Date Published: 05/08/09
Mr. Nwokoye’s Part 2, My Part 4a
By Hon. Chinedu Opukiri-Nkwonta
Kpomnigeria4ever@yahoo.co.uk
It is nice to hear from Mr. Chukwudi Nwokoye. A certain Nri man went to see a friend that just came back from overseas. He had a long spoon hidden under his trousers. When the man from overseas served his guest some abroad mouth watering dishes, the Nri man expressed surprise at his host’s hospitality and went ahead to demolish the meal, with his master spoon of course. The Nri man expected the hospitality, that’s why he had his master spoon down his trousers. When I messed around with the nest of bees, I was expecting something; it also means that I am not afraid of bees because I have the medicine.
Before I advance this, I must first of all clarify the rules and the areas that would be regarded as `hitting below the belt`. It is very important to me and I guess Mr. Nwokoye that there are standards as to make this fight a decent one; we have to at least start displaying the responsibility that we expect of others.
There is no need for Mr. Chukwudi Nwokoye and my humble self to start exposing our personal communications, washing our dirty linen in public. It will amount to throwing up unnecessary dust as to cover the real issues. I do not have anything to hide and exposing my mails has not scored Mr. Nwokoye any points what- so-ever. I would like Mr. Chukwudi Nwokoye to realise that I consciously never mentioned any previous one-on-one communication I have had with him, it is because I feel that men should be men and even when we disagree, we should show each other respect. Disagreeing with Mr. Nwokoye on a political process does not mean we may not agree on other areas. I presume we share the same ideals of bettering our society only that we are approaching it from different directions and points of view. There is no reason why I cannot do other things with Mr. Nwokoye tomorrow, at least I feel that I know him now, this is my position and I do hope he shares same views too. If it will be difficult to keep this discipline then I would respectfully concede to Mr. Nwokoye.
I have his mobile phone number and would never contemplate to publish it or give it to anyone for any reason, there has to be a bother line.
In case Mr. Nwokoye does not know, he is my brother and no matter the political opinion we may have, the bigger picture and results has to remain the focus. I have been consistent in my previous articles and private mails to Mr. Nwokoye which he has made public, so saaaad.
The second rule for me is what Mr.Nwokoye wrote on his last paragraph about giving his details to kidnappers, bros, kidnapping is not a joke today in Nigeria and particularly our State. The National Assembly has asked your dear friend the Governor to wake up to his duties and deal with the problem immediately. It was not me that reprimanded the governor on security in Anambra State; it was the National Assembly, which is how bad it has gotten. I suspect Mr. Nwokoye said that as a joke but it is important we state categorically that the rate of kidnapping and other crimes have taken an alarming dimension that must worry every decent citizen. I condemn it in its totality and implore the State government to do all within its powers to stamp out this terrible menace. Mr. Chukwudi Nwokoye should know that I understand him as a fellow diasporian and he must know that he is welcomed around me anytime either in Nigeria or in London, I expect same from him.
Let Mr. Nwokoye know also that I would not discuss religion.
In terms of my change of name as Mr. Nwokoye mentioned, he made a probable comment on why I may have done that which is to hook onto my Ijaw roots, he is 100% correct. Being a full fledged son of Umunri that Mr. Nwokoye is, he recognises that a child belongs to two sides, the father’s and then the mother’s; I am keeping in-touch with my Ijaw roots as I really do need them now as to have a backup in dealing with people like Mr. Nwokoye. I do not owe any one any explanation on this, I am proud of my roots.
I enjoyed Mr. Nwokoye’s story on his mad cousin in the village, I can see where he is coming from, blood is thicker than water.
Mr. Nwokoye promised to address me respecting what ever I decide to call myself, just like Governor Obi, he failed to keep that promise. I am not aware of any other part of his article that he referred to me correctly except on that one instance. I would not disrespect the person of Mr. Nwokoye and would expect the same from him.
Dealing with the matters arising from his publication, Mr. Nwokoye really tried to buttress the fact that I lied by saying that I have not really read his original mail to me. He buttressed his case by providing the evidence of my email communications with him. Mr. Nwokoye may not know this but I never had much time in my hands as to delve into such mails then as I did not term them important. I breezed through his article and never needed to read it in detail to get his jist. In my usual way of doing things, writing him was more of an acknowledgement that I received his mail. I never said that I never read it at all; I have not taken time to read it just the way I have dealt with his previous mail and now this one. My mind set then was also not to bother with any replies as I did not see the need. My positions on such things have changed now and I do make time to read and reply anything that I can. It was my mistake I never really replied him publicly, that would have required reading the mail, in details. Hope I have not confused any brain?
I had prepared myself for a heavy bombardment from Mr. Nwokoye, I feel now that I over-estimated him; this does not mean I have to be complacent next time. I was preparing for mother of all battles I had to hire an island as to get ready for the battle; unfortunately I did not know when the punch was thrown. If Mr. Nwokoye was a politician in Nigeria it could have been an even fight. As far as I am concerned, I am the Evander Holyfield of this area just like he is the top man in his own field, it is not fair to get into the ring with Mr. Nwokoye, I will destroy the man with my one hand and two legs tied to a tree and blindfolded. I expect him to disagree but he is a typical Nigerian, it is not right if you are not the winner. I have never heard any Nigerian accept that an election was fair, if you do not manage to put in your own box of stuffed cards before the other, it is wrong, they rigged it.
I was looking forward to a very interesting political brouhaha but it is really no match and there is nothing interesting to offer the ringside punters, taking their money and mis-matching the fight is not worth it, some politicians do have conscience.
Mr. Nwokoye believes that politicians need to behave within certain rules and I agree with him; he has already gone reckless by throwing in stuffs that are not necessary in a man’s fight. Mr. Nwokoye, in the event of trying to paint a bad picture of myself, reduced his position into total village roof rofo. How could I tell Mr. Nwokoye that Peter is a better governor? If I feel so, why am I attacking his policies? If I took Mr. Nwokoye into confidence and told him that Governor Obi is gold, I must have gone ahead to tell him my personal grudge against Obi that is now the reason that I am attacking his policies, it does not make sense. From my email to him that he published, I wrote,
“The only person I can never work with remains Peter Obi and I am very happy with that decision”
Why would I then tell Mr. Nwokoye that Governor Obi is a better governor? I do not mind replying to allegations but not to some senseless and baseless incoherent cheap black mail that boils down to exactly the same thing Mr. Nwokoye is complaining about on Dr. Chris Ngige, Onwa Anambra. It also goes a long way to explain how desperate and worse people can get when challenged. I only tried in my article to deal with the issues that Mr. Nwokoye raised, on the face of it, his article looked reasonable. My mother read it and commented she did not see anything wrong with what the young man wrote, but when she read my reply; she could see the argument and the loopholes in Mr. Nwokoye’s article. No matter what I do in my life I am guided by the principles of honesty and clarity, if Mr. Nwokoye would not be able to play fairly, then I am out. He may call me a coward but I fight and live for another day, nothing for me is all life and death, simple, let Mr. Nwokoye concentrate on the issues and nothing more please.
Having said this, I can figure out what we may have discussed; I could have implied that Peter does not understand the importance of communicating with the people at all times so they are very aware of what he is doing as their governor. It is possible that the example of constructing one and ten kilometres may have risen but it was nothing but an example. It is Governor Obi’s fault if he has built 100 kilometres of road and the people do not know, thinking about it, is it possible that he would build roads and the people would not know, yes, if the building is only an imagination. I hope he does not accuse me tomorrow of comparing Ngige with Mugabe. Of course Ngige understands the importance of publicity but Peter suddenly is waking up to it after the child has been buried, too late. There is no doubt that Peter may have done more than previous Governors but Anambra people have not seen them. We saw the Stock Exchange though. Anambra State has an information Commissioner; let Mr. Nwokoye contact her for detailed achievement and please let that be published for all to see. The supposed achievements are non existent, they are imaginary achievements. Is Governor Chime going about telling the entirety of Enugu State what he is doing? I do not understand why we are making this argument, believe me, it is unnecessary.
