Nigeria: Why South-East Shunned #endbadgovernance Protest – Igbo Leaders

The protest, which began on Thursday, was billed to last until 10 August.

Igbo leaders have given reasons why South-east residents shunned the ongoing nationwide protest against economic hardship in Nigeria.

Igbo is an ethnic group dominant in Nigeria’s south-east.

The protest

The ongoing #EndBadGovernance protest, which began on Thursday, was billed to last until 10 August.

It has been ongoing across states in five of the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the protest has not been held in the South-east since the exercise kicked off.

‘We’re usually at receiving end’

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, Damian Okeke-Ogene, the national vice president of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said the South-east shunned the protest because they usually bear the brunt of such exercise in Nigeria.

Mr Okeke-Ogene said the South-east believed in the leadership of late President-General of Ohanaeze, Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, who he said, before his death on 25 July, asked Igbos to shelve the protest to avoid being the scapegoats.

“He (Iwuanyanwu) asked them not to join the protest because we have had this kind of protest and we (Igbos) are usually at the receiving end in every protest (in Nigeria),” he said.

The Ohanaeze leader said, after the death of Mr Iwuanyanwu, he (Okeke) re-echoed the call for Igbos to shun the exercise.

He stated that he equally asked Igbos residing in other regions to shelve the protest and mobilise security operatives to guard their shops against looting.

“We know that the federal government is not ready to protect their properties because if they (Igbos) go out for a hunger protest, they (protesters) will loot your shops,” the vice president said.

‘We’ve cried enough for relevance, equal treatment’

On his part, the new Chairperson of the South-east Traditional Rulers Council, Emmanuel Okeke, suggested that the South-east shunned the protest for a variety of reasons.

Mr Okeke told PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday that the people of the region had become tired of seeking freedom, relevance and equal treatment in Nigeria.

The traditional ruler said the region has also been frustrated with their failed quest to produce Nigeria’s president.

“So, now we have cried enough. We have been cheated enough. We don’t have anything to do. So, we instead kept quiet and started praying to our God. Whenever God feels to answer us. We are descendants of Israelites, he will answer us,” he said.

“So, there is no need for us (Igbos) to start making noise or start protesting against the government or creating violence, which we have been pleading to our people against for long,” said Mr Okeke, who is also the chairperson of the Imo State Traditional Rulers Council.

‘Past experiences’

Also speaking, the immediate past Chairperson of the South-east Traditional Rulers Council, Samuel Asadu, said the South-east shunned the protest because of the way they were badly treated in the past.

“(They shunned the protest due to) grace of God and going by their past experiences in such protests,” he said without giving details.

Continuing, Mr Asadu said: “Again, the South-easterners are industrious people. They are mainly business people.”

Mr Asadu, who is the chairperson of Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday that he and other South-east leaders also helped to appeal to Igbos to shun the protest in the region.

The traditional ruler added that the outstanding performances of the South-east governors, the move to create an additional state in the region and the recent establishment of the South East Development Commission must have combined to discourage Igbos from joining in the civic action.

“All these are soothing nerves. They were designed to soothe the nerves of South-easterners,” Mr Asadu argued.

IPOB speaks

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has also spoken on why residents of the South-east are shunning the protest.

IPOB is a group seeking to create an independent state of Biafra from the south-east and some parts of south-south Nigeria.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Emma Powerful, on Monday, the separatist group argued that the Igbos shunned the protest because they usually end up being victims of such exercise.

“Though Ndigbo are facing the same economic hardship that (President Bola) Tinubu’s government has imposed on Nigerians, however, to avoid being targeted as always, they decided to shun the protest,” Mr Powerful said.

The IPOB spokesperson claimed, without evidence, that the protest was organised by other ethnic nationalities to “lure Igbos into destruction.”

Before the protest

PREMIUM TIMES reported that some South-east leaders had, earlier before the protest, warned all Igbos to shelve the protest.

One of the leaders and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ben Kalu, asked Igbos to shelve the protest or “risk being scapegoated”.

“Ndigbos stay away from the protest. They will target you and they will waste you,” Mr Kalu said in a viral video clip.

The Abia State-born lawmaker, who represents Bende Federal Constituency in the lower chamber, told Igbos that they had died enough and should step aside in the protest.

“Sit at home. If there’s any sit-at-home that should be effective, not the one you do on Mondays, let it be the one that will happen in this protest,” he said.