This is remarkably apt! Impeccably articulated!

This is the problem of modern society, not just the Igbos : the intellectuals stay out of politics because it’s a “dirty" game (in my interpretation, the Igbos are analogous to the intellectuals here).

But by staying out of it, they invariably abdicate the responsibility of governance. And because nature abhors vacuum and humans must have leadership, the dregs of society are naturally allowed to step up to the plate, being next in the line of succession. The result? Fiascos like Nigeria in its current state.

Now the Igbos are crying for their own state, believing they will do better if left alone. Instead of trying to be part of the solution.

But they’ll only be another Nigeria, albeit on a much smaller, more impoverished scale because of how morally destitute and morbidly corrupt the vast majority of the population has been forced to become just to make ends meet. A staus quo that they effectively created by their acquiescence to the rulership of a charlatan-ocracy.

I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else and this has forced a rethink for me. I’m Igbo, too, so this strikes a chord deep within my soul 😂. The most striking points for me:

1. The Igbos have long pursued and continue to pursue financial power at the expense of the real deal, political power. Financial power can only take you so far and we (I) need to learn this. It only takes one policy from the political elite to curtail your financial empire. Cases in point: the recent Bureau de Change policy and — albeit less directly related but still relevant — Ibeto vs Dangote.
2. The fools are in power, and wise men are their advisors (this couldn’t have been better worded). But the Bible shows that this is a disaster of biblical proportions. Fools have no value for the word of the wise! Speaking wisdom to a fool is akin to casting your pearls before swine; they’ll only trample upon them.
3. Charity begins at home. You can’t expect things to be any different if you get your own country when you don’t have the slightest interest in matters concerning the governance of your hometown.
4. If we applied our smarts and cunning to politics, we can win. We’re actually smart enough to win.

Again, powerfully and succinctly worded. How you were able to so eloquently and poetically pass across a message of such gravitas with such paucity of words is worthy of approbation. Let’s just say it would have taken me far more words to get the same point across, assuming I even had the wisdom to conceive this in the first place (for example, I didn’t intend for this response to be this long, but here we are 😂).

And therein lies true genius: doing with less what others would do with more. 👏 👏 👏 x 1000!