Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has
condemned a statement by to the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign
State of Biafra, MASSOB, in reaction to a recent press interview in which he
advised Ndigbo against placing all their political eggs in one basket.
“I am only practicing what the late leader of Ndigbo, Dim
Odumegwu Ojukwu taught us,” he said, warning the “new” MASSOB leadership “to
show little respect to the elders who have immensely contributed and continues
to contribute to the wellbeing of the South-East region”.
A statement on Sunday by his Special Assistant on Media,
Nwachukwu Obidiwe, described Ngige as a consummate Igbo leader who would never
disparage the Igbo or work against their interest.
It reads: “With his sterling pedigree as former President
General of Aka-Ikenga for eight years, member of Ohaneze Strategic Committee
and member, Imeobi Ohaneze, Ngige only advised our people to rise above the
prevailing self-pity, awaken the resilient spirit for which Igbos are known and
quickly re-strategise as other geo-political zones in the country are currently
doing.”
“I wish to put on record that my position is exactly the
same position our late leader, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu took in 1982 when he
left the Igbo dominated NPP to join the NPN.
“Ikemba reasoned that while Igbos give support to Zik’s NPP,
there was also the wisdom in spreading our political net to the waters of the
ruling party. Ikemba did so to ensure that Ndigbo was not all boxed into a
regional party or enclave which can disconnect or limit their participation in
the nation’s apex political conclave.
“If Ojukwu thought that doing otherwise was myopic in 1982,
why is a section of the Igbo crucifying Ngige for preaching and practicing the
wise counsel of our eternal leader, Ikemba,” the statement quipped.
“It is therefore clear that the ‘new’ leadership of MASSOB
needs a clearer and undistorted interpretation of the truth in my position,
which is that it is politically unwise for us to repeat in future elections,
the 2015 presidential election voting pattern where all our eggs were dumped in
one basket; the basket failed and the eggs all broken.
“I wish to further add that there is enough opportunity for
the Igbos to make up whatever perceived loss it currently encounters, but our
leaders need to shun the creeping political narrowness and play politics more
astutely.
“What matters most is not how “big” the positions we occupy
are, rather, what we are able to achieve for the Igbo with what we occupy.
“Today, work is on-going on all the major federal roads in
the South East; Enugu- Onitsha, Enugu- Umuahia-Abia-Port Harcourt, Port
Harcourt -Owerri, Oba-Nnewi– Arondizuogu- Okigwe, to mention a few while Julius
Berger has been mobilised to the tune of N6 Billion for the 2nd River Niger
Bridge. There is also the Benin-Onitsha rail line, with a separate bridge
across the Niger, which was not originally in the Jonathan-PDP coastal rail
master plan.”
The statement added that this could not be achieved with all
the so called “big” positions (SGF, Deputy Senate President and Speaker,
Ministers of Finance, Health, Aviation, National Chairman of ruling party, Head
of army and police etc.) that Ndigbo occupied under the Jonathan administration
for six years but that the APC government was doing so in just one budget
cycle; that is, between 2016 – May 2017, “knowing full well that 2015 budget
was Jonathan’s.”
The statement reminded the “new” MASSOB leadership that
Ngige as Governor of Anambra State was the only governor in the zone who gave
MASSOB full protection against harassment by the security agencies because of
their non-violent approach to struggle.
“I did not only protect MASOB from undue harassment by
security agencies, I sent them food from the state treasury and employed its
members in the formidable Anambra Vigilante Service. This was to give stability
to the security architecture of the state. The founder of MASSOB, Chief Ralph
Uwazurike is alive and can testify to this.”
By Wale Odunsi
