Saturday 23 June 2018

THE POLITICAL WORDSMITH, HON. ONYEKACHI UGWU, WRITES ON: UDENU/IGBO EZE NORTH FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY: THE NEED FOR DEEP INTROSPECTION

Hon. Onyekachi Ugwu
UDENU/IGBO EZE NORTH FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY: THE NEED FOR DEEP INTROSPECTION
Permit me the gross immodesty of even associating myself with any form of Socratic wisdom and intuitive abilities. Forgive me for the carelessness of arrogating and electing myself to act in the stead of a gadfly: a characterization left for only personas with incredible abilities to ruffle feathers for the purposes of stinging society to a conscious reawakening. I have neither ability.

Having from outset disqualified myself of any of such attributes, permit me to give you an insight into the workings of my mind through the agency of the words of the sage Socrates.

In his own words Socrates, while waiting for death as decreed by the Oracle of Delhi says, “I am the gadfly of the Athenian people, given to them by God, and they will never have another, if they kill me. And now, Athenians, I am not going to argue for my own sake, as you may think, but for yours, that you may not sin against the God by condemning me, who am his gift to you. For if you kill me you will not easily find a successor to me, who, if I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the state by God; and the state is a great and noble steed who is tardy in his motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long 1and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. You will not easily find another like me, and therefore I would advise you to spare me.”

From the foregoing, it is obvious, drawing a relationship between Athens and Igbo-Eze North/Udenu constituency that what we need is a deep introspection beyond the theatrics of the blaring siren of a quick return to prosperity and grandeur and the beguiling humility canvassed by those wishing to run for the House of Representatives seat come 2019.

As a matter of fact, we do not need those practiced dance steps rather what we need is to know our problems and how with level headedness we can reconnect to the era of seamless leadership of the past, navigate out of the murky waters of the present twists in our fortunes, and above all, the grandstanding of crass ineptitude of today which has left us more divided than Sudan and South Sudan.

Like Socrates, I am going to ruffle feathers, mindful of my facts and figures, bearing in mind that what is at stake now is about the fate of a great people and not the unbridled crave for few naira notes and the centripetal pull of the bandwagon reaction.

Our constituency has every potentials to become the centre point of informed national discourses on responsible representation. We are endowed with human resources to produce the best but like Nigerian Super Eagles we are oscillating between success and failure, thereby vitiating the gains we had hitherto made.

Instructively, we cannot reasonably continue to act as if all is well. All is not well. We also cannot pretend that nothing can be done. A lot can be done. Yes.

To start, we need a gadfly to sting us to conscious realization especially regarding where we are derailing, to excite in us the desire for urgent solution and prime us for success. Let the glory that has departed return.

What is the problem?
The problems are magnitude. But the one that should assumed the front burner is that of lack of leadership. Leadership is the art of leading and galvanizing a people to pursue common purpose. Seen from this prism, a leader must command personal charm, exude humility and deep commitment to the cause of his society: such as development, peace and the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Added to this, a leader must have personal touch and essential connect with the people he is leading. Anything short of this negates the cardinal thrust of leadership. Has Igbo Eze North/Udenu Constituency enjoyed leadership?

We will add a continuation of this article later



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