By Frank Tietie
The bestial attack against the person of Senator Ike Ekweremadu is shockingly disappointing, most disgraceful and highly condemnable.
Nigerians living comfortably abroad must wake up from their slumber of unrealistic expectations. They have escaped to safe western havens while the likes of Ekweremadu have remained behind in Nigeria to proffer solutions by engaging the warped Nigerian situation.
Anybody who has contested elections in Nigeria and either won or lost will develop some respect for holders of elective positions in Nigeria.
It is easy for citizens, especially the ones who have escaped abroad to point accusing fingers at the Nigerian political class for being responsible for the myriad of Nigeria’s problems whereas, those same citizens over the years have imbibed a culture of lawlessness, cheating, corruption, irresponsibility and lack of obligation to the Nigerian state. Solutions don’t come about from vengeful acts done out of frustration.
It is most irresponsible for those young people in Germany under whatever guise to have attacked Ekweremadu. They are disrespectful and foolish! Their escapist and entitlement mentality has made them to lose a sense of responsibility. They have also lost their sense of traditional Igbo patriotism. How can any Igbo group in the world ever attack an Igbo man of the quality and character of Senator Ekweremadu? What a shame! Those young people must hide their heads in shame. Big shame!
People who run abroad and are ensconced in civilisations built by the resilience and endurance of the whiteman should not use anybody as a scapegoat for their frustrations.
Those irresponsible Igbo young men in Germany, attacked Ekweremadu just to selfishly vent their frustrations and assuage their conscience which accuses them of fleeing Nigeria when they ought to have remained to contrtribute in whatever way they could to alleviating the present hardships in the country. They should be ashamed!
The frustrations of Ekweremadu’s attackers are misplaced, misguided, most irresponsible and selfish. Any Nigerian living comfortably abroad but is frustrated with the Nigerian situation should return home and join in providing solutions to the problems in the country.
Senator Ekweremadu is one of the few Nigerian senators who has exhibited some measure of finesse and comportment in the conduct of legislative business. He should be commended for his towering contributions and not be vilified and hated to the point of death on account of whatever perceived mistake on his part.
In fact, Senator Ekweremadu even appears to have promoted the Igbo cause more than any known Nigerian, in recent times. Besides his endorsement by his constituency which has returned him to the Nigerian Senate for a record number of terms, he is well respected by majority of Nigerians who follow political developments in the country.
It is likely and further disappointing that both the Nigerian Mission in Germany and those who invited Ekweremadu could not offer him proper protection. There seems to be an acquiescence on the part of the organizers of the event to see that Ekweremadu was humiliated and nearly killed. That can be deduced from watching the video clips of the attack on the senator. Not too many people came to his rescue as he helplessly faced his humiliation and possible lynching.
The Nigerian Mission must therefore, immediately cause a thorough investigation of the attack of the senator. Like it or not, Ekweremadu is a Nigerian senator. His security should be a serious matter of state concern.
We as Nigerians mustn’t fail on all fronts. We should learn to be responsible as a country. At least let’s contain within Nigeria, our disgraceful and dysfunctional state as a people until we get out of this sociopolitical and economic quagmire.
▪Tietie, a lawyer and Rights Activist, writes from Abuja.