Nseobong Okon-Ekong interacts with Elliot Ugochukwu-Uko, President of Igbo Youth Movement on what he perceives as the underlining politics of COVID-19 palliatives and other issues that define the relationship between the government at the centre and the various states, particularly Eastern Nigeria.

How are you coping with the COVID-19 pandemic in the East?

My dear brother, there’s nothing inspiring going on. It’s like we’re all standing still, marking time. Nobody I know is excited, fulfilled, confident or happy with the situation in the country. The East cannot be different. Nobody is sure where exactly we are headed. This is not the best of times. The COVID-19 holiday affords all the opportunity for soul searching and self examination. But the plight of the starving, less privileged and the vulnerable, is disturbing.

But the government is distributing food stuff and making cash payments to the very poor around the country to alleviate their suffering.

So we see on television and newspapers. Here in the East, there is no such thing as cash payments and free food from the central government. What we have here is commendable efforts to stem the hunger and hardship experienced by daily income earners, by churches, corporate institutions, individuals and a few politicians. But those are clearly inadequate. The hardship is real.The suffering is real. The volume of aid getting to these groups of people is inadequate. We are yet to see any kind of help from the central government.

Government is playing games with Eastern Nigeria as usual. Nothing stops them from distributing the aid or whatever through the 774 local government areas, if they are sincere. That way, it would get to every region. But they obviously don’t want to do that. They seem to be concentrating in the North, especially the North-east and North-west. Our people feel sidelined as usual. No town or village in Igboland can claim to feel the impact of the Federal Government palliative. We only here of that in the news. I challenge the people in charge to come out and show us beneficiaries here in the East. If anything is going on here, it must be very infinitesimal that nobody feels the impact. As always, we are deliberately sidelined.

The same people sidelining our region are wondering why the youths of this region want out of Nigeria like yesterday. The government released billions, wealthy nations, foreign bodies, individuals and organisations donated billions, just yesterday EU gave 50 million Euros and Igboland is missing out as the largesse is shared in certain regions to the exclusion of others. They are only aiding the recruitment drive of the seccesion agitators. This is sad and disturbing.

Are the governors in Eastern Nigeria aware of this lopsided distribution and if so, what are they doing to correct the anomalies?

I expect you journalists to investigate and bring this inequity to the attention of the authorities. This inequity and inequality are stuff revolutions are made of. You don’t need a soothsayer to note that, just a little spark could lead to riots and mayhem. The little aide available is not being fairly shared across the country. That is unfair. That is wrong. Every discerning person can see that the seeds for a revolution are being sown by the people applying this dichotomy. They are actually saying to some regions “go to hell, you don’t belong here.”

Our governors should note that the angry people of this region are unhappy with the state of affairs in the land, especially with the one-sided style of distribution of the so-called palliative. Our people are clearly disappointed.

Why can’t the governors seize the moment and carry out their own palliative measures?

I don’t want to talk about our governors. I don’t agree with their style and I also don’t want to breach my code of conduct, which is: not to attack any governor, as that would distract me. The people know wether the governors are standing up for them or not. When I and Prof. Ben Nwabueze escorted Nnamdi Kanu to a meeting with the South-east governors, two and half years ago, I realised that the overbearing influence of the central government, makes it difficult for the South-east governors to be their own man. I painfully saw why the central government is very interested in whoever emerges as governor in Igboland. Ndigbo are in big trouble my dear brother. Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State is good at trying to avoid any kind of fight. He struggles to be a nice guy. Governor Umahi of Ebonyi State, even though he is performing wonders in Ebonyi, with very impressive infrastructure development, is totally committed to the politics of pleasing the master and remaining in the good books of the owners of Nigeria. Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State decided from day one to fight his benefactor, thereby concentrating on survival in office. He has never stood up to identify with Ndigbo aspiration. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State doesn’t have any achievements you can put your finger on. He too is busy battling for survival. The Supreme Court governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma is the one that will split Igboland. Sad but true. Because even though, nobody is thinking about it now. In nine months, he will produce the next Ohanaeze leader, you won’t expect him to nominate a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sympathiser. That would negate why he was forcefully made governor at this time. You also won’t expect Ndigbo to flow with his Ohanaeze nominee, who will definitely be an All Progressives Congress (APC) sympathiser. the last nine months of the present President of Ohaneze, Okwesileze Nwodo, may actually be the last days of a united Ohanaeze. So Ndigbo are going through difficult times and its not over yet. The younger generation are not proud of our governors, they are nobody’s heroes, except of course the (otinkpu) praise singers and cheerleaders. The owners of Nigeria will never, for obvious reasons, allow strong willed, independent minded guys to emerge as governors in Igboland. We are a conquered people, held down in bondage and monitored aggressively. All our political leaders are compliant actors. This subject is a taboo. A no go area.Never to be discussed. But interestingly, the angry youths are discovering a lot of things, which informs their agitation. The people who share and distribute the palliatives know that they are not fully carrying the South-east along. They may cleverly organise a roadshow somewhere in Igboland for photo or propaganda purposes, but nobody is fooled. The intensely provocative dichotomy, makes it difficult to preach one Nigeria in this region. These are clearly some of the reasons the agitation has remained very popular, in fact, reality on ground, points to the fact that every thing is being done to hold Ndigbo down perpetually as slaves in Nigeria, but for the awareness and agitation by the younger generation, who tell me all the time, that they believe, there is a deliberate agenda to hold them down as slaves for one thousand years.

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