiku is a political blunder of the highest order, especially when due process was not followed. The most noble step Ohaneze Ndigbo as led by Chief Nnia Nwodo need to take now to redeem their image and forestall the disintegration and Functionalization of Ohaneze is to denounce the so called endorsement of Atiku, and this need to be done now, early enough before the election. This is because this action is not progressive but retrogressive, in fact it’s not in the best interest of ndigbo.
I don’t really care if some other regional organisations have also come out to openly make their endorsement of some politicians, I am more concerned about the one that concerns my tribe which is Ohaneze. If this politics of endorsement by Ohaneze is not properly managed it will ultimately destroy and factionalise the body. Ohaneze Ndigbo is a social cultural body and not a political organization, therefore Chief Nwodo and his spin doctors should not drag it into the murky waters of politics in the manner they have done, I say this with all due respect.
The eventual factionalization or disintegration of Ohaneze on the account of this endorsement, and the attendant disunity it will bring among the Igbo political elites will only give credence to the erroneous perception that the Igbos never speak with one voice, such calamity must be avoided please, Chief John Ogbonnia Nwodo should take note. Now that Chief Nwodo has decided to destroy Ohaneze, let all peace loving sons and daughters of Ndigbo speak against it with one and united voice, with the intention to redeem and restore a brother and noble son of Igbo land; not to castigate, destroy or pull him down.
Raph McJulius Enechi is a Prophet, Autor and Poet. He is also a Televangelist and The Senior Pastor of THE BALANCED CHURCH, Lagos Nigeria. He can be reached on email: mcjuliusra@gmail.com
