Uchenna Nnadị.
The mouse in the home informs the mice in the bush that there is fish in the kitchen.
From the stable of The Nation Newspaper, Sam Omatseye sent his August presidential political sermon on the 1st of August, 2022. In the play of words, he titled his sermon Obi-tuary, in honour of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Obi. Peter Obi is standing in election against the boss of Sam Omatseye, Bola Tinubu. After the 1967-1970 war, Joe Igbokwe went to Lagos to eke out a living, Tinubu provided him with his major breakthrough, economically and politically (and this inspires Joe Igbokwe).
Beyond the general poor journalistic display in the said Omatseye’s article, like the recent ones of Reuben Abati in the Arise TV, principally, three things were raised by Sam Omatseye;
1. Peter Obi is IPOB and IPOB is Peter Obi, and all Igbo are IPOB and supporters of Obi’s candidacy. That since Obi emerged as LP presidential candidate, Southeast has become as calm as Obi-tuary without the usual agitation for Biafra;
2. Peter Obi is a micro religious bigot, and;
3. Peter Obi stole over ₦200 million of Anambara State money, which his people brought to Apapa, Lagos.
How did Sam Omatseye arrive at the above insinuation? Joe Igbokwe was Sam Omatseye’s source.
On the 31st July 2022, Joe Igbokwe wrote the following on the Facebook:
“Now that Igbo are no longer interested in Biafra project and want to produce the president of Nigeria they once called a Zoo, who will pay me the compensation for my destroyed and Burnt home in Nnewi? Who will pay me? Who?”
On the 30th of July, 2022, Joe Igbokwe wrote the following:
“ALL OF A SUDDEN THE AGITATIONS FOR BIAFRA THAT LED TO KILLING THOUSANDS IN THE SOUTH EAST AND BURNING OF PEOPLES HOMES INCLUDING MY OWN HAVE VANISHED INTO THE THIN AIR. We want to rule Nigeria we rejected. I thank God.”
The above Joe Igbokwe’s posts, among many others, were the source of Obi-tuary’s first point.
One of Joe Igbokwe’s Facebook followers responded to him this way:
“You should thank the Governor of Anambra State for the wonderful work in the area of insecurity in the State.
Peter Obi has nothing to do with the Biafra agitations, Sir.
This movement is people-driven. It has turned the ruling party into an opposition party.
What you hear them talk about now is OBI this, OBI that. Nothing to tell Nigerians anymore.
Nigerians are simply tired of the APC and PDP.”
Joe Igbokwe too wrote in contradiction to his earlier posts in the following words:
“Many Igbo including me are supporting Asiwaju. Some are supporting Atiku. Many Yoruba are for Asiwaju and some supporting Peter Obi. Many Northerners will support Atiku. Some are supporting Asiwaji and Obi. This is politics.” Yet he, as well as, Sam, make such sweeping incendiary posts as Obi-tuary.
This is like writing that (NADECO and) OPC is Yoruba and that Yoruba is (NADECO and) OPC, that Obasanjo’s presidency is OPC/Yoruba; that Sunday Igboho/Gani Adams and Bola Tinubu are one and the same, and the rest of similar innuendos in Omatseye’s article.
In the second point of Sam Omatseye’s Obi-tuary, Joe Igbokwe wrote the following on 11th July, 2022;
“MAY SOME PEOPLE NOT PROVOKE ME TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT DEEP DICHOTOMY AND DISCRIMINATION AMONG CHRISTIANITY IN SOUTH NIGERIA. MAY NOBODY PROVOKE ME. ANAMBRA CASE WILL MAKE YOU TO VOMIT.
“IN ANAMBRA STATE CATHOLICS HAVE BEEN TREATING ANGLICANS AS SLAVES. PETER OBI STARTED IT. OBIANO TOOK IT TO A FRIGHTENING LEVEL . WE ARE WATCHING GOVERNOR SOLUDO NOW. AN ANGLICAN BISHOP TOLD ME THE STORY.”
Before the Amalgamation of Nigeria, Christian Missionary Society (CMS) and Roman Catholic Church (RCC) fought dirty in Ọnịcha Province, in particular, and generally, in the South, as they sought supremacy over one another. Yes, these missionaries polarized Christianity in Alaigbo on the basis of denomination, but for Igbo’s general abhorrence of violence, it would have ended bloody as in religious violence/war. This is a fully documented fact that Joe Igbokwe and Sam Omatseye can easily access.
While CMS encouraged and pushed its members into politics, RCC encouraged its members to avoid politics as politics is a dirty game. This gave CMS members an initial edge over members of RCC in Ọnịcha Province.
It is this denominational acrimony that the foreign missionaries and the British explorers handed over to Nigeria in the 1960, which they still manipulate today. Pentecostalism has added other dramatic angles to it.
It is sad that both Joe Igbokwe and Sam Omatseye can raise this historical reality that is biologically older than Peter Obi and pour it onto Peter Obi as its author. None of them raises this with the violent acrimony among the Islamic sects/denomination in Nigeria.
The ₦250m saga need no further mention or clarification from me.
Knowing the above and juxtaposing it with Tinubu’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, his drug involvement as published a few days ago by David Hundeyin and the overwhelming momentum of Peter Obi’s candidacy, one can begin to understand the dilemma of Sam Omatseye in pushing out anything that can stem the tide of Peter Obi’s presidential movement.
It is sad that Bola Tinubu who practices religious plurality/diversity in his very home, just as Fashola does, would put his team under undue pressure to defend his Muslim-Muslim ticket and other indefensible issues. The result of such undue pressure is what Joe Igbokwe is inspiring Sam Omatseye to put out in the Nation Newspaper.
But as we know, going to farm often involves sweating and getting dirty, yet farm workers deliberately throwing mud at others is hardly part of farming.
It was the mess we made of 1964/5 that precipitated into the 1966-1970 tragedies, which have continued to cripple Nigeria today.
