16th September, 2023
By Nehru Odeh
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Mr. Joe Igbokwe has said it would take the Igbo ethnic group 20-25 years of hard work to produce the president of Nigeria.
Igbokwe who also described Igbo people as ‘onlookers in the Nigerian project’, made this statement while responding to a barrage of criticisms directed at his comment on a Facebook post on Friday, 15 September 2023.
Responding to comments against his earlier position on the Facebook post, Igbokwe, whose continued romance with the All Progressives Congress, has been perceived as betrayal, bootlicking, shameless and unbecoming took time to reply to his critics one after the other harshly, without mincing words.
“This is the problem. You terrible and pathetic bigots think you are the best God ever created and this is the biggest problem facing Igboland. today.
“Jisienu Ike. Every election year you cry. Play politics. Mbanu. Make friends across Nigeria. Mbanu. Build bridges. Mbanu. We have become onlookers in Nigeria. See 2031 and 2039 are also settled. Continue.
“But know this and have inner peace: it will take any Igbo man 20 -25 years of hard work to produce the president of Nigeria,” he maintained.
Igbokwe also referred to the way he had been branded a saboteur, betrayer and sell-out, liking his situation to what was obtained during the Nigerian civil war. He also said the Igbo were still making the mistakes they made during the civil war.
“We are getting worse by the day and I am worried to the marrows given what I read here. Speak the truth and instantly you become a traitor, saboteur, betrayer, sell out, the kind of stuff we witnessed during the civil war from 1967 to 1970 and Biafra lost many competent, educated and committed Soldiers.
“My take: If you believe that LP won the presidential elections you can believe anything. Shame has enveloped me. Just read the narratives above and you will want to throw up. What has happened to Igbo? We are still making the mistakes we made during the civil war.”
Igbokwe, who has been an active participant in Lagos politics and served as Special Adviser on Drainage and Water Resources to Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said he had learnt a lot in Lagos politics and lambasted the Igbo for their “selfish sense of superiority, I better than others and paranoid grandiosity.”
“This is our character. Always think that we are the best God ever created. Selfish sense of superiority, I am better than others, paranoid grandiosity, etc.
“I have learnt a lot in Lagos politics and I have come to the conclusion that we cannot understand how to play politics. Politics is not buy and sell stuff. It is serious business.
“There is no need listening to some of you. There are Igbo I know that are thinking and they are learning very fast. I cannot waste my precious gift of time on acrimony and division, nonsensical effusions and what have you.”
Igbokwe also referred to the “madness everywhere” in Igboland, as well as the large-scale violence, killings and kidnappings perpetuated on a daily basis there, saying “We have destroyed Igboland.”
“Look at your zone today. Madness everywhere: UGM, IPOB, ESN and many others. Igbo killing Igbo, arson, cannibalism, dog eat dog, a zone of anything goes.
“We have destroyed the Igboland we used to know. Our economy is gone to wickedness and political irresponsibility, outright madness and we are still talking here. Arrant nonsense. We will receive sense las las,” Igbokwe averred.