THE TRUTH FROM UNCLE JOE IGBOKWE
Did the Yoruba go to war when June 12 1993 Presidential Election won by their illustrious son Chief MKO Abiola was annulled on June 23rd 1993 on a sheet of paper by IBB? Did Yoruba go to war when Abiola’s wife Alhaja Kudirat Abiola was murdered in Lagos in the morning of Jun 4 1996? Did Yoruba go to war when the winner of that historic election was poisoned on July 7 1998? Did Yoruba go to war when those who killed Abiola imposed Obasanjo on them as President in 1999?
Did Yoruba accept Chief Ernest Shonekan when IBB made him to head the interim government in 1993? Yoruba rejected OBJ and Shonekan because this unique race has never been slaves to public office and yet they have remained number one in Nigeria in almost everything. This is wisdom and strategic thinking at work.
Those of us who have lived in Yoruba land for years should not only learn how to wear Aso Ebi, eat Ewedu soup or dance Owambe, music.
We must have also learned other unique things from them like sharing property to both male and female children, religious tolerance, ethnic tolerance, transferring legacies from generation to generation. Do you know that APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s wife is a Christian? Do you know that former Governor Fashola’s wife is a Christian? We can learn a lot from Yoruba. Yoruba too can learn from Igbo in areas of thinking home, business enterprise, self-help, apprenticeship, etc.
A Yoruba woman, a Pastor Mrs. Eunice Olawale Elisha of the Redeemed Christian Church of God old NEPA Road Phase 4 Kubwa, Abuja was killed by unknown persons on Saturday morning of July 9, 2016, while preaching the gospel around 5.30am. I have followed the reactions on the internety and Yoruba do not behave like the Igbo. They have been speaking but not preaching hate. They have called for the culprits to be fished out, prosecuted and punished. If Mrs. Eunice Elisha had been an Igbo hell would have been let loose. There would have been abuses and abuses. But Yoruba are not Igbo. This is civilization. This is strategic thinking. I hope our people can learn from this. Civility is not a sign of weakness. He who fights and run away lives to fight another day.
When GEJ marginalized Yoruba in his cabinet for five years despite been the most vocal in an effort to make him president, Yorubas didn't threaten anybody, they didn't abuse anybody, they simply fought in a peaceful & civilized way to effect a change in 2015 using their PVC. Today the most active VP since the independence & most likely, the next president of Nigeria is Yoruba. Fashola heads 3 ministries & referred to as prime minister in some parlance, Kemi Adeosun heads finance, Fayemi heads mines etc. That's how to fight for relevance in multi faceted country like Nigeria & not taking up arm against everybody.
To have ears is not to listen, to listen is not to hear, to hear is not to understand, to understand is not to put to practice. I know that writing this may not get me many friends among the Igbo, but it always gets me the right ones"
[Joe Igbokwe
