All it took to put to rest the self evident truth that the Presidency has purchased Ohanaeze and other Igbo groups with 1.2 billion Naira for 2015 is a letter from Professor Ben Nwabueze to the President of Aka-Ikenga, Chief Goddy Uwazulike. When the vexed bribe scandal hit the air waves last year nobody paid any serious attention because we thought it was being exaggerated and because we know that no president has ever bribed Igbo with such an amount. They give our people small money because they are always satisfied with little things. They walk away with anything little or money because they are cheap.

When other Nigerians are busy upstairs negotiating for contracts worth billions our people are downstairs negotiating for contracts worth millions. The only way you will know that they just got a contract is noise they will be making on arrival at Enugu or Owerri Airports or even in their villages just to announce that they have made it. Picking the crumbs from the masters table has been the hallmark of Igbo politics since the end of the Civil War in 1970. Their so-called leaders sell the votes of their people for peanuts and just walk away with their loots while Igbo nation decays.

This is the reason while South East has the least number of States, least Senators, least House of Reps members, least Revenue Allocation, least Federal presence, least Local Governments, least representation at the federal level etc. This is the reason why South West has abandoned AD, AC, ACN and moved to APC, and the North moved from ANPP, CPC to APC while Igbo continue to play APGA and Jonathan Azikiwe politics. This is the reason why other zones do not take Igbo seriously. This is the reason why the popular Forbes Magazine will mention 20 other Nigerians as Nigeria’s and Africa’s richest with no Igbo on the list. This is the reason why our sons and daughters roam the street of Europe, Asia and America, some languishing in prisons and some perished. This is the reason why Igbo cannot have a second Niger bridge 43 years after the Civil War. This is the reason why River Niger cannot be dredged. This is the reason why the South East cannot have a standard International Airport. I can go on and on.

It is for this reason that Ohanaeze and a section of the Igbo political class grows agitated, weeping more than the bereaved when any question is thrown at the Jonathan government. This is the reason why they offer themselves as body shield against those that criticize the Jonathan government. This is the reason Ohanaeze has shamelessly placed a lid over the ambition of Igbo sons and daughters who desire for the presidency in 2015. Just for mere N1.2 billion these so called leaders shared among themselves, Igbos are being mortgaged into political slavery for many years to come. I know that history is recording the absurdities of the present for our generations to come to know where actually the rain started beating us. A part of this money has been used to purchase some cheap writers and journalists to invade the nation’s news space and the social media to misinform and confuse Ndigbo on critical issues that concern their woeful position in the nation’s scheme of things today. They have been trained to attack any person that goes against this destructive group think and that explained the flurry of paid criticisms that attended Prof. Nwabueze’s recent patriotic letter to President Jonathan on national issues.

Igbo has been settled with 1.2 billion naira for 2015 elections but ask our people how much Tompolo, Asari Dokubo, Chief Clark or Pastor Oritsajafor pocket every month. Asari Dokubo is planning to build a University. Chief Edwin Clark is planning to build a University. Pastor Oritsajafor has secured himself a private jet and he has just completed a 50,000 Seater Auditorium in Warri that costs millions of dollars. Igbo has become the cheapest article in Nigerian political markets.

Other serious sections of the country are busy planning how to rescue Nigeria from rudderless and clueless leadership but Igbo politics of anything goes will not allow them to think, reason and act. Long term planning and creative politics are not for them. Holding on and standing for something is not for them. Asawo (whore) method of money for hand and back for ground has been the roadmap for Ndigbo.

Anytime you see anybody seeking to lead Ohanaeze or any other Igbo groups, know that such a person is not going there to add values to leadership but lean his pockets. Education has nothing to do with it because even Professors have failed Ndigbo. After all, Professor Joe Irukwu sold Ohanaeze to Obasanjo’s Third Term Project. This is the reason why Igbo can never have the leaders in the class of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the South West even though our people will claim to be at par with the South West in terms of anything.

I am deeply at pains that Igbo no longer understand the dynamics of Nigerian politics. Because they play cheap and kindergarten politics other Nigerians see them as cheap politicians without power of critical thinking, clout, energy and drive. The Great Book says woe betide a nation whose leaders are children.

Selfless, patriotic, strong and character driven leaders must be thrown up in Igbo land for us to get our bearing again in Nigeria. Lamenting about the current state of affairs in the South East will not help us. We must look back to know where the rains started beating us and therefore make amends. A friend tells me that he cannot help anybody who does not know where he or she is going. The future they say belongs to the efficient.

•Joe Igbokwe, whose photo appears alongside this piece originally published on Yahoo! Networks under the title ‘Presidency Buys Ohaneze, other Igbo groups with 1.2 billion Naira for 2015’, is the Interim Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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