By Samuel Ibemere…
I have laughed ceaselessly since the image for this write-up crept up. All I hoped for when I shared the story idea with our budding creative guy was an illustration of an innocuous assembly of the five South-East governors. I didn’t tell him to put them in diapers, I swear. This was entirely his idea, and I have said to him, ‘Bros, my hand no dey o!’
But here I am, stuck with a picture that more than tells the story of the crawling state of affairs in Kanu’s dream country, Biafra. The grin on my face returns each time a painting of the toddler-governors invades my subconscious. Same grin breaks into laughter when Hezekiah, that is his name, tries to find justification for the mischief he calls a caricature.
“Oga, dis na special cartoon o. Na Fani Kayode give me the inspiration. Him describe Rochas Okorocha as diaper-wearing governor. Dat one means say, the man na pipkin where elders dem gather.“Shebi you talk say you wan discuss how that boy, Nnamdi Kanu, take make the governors of South-East dey wee wee for pant. Oga, na so I take join other governors for the matter o. No vex,” he explained.
“Shoo, how you go suggest say Okorocha and others be small boy where Kanu dey? Ok naa.
“If FFK dey give you inspiration for drawing, make e end there, bro. I no too trust the guy. Him dey yarn anyhow,” I grudgingly conceded.
For all my doubts, critics think the illustration couldn’t have been more apt. A new god has emerged to be worshipped in the South-East! He is the Messiah of a rising band of angry youths who allege that the Nigerian state offers no hope of any meaningful human development. Draped in colours of the rising sun, they demand a new nation called Biafra which boundary, at the moment, appears ill-defined, even to its future neighbours.
Kanu is the new God! He already lays claim to the all-conquering title of Supreme Leader. He swears by the gods of the land that he had been so anointed. His army of die-hard supporters are too fired up to query where and when the installation was done. Members of his dream team are only left to imagination. For all they care, their leader is infallible, and can rule by decrees. He does no wrong even when he soaks his speeches with hate and describes people with divergent opinions as ‘animals’ fit for the ‘zoo’.
Kanu is the Chief Priest of a crest-fallen generation who believe that a new Biafra would be a repository of miracles and wonder. He leaves adherents in no doubt of the superiority of his own deity. He tells hungry worshippers that they are Jews on a mission and has since set up a shrine in his homestead to lead believers to the revered land of promise. His words cannot return void. He decrees that there will be no election in Anambra except there is a referendum on Biafra. But he forecloses that Nigeria is yet a sovereign with all the appurtenances of power and resources to spare.
There’s no denying the high-pitch political fever that has gripped the entire Igbo land. There is a new kid on the block. It would be foolhardy to pretend that Kanu does not matter in the power equation of this country anymore. His seeming crude approach to political contest not withstanding, he has got the right numbers to bandy around. No member of the Igbo establishment, perhaps, enjoys the kind of following Kanu has at the moment. He could trade the numbers for a fortune and this is why he is quietly courted.
Politics is a game of numbers, folks! The current leadership in Igboland is very jittery. From Okorocha in Imo to Umahi in far flung Ebonyi, the jitters explain the
