It is against this backdrop that the hypocrisy of Governor Soludo and Arthur Eze in demarketing Obi and promoting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar can be fully understood
By Emeka Alex Duru
You can only appreciate the antics of Anambra State governor, Professor Charles Soludo and oil businessman, Arthur Eze in thumbing down the Labour Party (LP) standard-bearer, Peter Obi’ 2023 presidential aspiration, from the context of the American domestic (house) slave whose interest was more in keeping his job, even at extreme dehumanizing conditions.
In the history of slavery in America, there were the house slaves and plantation slaves. A house slave worked, and often lived, in the house of the slave-owner. He had many duties such as cooking, cleaning, serving meals, and caring for the master’s children. He sometimes was allowed to travel with the owner’s family. His situation sharply contrasted with that of the plantation slave, who lived under grueling conditions, often in sugar plantations where he worked from dawn till dusk under the orders of a task master. Because the house slaves considered themselves privileged enough in comparison with their brothers and sisters in the field, some of them did not support the move for abolition of slavery.
Here in Africa, at the height of demand for independence and the campaign against colonialism, some traditional, economic and political elite, who were scared of losing their privileged positions with the exit of the colonial masters, engaged in many underhand activities to sabotage independence struggles in their respective countries. In the French and Belgian colonies, they found comfort in a special class referred to as the Évolué – a French label to describe a native African or Asian who had “evolved” by becoming Europeanised through education or assimilation and had accepted European values and patterns of behavior.
They were often employed in white-collar jobs (although rarely higher than clerks), and lived primarily in urban areas of the colony. A distinctive character of an évolué was the ability to break social ties with his group, and appearing to have entered another system of motivations and values.
Celebrated Essayist and author, Chinweizu, describes them as “Comprador Bourgeoisie”, in his work, ‘The West and The Rest of Us’. The comprador bourgeoisie comprised middlemen who exploited their kinsmen while serving foreign capital in both political and economic relations. For them, everything was normal, as long as their interest was protected.
It is against this backdrop that the hypocrisy of Governor Soludo and Arthur Eze in demarketing Obi and promoting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar can be fully understood. As far as they are concerned, everything must be done to protect their privileged positions in the Atiku presidency, even if it entails groveling or dancing naked in the market place. They are both working to protect their future political and economic interests, respectively. But that is where it ends.
The Obi candidacy comes with many considerations. Taken from the personality profiles, capacity and character of his major opponents, Atiku of the PDP, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and others, Obi stands taller and presents a way out of the current lethargy in the land. He comes on board with antecedents of service anchored on transparency and accountability. To add it up, he offers a message of hope to Nigerians, especially the youths and the down trodden who have serially been raped by the successive leadership class in the country.
Obi has severally appealed to Nigerians to vote for him, not because of his region of birth nor religion but for his capacity to deliver. Even at that, Nigerians of equity and fair mindedness are also agreed that it is time to give his south east political zone the chance to produce the next president.
By fact and history, the region has been grossly marginalised in all aspects of the national life, particularly political leadership. Since the commencement of the present dispensation in 1999, the West has had a shot at the presidency through Olusegun Obasanjo, the North through the late Umar Yar’Adua and President Muhammadu Buhari. The South-South had Goodluck Jonathan.
Earlier, the North had produced Abubakar Tafawa Balewa and Alhaji Shehu Shagari in the first and second republics, respectively. In the days of the military, the North had – Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammad, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Abdulsalami Abubakar- and the West had Obasanjo. Except the breezy six-month era of General Johnson Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, the East has not had any taste of the office.
Coming also against the backdrop of the crushing defeat at the 1967-1970 civil war and the poor management of the attendant reconciliation programme, the south east has been at the receiving end of the unfair political system in the country. This is even when the people have exhibited greater commitment in the unity of the country through their expansive interactions and investments in all the geo-political units.
You would therefore, expect a people with such history of deprivations to be in the vanguard of power shift to their area. But this, unfortunately, is not the case. Rather, Soludo, Arthur Eze and some other politicians from the area are further retreating in their cocoons in sheer timorous mode, looking up to Atiku Abubakar to hand over power to them by the time he may have served out his two terms in 2031. Nothing can be more unrealistic.
You may agree or disagree with Peter Obi’s aspiration but one thing that cannot be denied him is the courage to be counted when it mattered most. Never had any south easterner made an audacious move nearer to what he is doing since the exit of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. It should not for any reason be for his state governor, Soludo and his kinsman, Arthur Eze, to act the agent provocateur against his candidacy. After all, it was the late Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, who said that if you do not blow your trumpet, nobody will; as others would be busy blowing theirs.
The politicians from the East are the problem of the zone. It is their failure to assume responsibility and provide genuine leadership to the people that has created room for elements on the fringes of lunacy to prance about, assume positions of influence and act as champions of the masses in the area. It is high time the elite from the region on realized that there must be guts before glory. They must sow to reap. Fortune smiles for the brave.
Soludo, Eze and other south east politicians with eyes on selfish politics, can go about their mercantilist agenda without dragging the south east along.
.DURU is the Editor, TheNiche Newspapers, Lagos