My Experience With Yoruba

Why I cannot support Peter Obi

How Obi was accused of mass shooting of IPOB members

By Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe, PhD

I wish to begin by commending Anambra State intellectuals, especially members of the Professors Forum for being on the side of eternal and logical truth instead of descending to the low level of eternal sentimental truth common with most Igbo people in Nigeria today.
There is no denying the truth that those whose trainings and professions are founded strongly on empiricism and logical thinking will be wary of being described as peddlers of political lies constructed on fictitious personality driven by contemptible ethnic bigotry. So, thank you Anambra State Professors Forum for being on the side of truth against Peter Obi’s mythical political construct of decency and integrity.
I know that those among you who might still be ethnically-driven in their judgment of values will not risk their cerebral integrity to openly challenge the facts of the issues I raised concerning Peter Obi’s fictitious carriage of decency and political integrity. The following two responses to my last article on Peter Obi will no doubt extricate you from the stream of those classed as Igbo ethnic bigots.
One statement in the Whatsapp platform of Anambra State Professor’s Forum which captures the collective imagination and opinion of Anambra State intellectuals clearly states:
“The style of writing suggests personal interest but that notwithstanding some of the facts raised are just not lies. I remember an incident that took place in 2006 precisely close to Onitsha. I witnessed the killing of about 15 members of MASSOB that were protesting on that fateful day. I was saved because I had my valid ID card and a travelling bag. Luckily a soldier asked me where I come from and I told him, luckily he is from my town and he drove me in military vehicle to Asaba. He told me that the governor instructed shot aside and that was Mr Peter Obi. I am not in support of Nwaezeigwe write up at all but the thinking that Peter Obi will get Nigeria fixed is not the truth at all. What was the welfare of lecturers in his state University during his time? How many infrastructures did he build in the university campus at Uli? It was under him that the state University became just Anambra State University not Uli or Igbariam? What was the road infrastructures to the university look like during his administration? How many opportunities did scholars had for sabbatical or research grants during his regime? That people were squandermania before he emerged does not imply being conservative is the only hallmark of leadership. Construction of roads does not suggest how many people who moved out of poverty under his watch. He narrowly won his second tenure because of Emeka Ojukwu. So this saint ideas of Mr. Peter Obi are just lies. There’s no way a decent person should be discussing coalition with thieves. This is just my view.”
The second statement of fact from Anambra State Professors Forum that again carried the opinion of the majority goes as follows:
“Bro Obi’s hobnob with those criminals portrays him as indecisive. U cannot foster an uncompromizeably moral political agenda without a resolute mind. His Labour party is in shambles becos of d same trait of unassertive leadership qualities. I think his emergence in 2023 is a flash in d pan. I think we should forget it. It took d criminals by surprise dat was not huge enough to push it over d dam of corruptive machinations of Tinubu’s all-round criminality. Now he has 4 years of engineering against any surprises. Obi’s magic has had its day. I see no hope whatever in d horizon.”
The third response which although originated outside Anambra Professors Forum but merits equal attention came from a popular Igbo leader Dr. Kanayo K. Odeluga. In his words:
“I have followed your advocacy with great admiration for your dedication and insight. Thanks for unmasking PO for his religious bigotry as a champion of the Catholic Church committed to domination of Alaigbo with caring for the well-being of our people. He singlehanded destroyed APGA’s founders’ mission to create a political home for advancement of Igbo survival and development of Alaigbo. Your insight on the Eku River killings answered a lot of questions we had about the incident. We at Igbo League pursued this issue to no meaningful end because of lack of transparency and support from his government. He needs to be respectfully held accountable for his stewardship.”
Let me again re-emphasize that I have many reasons based on my ethno-cultural background, personal experiences and noted experiences of others not to be an Igbo ethnic bigot. I am not saying that the Igbo have not been part of my present struggles as much as they constitute the bulk of those collaboration with the Islamic Federal Republic of Nigeria against me; but at every point the Igbo failed me as my ethnic kinsmen, members of other ethnic groups—Yoruba, Edo, Ibibio, Ijaw, Middle Belt, Hausa and even the Fulani waded in. I cannot therefore be exclusively ethnically bigoted in my opinions on national issues.
As Igbo from Delta State, we have strong filial and historical relations with the Bini, Esan, Igala, Urhobo, Isoko, Isoko, Yoruba and Itsekiri ethnic groups. Among us therefore, are pure Yoruba-speaking people—the Olukwumi and, Igala-speaking people—the Olu. I am not speaking about the interweaving traditions of origins, migrations and settlements between our people and the Edo in particular which makes it impossible for a sharp division between them and us. This is the reason why we Anioma people often resist any outsider coming to educate us on how much Igbo we are and how much separated we are from our non-Igbo neighbors.
On personal grounds, the case of the Fulani ]who are the whirlpool of my present struggles might be interesting. During my protective admission at the District Hospital, Batouri, Eastern Region of Cameroon by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) after my abortive attempt to escape to Republic of Congo, it was a Central African Republic Fulani Refugee with his wife that provided me food when my Igbo kinsmen were organizing poisoned food for me.
I stayed in the same room at the United Nations refugee camp in Bertuoa, the Capital City of Eastern Region of the Republic of Cameroons with Central African Republic Fulani refugees, and we lived as members of the same family. In another occasion, it was a Hausa woman who brought her husband to the hospital that stood up and raised alarm when some Central African Republic Fulani militants attempted to attack me on my hospital bed.
Again, after crossing back to Nigeria from Cameroon in my reverse escape through Gamboru-Ngala border town, I sought refuge at the IDP Hospital, just adjacent a fenced Military Camp. I was able to do this with the help of a temporary Central African Republic identity document issued by the UNHCR at Bertuoa and facilitated by a Bamileke woman called Catherine. I had attempted to cross to the Central African Republic at Garoua-Boulai border-town in Cameroon, but was deported back to Cameroon at the first check-point.
When I located the hospital, I met a Fulani medical doctor in charge. The doctor seeing me on clutches and not minding my ethnic identity gave me a bed-space and bandaged my fractured leg. I slept comfortably that night after five days of tensed and sleepless night journey. The following day, it was a medical doctor from Akwa Ibom and an Igbo nurse that were in charge. They both waited till 11:00 pm in the night to eject me from the hospital.
When I approached the medical doctor, he told me I should go to my Igbo sister the nurse through whom the instruction was handed to him. I went to the nurse to plead with her in Igbo language. She responded that she was not Igbo but from Taraba State, and told me there was nothing she could do since the instruction was from a higher quarter. I then left the hospital that midnight and saw a Red Cross Office on my way. I got there but I was told they could not accommodate me. I finally decided to move out of the IDP Camp.
On getting to the exit, I was ordered by the soldiers on guard to hands-up, suspecting I might be a wounded Boko Haram insurgent. Luckily, the squad leader was a Sergeant from Benue State, a Tiv in particular. After looking at my international passport without immigration stamp, he asked how I managed to cross the border without immigration stamp. I was just mopping at him confused. He said okay, that is not his business right now.
But the truth is that there is no immigration post at the border just separated by a small stream with lots of people trooping unconcerned to and fro both sides of the border. Indeed, when the taxi conveyed across, I had only a single squabble with the Cameroonian Border Police who suspected I was a wanted person. I just gave him my Central Africa identity paper and spoke to him in French that I was going to the IDP Camp to search for my lost brother. Before he could mutter further word, I took the paper from him and ordered the taxi driver to move. By the time we got to the Nigerian side of the border the only Immigration Officer on duty was dozing off on his seat. At the sound of the car horn, he raised one of his feeble hands and flagged us to move ahead.
The Tiv soldier said I should not go anywhere because it was dangerous and that I would not stay with them because Boko Haram could attack any time. He then radioed his commander who informed him that he was already aware of my presence and, that he should take me back to the hospital and compel them to allow me to sleep till morning. The soldier then took me back to the hospital and compelled the doctor to allow me to sleep till the following morning.
The point is that because of Boko Haram, travelling to Maiduguri from Gamboru-Ngala takes place about two times a week under 30-minute notice, which involved a convoy of over 200 vehicles under heavy military guard. It was the soldier that informed me that there would likely be movement to Maiduguri later that day, since that was around 1:00 am.
It is also worthy of note that the Coordinator of Nigerian Refugees in Togolese Republic was a Fulani named Pastor Ibrahim Mohammed from Kano State, who escaped lynching by his people for converting from Islam to Christianity. So the matter before us and to which I have for the years dedicated my life, is not about exclusive ethnic interest. It is about fighting for religious freedom against a vicious and bankrupt Islamic ideology of kill-and-destroy anything not Islamic.
Before that moment, I had often seen Igbirra (Ebira) people in Kogi State as the most hostile and wicked people to the Igbo. But that opinion changed that night of my arrival to Maiduguri from Gamboru-Ngala. In 2003, I had a car breakdown at Abobo Village close to Okene where I stayed five days. There I was duly informed that no Igbo man was permitted to buy landed property on Igbirra land; and where it is for lease, it won’t extend beyond thirty years.
So on that night when I arrived at the IDP camp Maiduguri in search of where to put my head for the night and, discovered that the Police commander of the Camp was an Igbirra man, the clear thought in my mind was, it would not only the question of rejection but arrest and handover to the DSS. It however turned out to be the contrary. Before arriving at the Camp, I had gone to the two major Churches in Maiduguri that night—Roman Catholic and Anglican and found them under tight lock and key from behind. It was after those trials that the tricycle rider conveying me suggested that we should try the Winners Chapel—Bishop David Oyedepo’s Church.
Luckily enough, on getting to the Winners Chapel, they were having youth program that night and consequently, I proceeded to meet the Pastor. After explaining my predicament to the Yoruba Pastor with concrete evidence from online, he refused to assist me, stating that the official policy of Winners Chapel is that I must be a member of the Church with concrete evidence that I am a tithe-payer.
I said, but even if I am your member and tithe compliant, how could I have carried such evidence under my present circumstance. He said there was nothing he could do and that I should seek alternative place of refuge. At that point in time it was getting to 10:00 pm and that was my first time of coming to Maiduguri. I begged him to allow me sleep with the security man and he said that would never happen. I remember I later experienced the same sad episode in Freetown Sierra Leone when I ran to the Winners Chapel there for assistance and the Pastor repeated the same tale of membership and tithe payment.
With some youth members of the Church gathering around me outside the Church but powerless to offer any assistance, I saw myself again standing at the veranda of death. Just as I was moping into the scary dark night like a Sallah ram waiting to be slaughtered, a young man suggested if I could try the main IDP camp in Maiduguri, but warned that his fear was that it was a camp for exclusive for displaced Muslims. I had no alternative but to try my luck since there was other available option. That was how I took another tricycle in the lonely night to the IDP Camp.
I arrived at the IDP Camp when it was already past 11:00 pm and there were many people including tricycle riders locked out of the gate for exceeding the 11 pm time of entry. I waited patiently till the door was opened and those who had homes left. I then approached a Policeman who introduced himself as Vitus C. Ejika a Police Inspector from Imo State. He informed me that there was nothing he could do except to take me to his Commander from Okene in Kogi State. As soon as he mentioned Okene I began to pant in anticipation of the worst.
When the Commander eventually arrived, I narrated my ordeal to him and to my surprise what he said immediately lightened my heart. He said he is a Christian and that he would not see anybody under my condition without trying to help; but he cannot do it without the permission of the Camp Chairman. He sent for the Chairman but he was nowhere to be found. Then he said he would allow me to sleep in his room for the night. It was at that point that Inspector Ejika said, no Oga, instead let him sleep with us. We can take your mattress for him to use in our room.
So Inspector Ejika took the commander’s mattress to his room which he shared with a Yoruba Police Inspector called Justine. So I slept with them that night; took my bath and, had a sound sleep for the first time since about seven days. In the morning they served me bread and tea before I left for the wilderness again. I took their phone contacts and we are still communicating till date, but the Commander refused to even tell me his name.
Elder Solomon Asemota, SAN, a core traditional Bini man intervened in my case after my Igbo-born lawyer from Orlu Imo State Mr. Kelechi Nnadi set me up on two occasions to be picked up by the DSS, first at his office and, second at the Federal High Court Asaba premises because the DSS promised him Senior Advocate of Nigeria. While Kelechi Nnadi my fellow Igbo man collected over two million naira from me and attempted to hand me over to the DSS, Elder Asemote, SAN, a core-Bini man took over the case free of charge. Not only that, Elder Asemota gave me ten thousand naira to enable me escape to Lagos when I got stranded in Benin City and was hiding.
While an Igbo from Arochukwu called Ernest was organizing hired killers to eliminate me in the night at Oron Akwa Ibom State, it was an Oron Roman Catholic Priest Very Rev Fr. Charles Eking that accommodated me in his Priest’s house in the night, fed me, and facilitated my escape from the shores of Nigeria through Bakassi Peninsula. So we are talking about what concerns us as Christians in Nigeria and not our ethnic identity.
Meanwhile it was a Yoruba man that provided the three million naira I used to institute my legal action against the Federal Government over the current insecurity-driven islamization in Nigeria. This was after no Igbo man I approached agreed to support the legal action. This was the same money I paid an Igbo man Kelechi Nnadi who later collaborated with the DSS to arrest me in his office and court.
The late OPC leader Dr. Frederick Faseun hid me in his Century Hotel Okota, Lagos before the DSS invaded the hotel to pick me up. I was smuggled through the back door from where I escaped to Rear Admiral Godwin Ndubuisi Kanu’s office in Victoria Island. Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu later handed me over to Barrister Fred Agbeyegbe of NINAS when he came under threat from the Federal Government.
Fred Agbeyagbe—an Itsekiri from my State later abandoned me outside his office around 11:00 pm and I had to stay awake with the security man outside till around 3:00 am when I proceed on the terrible recoil journey to Anambra State that saw me set up by an Igbo friend and my host Dr. Uchenna Nweke—Beke na Abba who invited the DSS around 2:00 am to finish me up in his house. It was during my escape that I fell into a ditch and temporarily passed out in the bush till the follow morning when I recovered and rescuers who heard my wailing in the night came searching and saw me.

In Ghana where I slept for six months under Kwame Nkrumah fly-over popularly known as Nkrumah Circle, many attempts led by my Igbo kinsmen to kill or kidnap me were made. At a stage the IPOB members in Ghana equally joined in the attempt because of my criticism of their extortionist tendency, a position the IPOB spokesman Emma Powerful did not like, leading to our clash.
During one of the attempts to kidnap me, I fled to the nearby Police Station at Nkrumah Circle where my Igbo agents of the Federal Government arrived earlier thang me and bribed the Police not to entertain any report from me. It took the kind intervention of a visiting Police Officer from Ghana Police Intelligence Unit Inspector Addison to compel the Policemen on duty to obtain my report and statement. Interestingly, Inspector Addison is the ADC to the current Ghana Inspector General of Police.
In the midst of Igbo sabotage, my miraculous escape from Ghana to Freetown Sierra Leone was made possible by the timely intervention of two Yoruba compatriots. Pastor Bayo Adewoye sent me some money and Bishop (Prof) Mercy Funmilayo Adesanya-Davis not only sent me some money but directed me to Prof Philip Gbonsong at University of cape Coast, an extraordinary urbane Christian, who in the characteristic Foursquare Church tradition did not waste time giving me more than the money needed to flee by air to Freetown, Sierra Leone.
At Sierra Leone, even though I attended the Igbo Association meeting for the duration of my stay, I was still not regarded as a full Igbo man worthy of assistance at a time of great need. I was accommodated by a poor Sierra Leonean woman named Fatmata Kargbo and after I was attacked in her house, no Igbo man accepted to give me temporary accommodation. It was a Yoruba man again—Evangelist Ajisafe that I fled to, who accommodated me in his Church for one month, before I fled Sierra Leone.
When my life became unbearably threatened in Freetown and I decided to flee to Senegal, the Igbo Association, in spite of repeated appeals by their President Mr. Agbim Sabinus Agbim from Ebonyi State refused to offer me financial assistance. I was compelled to go begging for money in the market with the help of Mr. Felix Nmadu from Enugu State. When the public begging failed to produce positive result, I told my cousin at home Hon Augustine Nnabuife—Ojeaogbua to sell my plot of land. With the money I fled to Senegal and then Cape Verde where I was detained for three days at the Airport and subsequently deported back to Senegal.
While in Senegal I slept in a local restaurant at Ouakim District, Dakar run by a young Igbo man named Mishael Onwuka, popularly known as Oyibo. Right there I was set-up to be killed by my same Igbo kinsmen sleeping with me in the restaurant. The next moment I found myself in the streets of Dakar wandering with nowhere to lay my head. I tried to meet the President of Igbo Association in Dakar but he refused to grant me audience.
I ran to the Catholic Church at Ouakim Dakar where I met some Igbo members including two Rev Sisters, and another two Rev Sisters from Benue State. While my Igbo kinsmen, including the two Rev Sisters abandoned me in the Church premises without offering any assistance, it was the two Rev Sisters from Benue State that eventually arranged my appointment with the Caritas Organization who eventually arranged a temporary accommodation for me.
In Lome Togolese Republic, I lodged in a hotel named Hotel Star owned by an Igbo man named Damian Mgbemene from Orlu, Imo State, hoping to get the desired protection. The same Damian Mgbemene set me up in his hotel to be strangulated in the night. Escaping by the whiskers, I fled to Bishop Paul Nya from Akwa Ibom State whose Church I sought refuge for three days before the Togolese Government came to my assistance and provided accommodation for me.
Before I left Lome to Kigali, Rwanda, Prof Obasi Igwe gave me the contact of one Igbo lecturer from Imo State teaching in Rwanda. I opened contact with the man who promised to help me on arrival. When I eventually arrived at Kigali and called the man at the Airport, he told me he had traveled to Ghana. For the one year and four months I stayed in Rwanda, the man did not call me to inform me of his return from Ghana.
Finding myself stranded, I checked into a hotel on credit since I had no money enough to pay for accommodation. The hotel proprietress contacted an Igbo Pastor who informed me that he could not help. I was later directed to Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Kigali, where I met the Assistant Yoruba Pastor. After narrating my ordeal to him, he said I should wait for the Senior Pastor to come. When the Senior Pastor came, another Yoruba man, he went inside and discussed with him. I was later called in where the Senior Pastor told me that they greatly sympathized with my plight but unfortunately they had no accommodation. However, he gave me the amount of money that would provide me two weeks hotel accommodation. For people who might doubt this, here is the contact number of the Assistant Pastor in Kigali—+250787316629. It was after the unexpected support from the Yoruba Pastors that my Nwandu cousins in the United States sent me some money.
I came in contact with another Yoruba fine gentleman in Kigali named Pastor Ezekiel Akintunde Makinde when my kinsman and neighbor from Benin City, was arrested by the dreaded Rwandan Investigation Bureau for cybercrime. I had to run around to locate any Nigerian who could help him. That was when I was referred to Pastor Makinde. From that moment Pastor Makinde developed special concern for my plight and supported me whenever the need arose. Interestingly, for the one year and four months I sojourned in Rwanda I never set my eyes on him.
While still in Kigali, one day somebody called me and introduced himself as Kure Anifowoshe from Ondo State but living in Japan. Without much talk, he told me that he had been following my writings and decided to support me with little money. He eventually sent me 250 US dollars. Just about one month ago, the same Mr. Kure invited me for a visit to Japan, which I am still considering.
Still in Rwanda, another urbane Yoruba man Dr. Bolaji Akinyemi of the Apostolic Roundtable, called me one day and after introducing him asked me what I would want him to do for me in support of my struggles. I told him that even though I was in need of financial support for survival, what was important at that point was the publication of my book manuscript on Fulani-Yoruba relations. He immediately elected to undertake the publication which he undertook with about three million naira. Dr. Bolaji did not stop at that.
He continued to support me financially occasionally; and at one stage when I requested for financial assistance and Dr. Akinyemi had no money to give me, he send me the photocopy of his bank account balance to prove his sincerity. I asked why he should go to that extent, and he said just to assure me that if he had he would not hesitate to support me.
These were Yoruba people and not Igbo. And somebody wants to publicly support evil because it was committed by an Igbo and I am an Igbo. It does not work that way with everybody. If Peter Obi is guilty of any crime against his people he should boldly own up as a decent man and man of integrity which he claims to be. Nobody will convince me that a clean cup of water served by a leprous hand is clean.
Furthermore, I want to emphasize that in spite of these massive supports coming from Yoruba people, none of them had protested or accused me of being anti-Yoruba for the many attacks I carried out against prominent Yoruba leaders, both Pastors and politicians through my writings. None spoke of my being an enemy of Yoruba people in spite of the support rendered to me by them. Suffice it to state that my greatest supporters today in my present struggles are among the Yoruba.
I have written severally against Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, Pastor Tunde Bakare and John Cardinal Onaiyekan. I have written against Prof Wole Soyinka, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and, First Lady Oluremi Tinubu, who is even from my State and a niece to my godfather Papa Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. I need not mention Dr. Reuben Abati, Femi Fani-Kayode and Bayo Onanuga among many others, mostly in support of Peter Obi. I wrote against Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN and, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN all in support of Peter Obi.
In none of these circumstances was I abused, insulted or accused by any Yoruba person, friend or foe, for being anti-Yoruba or Yoruba-hater. None of those who willingly supported me or are still supporting me threatened me in any manner for writing against any of their prominent men. This is the Yoruba for you; a people described by Robert LeVine in his study of achievement motivations in Nigeria simply as the “most urbane group.”
It is therefore an act of crude ethnic mentality for anyone to think that Mr. Peter Obi is immune to criticism of any sort just because he is an Igbo and that criticizing him in any manner translates to Igbo hatred. No matter how deep a man dives under the river to secretly eat banana its peels must eventually float on top of the river. Peter Obi’s claim of political decency and integrity is nothing but another Donation of Emperor Constantine to the Papacy—the highest forgery in Roman Catholic Church history. But we are not going to wait for one thousand years for another Lorenzo Valla to resurrect to tell us that Peter Obi is a political forgery.]
I raised fundamental issues over his widely assumed status of decency and integrity, and if indeed he has any decency and integrity to protect he should come out, if not personally but through his legal team to challenge my assertions. It is fortuitous for anyone to claim that Peter Obi is the only hope for Nigeria. Which hope? Is it the type of hope of swearing before Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu that he will never leave APGA till death but ended up becoming a political harlot with PDP and Labour Party, while ADC stands by? Does that define a man of political decency and integrity? This is the YouTube link where Peter Obi stated in a rally that he would die with APGA— https://youtu.be/9zjY3Hwgxl0?si=r69x7mTla8ePLG_Z
It is therefore a reckless insult for anybody to tell Nigerians that Peter Obi is the awaited messiah. We saw it when Muhammadu Buhari was presented to Nigerians as the refurbished Nigerian political messiah. The result was evident. We again saw it when Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sold to Nigerians as the fixer of Lagos State who has the capability to fix Nigeria. Nigerians are witnessing how he is fixing Nigeria. Peter Obi cannot fix Nigeria by joining forces with the same people who destroyed Nigeria—Atiku Abubakar, Nasir el-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi, among others, including financially empowering future Islamic insurgents.
The problem before Nigerians presently is neither an ethnic matter nor what somebody like Peter Obi can fix. It is the problem of both insecurity and bad governance founded on Islamic religious bigotry. And what has sustained this Islamic assault on the Nigerian nation is the despicable importation of ethnic cleavages between those people who should have fundamentally united to jointly confront this menace.
Peter Obi and his gullible supporters and sympathizers are not in any way thinking towards this fact but rather are immorally focusing on his inordinate ambition to become President of Nigeria elected in their graves by those Christians slaughtered by his Fulani allies. It does not matter to Peter Obi and his gullible bigoted ethnic kinsmen who are majorly Christians that a single Christian soul martyred by his Fulani Muslim allies translates to perpetual loss of one Christian vote in the said Presidential election.
To those Igbo ethnic bigots who brand people like me as Igbo-haters, can we say that Peter Obi’s refusal to boldly speak out against the on-going massacre of Christians by his Fulani Muslim allies and his financial empowerment of Almajiri Islamic terrorist training centers are signs of a man of decency and integrity?
Let Peter Obi come out and valiantly rebut word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph and point by point my earlier assertions against him. If we are applauded for accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of his on-going crimes against Nigeria and Nigerians, then we should not be condemned for calling on Peter Obi to defend himself.

Dr. Nwankwo T. Nwaezeigwe is the Odogwu of Ibusa