By Atejunomi Otidi
Let me cease this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Easter.
The occasion of Easter caused a paradigm shift in man’s relationship with God over two thousand years ago. And things have not remained the same since then. God saved man eternally by dying in his place & resurrecting on the third day.
This resurrection power can also enable Igala to rediscover itself today.
As I have always posited, the challenge of our land and people is lack of visionary capacity. Our world view is limited in scope and this has resulted in our stunted growth in all spheres. Igala people who signed the first treaty, in the area now called Nigeria, with England as custodians of the Niger River are now relegated to a beggarly group within the contraption called Nigeria for no fault of theirs but because they are a morally conscious people that believe in hard-work, orderliness, truth, justice & equity – values that Nigerians have long abandoned.
While we are today losers in Nigeria for not abandoning these time-honored values, we must not cry over spilt milk. Human development and the evolution of stable societies are in agreement with these values. We must therefore not despair inspite of our current frustrations.
Now is the time to plan, strategise and mobilize our people’s vision for our land for the next fifty years. Our current sociopolitical challenges will pass away but the owners of tomorrow are those who strategise and plan today. This is not the time to seek elective positions without an agenda based on a visionary premise or a time to seek power for percuniary gains.
This is not the time to dine with iniquity in order to acquire transient power. We must understand the need and proper use of power in order to provide leadership that can stand the test of time. We have wasted our time, energy and intellect for too long expecting others to give us a future in this country. Nobody will ever give you a future better than his own.
Moreover, those that we have looked up to for progress in our land have not only failed themselves but have now become a liability to the Nigerian nation.
Igala elites must brace up and let us take the challenge of producing a development blueprint for Igalaland as a matter of our survival as a people and I dare say as a nation. Igala must now prepare for the worst while hoping for the best in Nigeria.
Finally, let me say that we cannot all see things the same way because that is a fact of nature but it is also true that we can agree on a common destination for our people. In this, I’m committed that there should be no looking back.
Igala land shall rise again!
