…As Pearse Urges Ndigbo To Play National Politics
LAGOS – The League of Igbo Clergy International has brought major tribes in Lagos, the Igbo and Yoruba under one umbrella to canvas for peace and forestall brewing ethnic rivalry.
The group called for assessment of the role of politicians and Social Media as crisis creators; stressing that it has been discovered that politicians have continued to divide the people in order to achieve selfish political gains, at an event which took place at The Great Ville Hotel, Surulere, yesterday, at a symposium titled “Igbo, Yoruba, the way forward”.
Dr Adetokumbo Pearse, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Convener of Reset Lagos PDP and member, Board of Governors, People’s Democratic Institute (PDI), harped on the importance of peace.
He said, “Apart from the level of insecurity in the country and crippling poverty of the economy, there’s a major thing that permeates everything which is the unity of the country, good governance, fairness and equity, and that’s the reason the day’s meeting is very important.
He said unity among the ethnic group particularly among the Igbo Community and Yoruba Community is germane because it’s in unity that there’s strength, and it’s only when you’re strong, you can win elections, and when you win election you enjoy the benefits of democracy.
He harped on the criticality of politics in national life. He said, “Frankly everything is about politics, people want to shy away from it. There is politics in the ministry, there’s politics in church, mosque, everywhere. If the government says today, that by law, this hotel cannot stand here because this land is going to be used for whatever, by next week it’s gone. If the people making the law are not in support of yourself they may write you out of existence, they may write you to jail for life, this is why politics is so important. Dr. Bolaji Akinyemi got it right, when he said the Igbos haven’t played politics in Lagos State, I want to expand it to say the Igbos have not played politics in Nigeria since 1999.
On his part, Dr. Bolaji Akinyemi, noted that Social Media has found itself into the hands of social dregs who find it rewarding to fan the embers of discord, while the opinion molders haven’t done much to take control of the social media space. He stressed that when two brothers fight and kill themselves, outsiders and even their enemies will inherit their property.
Dr. Dom Ferguson, President General, League of Igbo Clergy International, former President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos State and the Convener, Ndigbo and Yoruba, the Way Forward, speaking on the reason for the symposium said he decided to bring the Igbos and Yoruba together in order to enhance peace and unity among the two major tribes in Lagos.
He said, “You see, the people that supposed to handle this are the Igbo Speaking Community or Ohanaeze Ndigbo, but because of their fragmented nature and factions, so we have to take it upon ourselves, we the Igbo Clergy, because in those days when things went wrong, you ran to the Church, so the church has to step in, to see how we can, because in our churches, we pastor Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and others, we cannot afford that in the church, the two individuals in the church are quarrelling.”
Speaking further, Ferguson said, “So we the Igbo Clergy have taken it upon ourselves to broker peace and bring harmony, tranquility among the ethnic and the ethnic nationalities, to put heads together to bring the two important and larger ethnic groups in Lagos together, because if you go to the social media, you would see that there’s something that’s about to explode, that is not going to augur well for our coexistence, so that is why I put this thing together using the Igbo Clergy platform to bring the two groups together, and this is not the end because we are about to do local government solidarity visits to the Obas and Bales and Eze Ndigbos, we want to cover the entire 20 local governments, so we have to start somewhere, that is why we are bringing political actors and religious people together, you can see PDP is represented, Labour Party, APC, they are all represented, civil society, human rights who are Igbos and Yorubas, to see how we can stop this nonsense and say enough is enough.
He spoke further that the ordinary person on the street doesn’t care about the tribe but it’s the politicians that divide the people. “You can see that the ordinary person on the street doesn’t care if you’re Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa, it’s the politicians that are sowing the seeds of discord because they want one thing or the other.
“So we want to stop that, if you want to do your politics, do it right, what do you gain by sowing seeds of discord among the Igbo, Yoruba or Hausa? What are you gaining from that, it will not augur well. You can see Dr Adetokumbo Pearse, he spoke from the heart, Dr Bolaji Akinyemi, all the Igbo people that are here, all the Yoruba people here, they have spoken with one voice that they want to live in peace and tranquility, they want to live harmonious life together. Without the Igbos, the Yoruba man will not succeed in some areas, without the Yorubas, the Igbos also will not succeed in some areas, the same thing with our Hausa brothers and Fulani brothers.
“So the earlier the better for us to know that we cannot live in an atmosphere of acrimony, I mean hate is not of God, and majority of us, it is either we are Christians or Muslims, and in Quran there is no place hate is allowed, neither in the Bible. So that is why we initiated this thing,” Dr Ferguson disclosed.
Speaking on the need for Ndigbo to participate in national politics, he said, “One of the founding fathers of PDP, Dr Alex Ekwueme, he played politics, that’s why immediately after the Civil War, an Igbo man rose to become the Vice President of this country. And the way things were going, he was close to becoming the President of this country.
“In the last dispensation I must say Atiku disappointed the Igbo community in Lagos, I appealed to him, that we need to talk to Igbo Community, give them assurance that they will be carried along, they will participate in everything we are doing, he didn’t respond, at the end of it, Obi came and swept everything. I couldn’t complain, even then that is not playing politics, you do not put all your eggs in one basket, Igbo do it all the time. The reality is, if Obi had won that election they would not give it to him in this country because of the bias and perception, perception is everything, they’ll create the impression that it’s only the Igbo people who voted for him, which may not be so, therefore to avoid that, look at today, if you look at APC, almost 60% is Yoruba, 30% is Arewa, that is 90%, Igbo people, 10%, it is not right. So you have no power. If you look at NNPP, 90%, Arewa, Igbo is not there, Labour, Igbo is not there, APC, Igbos are not there. ADC that is becoming strong and strong, it is very unlikely that Obi can win the presidential ticket because the way they have orchestrated it, Atiku paid for that party, he bought the party, and when you notice the number of Arewa going into that party, from the North, everyday, they are preparing, that is why Atiku says he is ready for the primary, knowing that if they go into primary, 80% delegates will be for him. So where is the Igbo Community?
“As things are now, the Yoruba people have the president, Arewa people have Atiku, who do the Igbo people have? Is it Obi, where is Obi? That’s why I’m telling you, what I’m doing is for the benefit of PDP, but simultaneously it’s for the benefit of Igbo people,” Pearse stated.
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