Igbo Men With Conscience Enjoying Tinubu’s Soaked Slice Of Bread

It was at the grand introduction of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah to the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Abuja last Thursday that the former footballer turned businessman and politician sought to prick the conscience of Ndigbo.

Noting what he claimed as the salutary efforts of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Ubah said that it would be difficult for anyone with a conscience not to join the APC.

As such, Ubah, who was until last Thursday the national leader of the Young Progressives Party, YPP, walked his walk by dumping the YPP for the APC.

What essentially pricked Ubah’s conscience was his claim that the president was rewarding even those who didn’t vote for him.

Senator Ubah cited the example of the appointment of Engineer David Umahi as minister of works.

Indeed, against the background of the developments in the preceding era, an Igbo man has also been appointed as Chief of Naval Staff, a far cry from the Muhammadu Buhari era when the Igbo were not given any prominent commanding position in the military services.

The example given of Umahi is, however, one bound to draw cynical commentary from political pundits with conscience.

Umahi, a former chairman of the Ebonyi State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP between 2007 and 2011, subsequently served as deputy governor between 2011 and 2015. Following that, he was elected twice as governor of Ebonyi State on the platform of the PDP.

However, midway into his second term, Umahi claimed to have deciphered that the PDP would not zone the presidential ticket to the Southeast and then defected to the APC.

Umahi’s defection was particularly ironic for many and in some quarters seen as self-serving and without any ideological motif.

Indeed, Umahi contested the 2023 presidential primaries of the APC and the party did not deem him or any other person from the Southeast for the ticket.

Indeed, after swallowing the pain of defeat, Umahi and a number of other Igbo senators-elect declared interest in the number three position in the order of protocol, Senate President.

However, the former Ebonyi governor withdrew from the race and threw his weight behind Senator Godswill Akpabio, reportedly on the instruction of Tinubu.

So, for a man who left the PDP which built him up on the claim that the party would not give the Southeast the presidential ticket, it is interesting how his appointment as minister of works is being glorified as the basis for venerating President Tinubu.

Indeed, almost like the Buhari administration, the new president is continuing to regard the Southeast as a dot in the circle in its appointments.

The Tinubu government’s treatment of the Southeast was, however, predicted by the president himself.

During the campaign, he had warned Southeast APC chiefs that they would only be served soaked slice of bread if they were unable to deliver the region to the APC.

 Remarkably, Tinubu lost in all the states in the Southeast with Peter Obi sweeping the polls in the region with an unprecedented landslide.

Senator Ubah survived the tsunami simply because he had been entrenched in his Anambra South senatorial district.

Beyond the appointment of Umahi as minister of works which Ubah defines as a ‘reward,’ it is difficult to decipher what Tinubu and the APC have done for the Ndigbo. The Southeast is simply burning itself out and the central authorities appear to have abandoned the region as rogues mount vigil over the populace.

Indeed, how Senator Ubah’s conscience was not touched by the lopsided appointments by the Tinubu government must reflect the fact that he has a hard conscience. Whereas the Buhari government arrogated the military appointments to the North, Tinubu has on the other hand handed over nearly all the appointments in the financial sector to his Southwest.

Many still look to the days of President Olusegun Obasanjo when appointments were not shadowed by ethnic or other considerations. Many remember that about the most powerful person in the Obasanjo government was an Igbo man in the person of Andy Uba.

It is ironic that whereas Senator Ubah cannot see the present lopsidedness, more conscientious individuals from the Southwest have been able to appraise it and condemn the appointments.

It is also touching that Senator Ubah has not seen the administration’s ineptitude in the management of the economy and the accompanying pains in the land.

Never in the history of Nigeria in the reckoning of this correspondent has he seen the pains in the hearts of people. As you drive around you see people standing and looking for lift as they are unable to pay the high transport costs arising from the removal of fuel subsidy.

There is no doubt that there is a deliberate effort by the APC to buy out opposition in the land and Senator Ubah is about the latest bargain.

If Senator Ubah has no problem with his conscience abandoning those who looked to him as the national leader of the YPP to join the APC, he has no justification for redefining what conscience means to Ndigbo.

Senator Ubah should enjoy his slice of soaked bread!

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