*LETTER TO SOUTH EASTERNERS*

Wisdom is profitable to direct.

It is good to be noble, but even better to be wise.

The last time Easterners intervened in a problem caused by leaders of South Western origin, the East found itself in a fight for existence with the rest of the country.

You have done your sensible best since 2003 by continually voting against the governments that have eventually ruined Nigeria.

Some may claim it’s bigotry because the votes have always been for one candidate.

What they don’t know is indirectly they are saying the Igbos are collectively a keenly sensible people because these mass votes have always been against a government that turned out clueless and useless.

On the other hand, their “cosmopolitan” votes have always ended up with nonsense, not only wrecking the economy but eventually creating even deeper divisions among the people.

This is in no way dissing my Yoruba brothers and sisters, some of whom vehemently stood against this carcass of a government.

But the truth is within the context of a rotten nation, you only need to be a keen observer to understand the precarious nature and place of the Igbo within the national context.

Scratch that, even as a keen observer today you may miss it, as the mass suffering somewhat confounds the underlying foundation.

You need to dig deep into history.

And it’s not just the very obvious case of the 1960s.

While the wailing from the North may sound tempting, I am not convinced it is altruistic.

These people endured a useless government from 2015-2023 rationalising all sorts to stem the criticism of the day.

The imbecility of the defenders of the day could only be surpassed by the sophisticated nonsense being spewed by Bulabas today.

And one thing about a political reset in nature is, nobody knows how the new fault lines will emerge.

That is why I am not excited at those that clamour for military rule.

You only need to see how the relief that attended Shagari’s overthrow by Buhari (1983) eventually transformed into begging God for the Army to leave power in 1999, but I digress.

Nigeria is that complex.

Dear Igbo brethren, your protest won’t change shit.

You only protest when the only other option is death, like it was in the aftermath of the 1966 pogroms.

What you see today, is not a fight for justice.

It is the foot soldiers of the Nigeria establishment quarrelling because the resource isn’t going round.

Do not be convinced the hunger has united everybody just yet.

And even if it has, let them put their money where their mouth is.

The wisest thing to do is sit this one out.

While we do “political correctness” and try to analyse issues devoid of ethnic inuendoes, it is pertinent once in a while to say things as it is.

Because at the end of the day, Nigeria remains a deeply divided multi-ethnic nation.

I mean, if a whole Nobel laureate can abandon all he stood for and jump into the ring, who are you to wish our ethnic fault-lines away?

By Dr Obinna Aligwekwe