I had thought of putting away Cross River state's former Governor Donald Duke's issue regarding his presidential campaign launch in Los Angeles, for good, but at the same time, I thought of setting the record straight.
In what I blogged the Sunday night, March 14, 2010, after attending "An Evening with Donald Duke", and had looked forward to a gathering of a beautiful Nigeria Diaspora minds whose capacity should be getting things done in a Nigeria that had been full of uncertainties nobody wants to tackle and talk about, but to use every avenue to spin around the collective facts, scramble and collect in the so-called "you chop I chop" nation where bribery and corruption has been a tradition.
I had also expected a profound symposium with regards to the subject matter. The rebuttal, most of them, if not all, were pointless which still puzzles me why the right of opinion should not be key to any sound democracy coupled with a bouyant press.
Nobody talks about upholding the rule of law and respecting democracy. They have changed the name of the game and one of the reasons my article got under their skin for the fact I was telling the simple truth. I had anticipated the piece "Donald Duke Launches His Presidential Campaign In Los Angeles" to have been engaged intellectually, besides a very few who made salient points - the rest joined the bandwagon of followers seeking relevance - and one wonders why the characterization of Nigeria as a failed state remains valid after its fourth trial of experimenting democracy.
Reading all the nonsense from folks I had thought could reason, I couldn't do anything but feel the pains and weep for a people that lost every sense of belonging, and unfortunately do not know it is a tragedy. Would that be ignorance or just a deliberate act of mischief?
Time will tell!
For Chuck Emenike, allegedly a "learned scholar" to have misconstrued the straightforward meaning of what I wrote, is indeed worrisome, which comes to mind questioning what happened to his fabricated Nigeria youth, in terms of food, and since food has become a big deal on the shores of America, I am totally disappointed. Not only that he did not surprise me for being incoherent with regards to the subject matter, he disappointed me by way of scholarship.
And for all the Duke followers, one thing that should be borne in mind is, Duke is not a saint nor a messiah and, will never be a messiah in a 'Nigeria' that is in dire need of a radical reform - economic, political, cultural and social - based on the country's widespread scandals of bribery and corruption. Duke is not Efik nor Ibibio on the proper level. And the irony of all the brouhaha in Duke's Los Angeles visit was that no Efik and Ibibio was part of the organizing committee save a couple or so persons who will attest Duke did not do much in Cross River State as governor in his eight years of running the affairs of state except for some few areas in and around the city which was financed by the banks while Duke got his cuts from the inflated contracts.
Giving Duke credit for making Calabar a model of upscale cities from the assumption Calabar is clean, what about the rural areas? If Lekki Penninsula and Victoria Island is clean, what about Amukoko and Ajegunle? If Awka is clean, what about Nteje, Idemili, Ogbunike and Umuleri? If Port Harcourt is clean, what about Ikwerre, Omoku and Elele? If Owerri is clean, what about Nkume, Amucha and Otura? What about the infrastructures in the rural areas? And the list goes on and on. Based on that Duke did not do jack, period!
And why are these Igbo followers of Duke applauding him? A man whose clan sabotaged the Igbo nation just for who they (Igbo) are in a concretely established ventures for being hard working; and whose father as an administrator of Board of Customs and Excise in Olusegun Obasanjo's miltary regime stole from the coffers of federal funds sending Duke to elite schools.
It is only the kind of Duke's gathering in the Southland that you don't see a local press coverage. Where was African Connection, African Times, African Trumpet, etc., to have reported Duke's launching for the presidency if the organizers were not pursuing matters of their own interest? You will be damned if you spend your hard earned dime on Duke's campaign trail. We've seen it happen before and the story speaks for itself. Just don't do it! Blind followers waste time and money!
Next time I show up in such events, I will not be wearing a hoodie topped with a Brazilian national jersey (windbreaker), to provoke the blind followers. I will abide by the rules of wearing those Islamic Jihad-like flowing gowns, a model outfit that slaughtered my kith and kin and did not absolutely show any remorse.
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