By Emmanuel Okwara
Following the response of the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate Mr. peter Obi to accusations that he had been ignoring the rising insecurity in the Southeast region, Reno Omokri, a former aide to Nigeria’s ex-President, Goodluck Jonathan, on Thursday, said Mr. Obi’s tweets lamely focused on the North-central instead of his home town where unknown gunmen are enforcing sit-at-home order.
Mr. Omokri said one of the worst atrocities any leader can commit is to use their own people as human shields during a real or imaginary conflict. And that is what is happening in the Southeast.
Omokri wondered why elites from the Southeast who are home or abroad instantly react to events in other regions but rarely act when it comes to their region.
“Sadly, many Southeast elites, who are very vocal when a leaf drops in other zones, tolerate a situation in their region whereby someone sitting somewhere in Europe and possibly drinking champagne is destroying their geopolitical zone and thinking he is destroying Nigeria.
“If this were happening in the Southwest, IPOBy Ezekwesili would have been shouting Okokobioko and dancing naked in the streets. Am I lying?”
According to him, of all geopolitical zones in Nigeria, the Southeast is the most dependent on other geopolitical zones. There are more people of Southeast origin living in other zones than there are people of other zones residing in the Southeast.
He also said that most locally grown food consumed in that region comes from other zones. “In terms of internally generated revenue, they have the second lowest, after the war-ravaged Northeast. They are completely landlocked and depend on either the South-South or Southwest zones for access to the sea.
“And this is the same region that, rather than build bridges, is destroying those bridges that their ancestors, like the late great Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nwafor Orizu, and Alex Ekwueme, built and have allowed a non-intellectual push them to ‘punish’ the Federal Government by destroying their internal economy. How infernal.
“Are you sure that by the time they finish ‘punishing’ Nigeria, even the Northeast may not have overtaken them economically,” he questioned.
He berated Peter Obi for having time to congratulate anybody or anyone who wins anything but failing to condemn the activities of the unknown gunmen in his own hometown.
“And as the Southeast is being destroyed, Peter Obi is busy congratulating anybody who wins anything, no matter how mundane. If your child is about to graduate from nursery school, contact Peter Obi. He will ignore the crisis in his region and focus on congratulating your child.”
Peter Obi had made his tweets this morning (Thursday, July 13, 2023) after he was heavily criticised for his silence. Yet his tweet had focused on the recent insecurity in the North-central, rather than in his home zone.
