Kalu: When North Disagrees On Resource Control (Part 2)

Ex Abia State governor Orji Uzor Kalu, Publisher of The Sun Newspapers

Why north is angry with the rest of Nigerians in all aspects, not minding that it had ruled Nigeria for about 40yrs, is something that calls for great concern.

The north does not want any change in the status quo it created for the rest of Nigerians during the time it held sway at the presidency of the country. Much more was its crackdown on many policies during the just concluded Confab.

While people like Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has always agitated for more state in the South-East zone where he comes from to enable the zone equal with the rest zones that have six states against the five states that the South-East has, it was something so inconsequential that the so-called “core North” delegates at the confab kicked against the approval of an additional state for the South-East and another 17 for the six geo-political zones.

The rapacious north does not want the South-East to grow in the proposal of things in the 'one Nigeria' that the Nigerian government compellingly made Ndigbo to be in when it engaged the Biafrans in a most uncivil war of 1967-1970. The insatiable north does not want the six geopolitical zones to be prepared to have nine states each, which would make the country have 54 states, because of the national cake which it had been enjoying without any interference.

One remembers in April 2013 when Kalu presented a paper before the British House of Commons, inter alia, he said: "The North-West has seven states, 186 local government areas, 92 federal constituencies and 21 senatorial districts, the South-East has five states, 95 local government areas, 43 federal constituencies, and 15 senatorial districts. Kalu also listed over 12 massacres of the Igbo in the North, beginning with the Jos massacre in 1945, the Kano massacre in 1953, to the recent Boko Haram attacks."

It is obvious that somebody like Kalu would never ignore truth for compromise, not allowing himself to be intimidated by whom, what and wherever. He does not treat shenanigans gladly or with the kid's glove. His sense of politics is to expunge the system of any barbaric approach and behaviours for the implementation of new ones that will be in tandem with the realities of the 21st century humanity.

Kalu is not a man who just sits down and watch what will unfold, he takes acts into positive actions. At the House of Common, Kalu who was pioneering for Igbo presidency in 2015 before he was begged by Ohaneze to pipe low, said, “We are neither supportive nor opposed to any political party or the aspirations of any individual politician. Our primary mission is to enlighten and mobilise the Igbo population, both at home and in the Diaspora, to stand firm and unite in the pursuit of our collective goal. Our secondary duty is to connect with and persuade the rest of the Nigerian population about the justice of our cause.

“Our methods will be conciliatory, unaggressive, solicitous and flexible but without being amenable to the easy compromises and defensiveness that reinforced prejudicial assumptions about us as a people.

“We shall seek to accomplish our mission in a manner and style deferential to elders, respectful of the sensibilities of other tribal groups and faiths, attentive to criticisms and open to disputations.”

While Kalu is a man of peace in his agitations for the Igbo project, the north which thinks that Nigeria only belongs to it kicked against the ratification of the delisting of the existing 774 local governments from the constitution as was pre-mentioned at the confab. The north has always threatened the rest of the country by any means necessary to it.

Nigerians saw when the delegates from the north planned to walk out of the conference if the discourses at the confab do not go its way. Except for the Middle-Belt delegates that threw their weight behind the southern delegates, the confab would have gone the way of the north as was usual for it.

The north's lackadaisical stance during the confab made different groups to be holding meetings upon meetings outside the confab. The South-South, South-East, South-West and North-Central were thrown into ethnic groupings and many meetings were held. At a point, “With the bilateral meeting with Southern delegates clashing with the Northern delegates', the North-Central delegates would have to make a choice between attending the bilateral meeting with their Southern counterpart or joining their Northern kith,” reported newsmen.

Unlike the lazy present crop of governors from the South-East that have not drawn the presence of the federal government to the zone, one remembers when Kalu as Governor of Abia State challenged the then President Olusegun Obasanjo and vowed to block the Enugu-Umuahia federal highway if the government refused to repair it. Much as we knew, even the Abia State House of Assembly during the administration of Kalu in Abia nearly went on hunger strike due to the bad state of the federal government projects in the South-East.

While the north is today enjoying the present government of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan through hues and cries it uses to draw the government presence, the South-east and South-South zones are descript not befitting of even beasts in Europe. No matter how anyone looks at it, it is obvious that Kalu has always told the rest Nigerians that Ndigbo are not treated fairly in the scheme of things in the country, even when they contribute much internally generated revenue anywhere they reside in the country.

Rubby Obinnawrites from Ohaji, Imo State.