No right-thinking person will be needing a soothsayer to understand that there is a huge vacuum in leadership in the South-East at the moment. The present bunch of Governors in the South-East are not just selfish, they are also lackadaisical, inept, disconnected, corrupt, weak, insensitive, and callous.
Despite the challenges confronting the region, the Governors of the five South-Eastern States have sadly taken the lead in displaying foolishness as they continue to work at cross purposes in suspense of each other, despite facing very similar challenges, the Governors in the region have continued to act in a very discordant manner when harmony is needed. The people of the South East have never had it this bad.
The Southeastern region of Nigeria is today confronted by challenges ranging from poverty, insecurity, poor infrastructure, erosion, illiteracy, and many other vices. All these challenges which were created by this ugly vacuum in leadership which have culminated to make the South-East a shadow of its former self.
No matter how one tries to rationalise it, the governors from the South-East have thoroughly failed the people of the region who elected them into office. Rather than show leadership, they have outsourced their power to non-state actors who are now on a mission to destroy the region.
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It is sad that the worst Governors in Nigeria at the moment are mostly found in the South-East. Just like a plague, they hit assumed office as Governors almost simultaneously. From Ugwanyi of Enugu State to Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, to Hope Uzodinma of Imo State down to the newly elected Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. They all share lots of negative similarities in common. They lack vision, courage, focus, tenacity, humility, courage, and sincerity all of which are essential ingredients in leadership. Little wonder why the South-East region which is predominantly occupied by the Igbo ethnic group which used to boast of highly revered leaders like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Micheal Okpara, Sam Mbakwe, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, and a few others are now churning out clowns as Governors and leaders. What a shame!
The current Governors in the South East have continued to thrive in the gullibility of some young persons in the region to shy away from their responsibilities. Rather than explain to the people of the region what they do with their monthly allocations, they have continued to encourage the people of the region to blame the federal government for their woes while chanting ‘marginalisation’. These bunch of useless ‘Efulefus’ have never thought it wise to explain to the people of the South East what they actually do with their monthly federal allocations and internally generated revenues. Figures from the Federal Ministry of Finance show that the Governors of the South East have received over 800 Billion Naira combined, in accruals from FAAC allocations over the last four years. What have they done with this monies? They have only little to show for them! Rather than develop the region, they have continued to fritter away these funds which they use in buying houses overseas, servicing countless mistresses, and living extravagantly. While their counterparts in other regions are commissioning projects worth billions of Naira, the Governors of the South East are often in Europe chasing non-existent investors.
These bunch of inconsequential clowns masquerading as Governors while chasing shadows have now lost the leadership of the region to secessionists who have completely lost faith in the leadership of Nigeria whom they have convinced themselves have nothing to offer. IPOB for example can now confidently declare a sit-at-home and successfully get people to obey them. Arsonists, criminals, and dangerous men of the underworld have not seized the initiative and now perpetrate all manner of atrocities on the people of the region while the five Southeastern Governors stay safely tucked under the bed of their wives. How did the Southeast settle for these bunch of cowards all at the same time?
The truth remains that the carnage, bloodletting, and destruction that have become synonymous with the whole of the South Eastin the wake of the unprovoked ‘sit-at-home,’ orders imposed by non-state actors who even leave in faraway Europe, can only happen because the current Chief security officers occupying all the government houses in the South East are utterly useless.
The Igbo people who are the major ethnic group in the South East are renowned for their trade and enterprise. Sadly most of the businesses operated in the region today are having their worst times. The Governors in the region have continued to, directly and indirectly, work tirelessly to snuff the lives out of them. When they are not employing double taxation, they are using touts and regulatory hiccups to frustrate businesses. This explains why only one South East state (Anambra) falls into the top 10 in the state-by-state rankings for ease of business in Nigeria in 2022. The insecurity in the region has now forced many businesses to move out of the region and the mess continues to deepen.
Today, we have a situation in the region where many residents in the region cannot go about their lawful businesses for fear of being killed or maimed by ‘unknown gunmen,’ yet some clowns still draw salaries and entitlements monthly and call themselves Governors. Some of them can even lock people up if they forget to add ‘His Excellency’ as a prefix when mentioning their names. Even when it is evidently clear that there is absolutely nothing ‘excellent’ about them.
Due to killings, arson, and maiming in the region which has now become a daily tragedy, a few years ago, the governors of the southeast had grudgingly come together to announce the formation of what they called ‘Ebubeagu’. It is sad that more than one year after they launched the ineffective Ebubeagu security outfit, the Governors of the South East are yet to show any seriousness in funding and equipping it as their South West counterparts have done so far with Amotekun.
The Governors of the South East have shown that they are the biggest cowards in Nigeria. From the confused professor in Anambra to the useless buffoon in Enugu to the Fulani stooge in Imo down to the Buhari asslicker in Ebonyi. They are different shades of the same disaster.
Rather than do the right things to safeguard the lives of the people of the region, some of the Governors who reluctantly began funding Ebubeagu in their states have rather converted the security into a hit group against members of opposition parties. It was this lack of required support from the governors, that prompted the chairman of the South East Security Committee, Major General Obi Umahi (retd)to resign sometime last year.
Although General Umahi’s had designed the security architecture for Ebubeagu, regrettably on June 4, 2021, he resigned from the committee. In his resignation letter titled, ‘Resignation as Chairman, South East Security Committee – Ebubeagu’, and addressed to the chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, he announced that his committee was never funded and no office was provided for it.
The letter read in part, ‘Since this security committee was formed, we deliberated and agreed on ways to raise security consciousness down to the community level in Igboland, mode of operations, logistics and some types of equipment required, such as drones, vehicles, etc. We also crafted the concept of SE security.
‘The SE Security Committee thoroughly prepared and submitted the modalities, including the structure for the take-off of Ebubeagu to the Governors’ Forum during the security meeting of the South-East Governors’ Forum attended by the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide and some other Igbo leaders. The committee decided that Ebubeagu should be jointly rolled out as a matter of urgency and also funded by the government of the five South-East states. From inception to date, South-East Security Committee was never funded at all in any capacity and not even an office space was provided.’
Not even his resignation could get the Governors to sit up and confront the situation squarely. The security situation in the region has continued to deteriorate with every passing day and more people have continued to pay the supreme price for the ineptitude of the five mannequins who call themselves Governors in the South-East.
The youths in the South-East must find ways to force these Governors to wake up from their leadership slumber. Greed and selfishness must give way for purposeful governance, predicated crisis management policy, peaceful dialogue, fairness, and mutual understanding. Thankfully, by the 29th of May next year, 3 of the 5 ‘Efulefus’ will be vacating their offices as Governors. Young persons in the region must do everything possible to ensure that any human being who has any of the symptoms displayed by these Governors does not make it to office. The people of the South East surely deserve something better than these packaged frauds!
