The errand Professor Nwabueze runs for Nnamdi Kanu (II)
Come to think of it, if Professor Nwabueze is seen time and again by the side of Nnamdi Kanu, the chap who condemns everyone in Nigeria as an animal inside the zoo, someone sworn to destroying Nigeria and creating Biafra, somebody who called Muhammadu Buhari a paedophile, then it will be logical to regard Nwabueze as a Biafran rather than a Nigerian. To that extent, every one of his recommendations for restructuring or whatever should be suspected and scrutinised as coming from Nnamdi Kanu and certainly not as something motivated by the love for Nigeria or its citizens. Besides, Professor Nwabueze has already announced himself as Nnamdi Kanu’s messenger to the federal government. This, therefore, is the context in which one should see the presence of Professor Nwabueze at the talks the South East Governors Forum held with Nnamdi Kanu demanding him to drop the agitation for Biafra, which media reports say he has rejected. Obviously, Nwabueze has volunteered to serve as Kanu’s legal adviser and emissary. You’ll recall that a large section of the Igbo elite is scrambling to bring messages from Kanu to the people of Nigeria Professor Pat Utomi, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Professor Charles Soludo, etc. So, when you see Nwabueze standing by the side of Kanu in Enugu and the next day he sits down in Lagos with Solomon Asemota and Ayo Adebanjo recommending restructuring, you really have to be wary of their agenda.
In their latest outing, Professor Nwabueze’s Leaders of Thought (there is also Igbo Leaders of Thought or ILT which he leads) have created two geographical areas that they want added in their imagined new federation - the Middle Belt consisting of Benue, Kogi and Kwara as well as Mid-West made up of Edo and Delta states. I don’t know who represents Benue, Kogi and Kwara states at the Leaders of Thoughts deliberations and whether they accept such a contracted Middle Belt but I’m certain Professor Jerry Ghana, a Nupe Christian from Lavun local government in Niger state, will not take kindly to an abbreviated Middle Belt that excludes him because for Gana, the Middle Belt is much larger than the small one drawn up by Nwabueze and his ilk. In point of fact, those hell bent on creating Middle Belt have always been confronted with the problematic of its definition - is it a middle Belt of minority ethnic groups, of Christianity or geography?
Professor Nwabueze, before he dies, badly wants to create history as someone who wrote a new constitution for Nigeria. That is the reason why he keeps on saying we should jettison the 1999 Constitution and write another one. For him, the 1999 Constitution is defective simply because it flows from a Decree - Decree 24 of 1999. Professor Nwabueze has separated his two legs far apart from each other, one in Nigeria and the other in Biafra, determined to make history: if the federal government caves in to their relentless call for restructuring, the old man will shape the country his own way and even write us a new constitution; if on the other hand Nnamdi Kanu strikes the fortune of forming Biafra, Professor Nwabueze will again be available to serve as the guy’s guide. What a smart positioning!
Earlier in October, 2016 at the Igbo leaders of Thought meeting held in Enugu, Professor Nwabueze had accused President Muhammadu Buhari of implementing an Islamic agenda.
According to him: “Islamisation agenda is real, it’s not something that somebody has just conjured up, it’s there. And it’s being implemented gradually. Look at the security agencies; every aspect of security, you have Islamists in control in its entirety; in charge. They are methodical in the way they are going about its implementation. Look at Fulani herdsmen menace, it is part of it.”
Then he added: “All these agitations, I support the agitation, but define your objective….. What do you want? Selfdetermination, okay; that is the best thing, use it as a cover, don’t come out openly and say you are agitating because you want the sovereign state of Biafra. Sovereign state of Biafra within sovereign Nigeria? You have to be extremely tactful.”
This explains why Professor Ben Nwabueze is standing by Nnamdi Kanu, using him as trump card card to force Buhari to negotiate if not for “sovereign Biafra”, then for restructuring, each of which they enthusiastically believe poses an existential threat to Northern Nigeria. So, Nwabueze is now opportunely mentoring Kanu on how to be “extremely tactful” in his agitation for sovereign Biafra to neutralise Buhari’s “Islamisation agenda.” Look closely at Professor Nwabueze and see the alarm he is raising and the despicable role he has assigned himself in the unfolding events in the country. Their dream of shaping Nigeria the way they wanted was unbelievably aborted by the unthinkable defeat Buhari handed Dr Goodluck Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election, but now they are on the march again.
Each of Professor Chinweite Ejike, Professor Ike Oluka, Professor Race Achara, Professor Jerry Gana, Professor Ben Nwabueze, Professor Elochukwu Amucheazi, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chief Nduka Eya, Chief Enechi Onyia, Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife, Solomon Asemota, Senator Anyim Ude, Mrs Maria Okwor, etc, wouldn’t have screamed restructuring if they had been appointed minister or granted oil well.
Nonetheless, there is yet no indication that the vast majority of Nigerians are enamoured with this conceited, ill-defined restructuring daily pushed by these groups jockeying for vantage positions. Nor is there any guarantee that transferring additional powers to states or some other federating units is going to improve our lives, because in reality, some governors are even more irresponsible than the federal government. What Nigerians want to see is good governance that will improve the quality of life and not whether Edo state is in Mid-West or Middle Belt.