2023: Ihedioha too busy for Peter Obi but had all the time for Tambuwal

by Onwuasoanya FCC Jones

I have been reminded that people reserve their rights to support candidates of their choice in any election, and I agree completely. Someone has even told me that the agitation for Nigeria’s next President to come from the Southeast mustn’t be forced on people, and I don’t completely disagree with the person who told me this.

However, it must be understood that the truest test of leadership is not in taking positions that are politically and economically convenient, but in taking positions for the larger benefit of society and in deference to posterity.

Chief Emeka Ihedioha was too busy to join PDP leaders and delegates to receive Peter Obi when he visited the Party in Imo State, but he had all the time to join in welcoming Tambuwal who came for the same purpose as Peter Obi. His speech as reported by his followers also showed that he wasn’t merely in attendance in solidarity, but has made up his mind on supporting Tambuwal.

Ihedioha’s position is selfish and could be rightly interpreted as unpatriotic. The argument for all political Parties to field Southeast presidential candidates is not merely an Ohanaeze or Southeast agitation, but what every true Nigerian patriot advocates.

Individuals like Ihedioha are being used by enemies of Nigeria to sabotage this well-received and generally accepted demand for political justice and national survival. Sadly, Ihedioha has put himself forward as one of those traitorous Southeast politicians who are used by some selfish Northern politicians to send the impression that Southeast will be alright, even if they don’t get the presidency.

People like us are not supporting this agitation because we do not have options to support a non Southeast aspirant. In fact, as a person, I had got good offers from the Tinubu, Amaechi and Lawan camps. I could have made some modest income from ditching the Southeast project.

A moneybag presidential aspirant from the North Central had contacted me through his aides to come along with members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Wing for a courtesy visit and I turned it down. I could have gone and collected the money. I could have also designed a program to pay courtesy visits to presidential aspirants for my own personal benefit and retired the money and contact that would have come from these visits. After all, the likes of Ihedioha are using the political platforms we gave them to negotiate their personal political and economic benefits. If Ihedioha hadn’t been sent to the House of Representatives by Mbaise/Ngor-Okpala, he wouldn’t have known a Tambuwal, that he is supporting today against the general interest of the Southeast and Nigeria in general.

Ihedioha and his fellow sellouts campaigning for another Northerner to succeed Buhari are not just irresponsible but also myopic. They might think that their actions are smart or that Nigeria is a place where everything goes, hence, we will continue to move on, even if Buhari’s son succeeds him, but, “One day, one day, monkey go go market, e no go return.”

At every turn, our older political leaders keep reminding us of how foolish it is to consider public interest above personal interest, but we shall continue to be who we are, not minding the perception their slaves crave to paint of us.