Since the news of Senator Ike Ekweremadu and the wife’s arrest in the UK filtered out, the Nigerian airwaves have been inundated with celebrations. You don’t need to be a prophet, a rocket scientist or even philosopher like yours faithfully, to guess why people are in such high spirit and festive mood concerning the ordeal of the senator.
The fact is that the political class has so collectively failed the people of this country that only very few politicians in Nigeria today are not considered criminals and even ritualists. The political class has turned itself into the enemy of the people and I do you blame the people: a hungry man is an angry man. Therefore, the outrage against Ekweremadu is understandable: he belongs to a group considered enemies by the people.
However, in moments of outrage like this, reasoning is often beclouded and when this happens, the baby could be thrown away with the bathwater. That is why in the frenzy of anger and festivity generated by Ekweremadu’s arrest, there is still the need to call for restraint and ask Nigerians to apply caution and patience in their assessment of the evolving sage.
Therefore, before you rush in to ask the British government to hang Ekweremadu and his wife bear this in mind:
Details of why Ekweremadu and the wife are detained by the Metropolitan police are still very sketchy. As it stands now, no one knows with certainty, what happened. People are simply making up stories from the figment of their imaginations and circulating them online. And Nigerian media and populace are very good in peddling these type of unverified rumours. In fact, between yesterday and today, I have counted about five versions of the Ekweremadu’s story.
This means that anybody commenting on the issue at this stage is just speculating. Then, why crucify a man on mere allegation? Should Ekweremadu be jailed for life; striped of his senatorial seat or killed, as many Nigerians are demanding based on mere speculations? The very unfortunate part of the whole narrative is that the majority of those calling for Ekweremadu’s head are his very own brothers and sisters from the Southeast. So far – if my guess is right – the only two persons who have released official statements praying for the Ekweremadus are Femi Fani Kayode, a Yoruba man and Reno Omkri, an Ijaw man and one begins to wonder: where are Ekweremadu’s kinsmen? Why is it that the Southeast is always too quick to condemn, betray and abandon its own?
Understandly, Ekweremadu is a politician and politicians have failed Nigerians but does that mean we should lose our sense of humanity and brotherhood? I feel very strongly that it is wrong to condemn Senator Ekweremadu without giving him a fair hearing. In addition, his performance in Nigerian politics should not be used as the basis of determining whether he is guilty or not in the charges, he is facing in the UK.
I have heard people, saying that if Ekweremadu had built a good hospital in Nigeria, he would not have had the need to travel to the UK for a kidney transplant for his son or daughter (some version of the story said his son while others said his daughter) – we do not even know which one it is. We need to make it very clear that Ekweremadu is not the Nigerian president or a governor of any state in the country. He is just a mere senator and does not have any executive power and the requisite developmental fund to do the kind of things people are expecting from him. Therefore, he would not have been able build the type of hospital we are accusing him of not building without embezzling public funds.
Yes, Nigerians have every right to be angry at the colossal failure of leadership in the country but this anger must not turn into collective punishment for every politician. There are good politicians. Also, Nigerians will do well to aim their attacks on the right target not the soft or the easy target. We know those who looted this country and I have no doubt, Ekweremadu is not one of them. So, celebrating a brother’s misfortune when the accusations against him are yet to be substantiated is obviously not the right way to fight for political emaciation.
