By Brown Justice
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy a laughing stock” – Reinhold Niebuhr
Since the release of the electoral timetables for 2023 political activities by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the nation has witnessed all manner of declaration of interest for various elective positions next year by political contenders and pretenders.
Though there is no law that forbids any eligible person from declaring his interest to lead the people in any capacity but there are moral questions surrounding some of these declarations.
Sadly enough, Nigerians are carried away by the frenzies of these declarations without pondering to digg deep in to the lifestyles, source of wealth and the pedigrees of some of these fellows.
Leadership and governance are too serious to be left in the hands of shenanigans and money bags who believe that the electorates are goods that can be purchased with money.
To these folks, they believe that what money cannot do, more money can do.
However, the reason behind the sudden display of questionable wealth by Obinna Iyiegbu popularly known as Obi Cubana came to limelight recently when his immediate elder brother, Ikenna Iyiegbu declared his intention to run for the House of Representatives seat of Idemili North and South Federal Constituency of Anambra State under the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
Immediately the announcement was made, Obi Cubana, the money bag quickly reacted by saying he was thrilled.
His words: “Yesterday, my immediate elder brother @ike_cubana Mr Ikenna Iyiegbu (Onyechimeleze) came and briefed me on his intention to represent our local government constituencies, Idemmili North and Idemmili South local government areas, at the Green Chamber of the National assembly in the 2023 General Elections, under the great APGA Party… We are solidly behind you on this!”
According to inside sources, Obi Cubana is the architect of the whole plot and his main goal is to dominate the politics of Anambra State and the South East in general using Idemili North and South as a launch pad.
Personally, I don’t have qualms against such ambition but for a man whose source of wealth is opaque and questionable, I think it’s high time the various anti-graft agencies began intensive interrogation of this man’s source of wealth before it becomes too late.
This call has become urgent because Obi Cubana is fast becoming a bad influence on our youths and allowing such character to dominate the politics of Nigeria at a time the nation is in search of role models for some of our misguided youths, I think the menace of Boko Haram would be a child’s play in the years ahead.
Already, the rate of ritual killings for money in the Southeast region and across the federation have skyrocketed because most youths are alleging that Obi Cubana made his money through rituals.
Though, there is no official statistics yet but the rate at which young men and women are missing these days because of ritual killings are alarming.
There is no single day that passes by without reports of boyfriend killing girlfriend or similar killings for money rituals gracing headlines in our print media and the social media; because every young man now believes that if Obi Cubana could go free for his alleged involvement in money rituals, then nothing stops them from engaging in it.
In Nigeria today, no body wants to serve again because every young man wants to hammer like Obi Cubana.
If you establish a small business and entrust it to a young man to run, the next thing he would be thinking is how to liquidate the business and run away with your money.
So, the Obi Cubana effects must be curtailed with proper investigations before it becomes a pain in a black man’s ass.
Remember, this was how Mohammed Yusuf started with his Boko Haram organisation until the group became robot out of control.
All attempts by various governments to contain the organization since the death of it’s founder and leader, Mohammed Yusuf has been very difficult because you can’t decapitate a movement and incapacitate it’s activities.
Unfortunately, the activities of Boko Haram has taken large chunks of the nation’s annual budget since 2009 but this is something that could have been stopped at it’s initial stage.
Obi Cubana may not be as violent as Mohammed Yusuf but if early warning advises are not headed to, “Saul may be on his way to Damascus.” After all, history may not repeat itself, but sometimes it rhymes.
Apart from the security agencies doing their best to curtail the rate of crimes, psychological victory must be attained first.
In this case, comprehensive investigation of Obi Cuban’s sudden display of wealth must be conducted and brought to the public to aid the ongoing fight against crimes.
Otherwise, there would be no end to the alarming rate of ritual killings across the country.
Again, Donald Trump effects should not be repeated in Nigeria. Recall that America’s democracy was brought to it’s knee simply because they allowed a political outsider and billionaire business man, Donald Trump to run for president.
Even when Donald Trump lost his re-election bid, he instigated Americans to go berserk against the American democracy and it’s institutions to the extent that the Almighty White House was desecrated by pro-Trump protesters on January 6, 2021.
Therefore, to prevent the repeat of history in a negative way, Obi Cubana and his surrogates should be stopped from acquiring political power and relevance because that would be a recipe for disaster and bitter taste in the mouth of everyone in the years ahead.
The Nigerian Anti-graft agencies should act now and thank me later because wisdom is profitable to any nation that sees things before there happen.
Brown Justice is a social crusader. He writes from Awka, Anambra State. He wrote via brownjustice649@gmail.com
