OPINION.
By Awo Whiskeys Ogbo
August 2022
The obvious fact that Igede people of Benue State have been systemically marginalized in their father land cannot be disputed any more.
Records from the civil service and composition of political appointments in the State, over tiime are proven facts.
It was a gradual process. As mass employment of civil service has receded, the new way of replacement has dent a blow on Igede people and the pretense of inclusiveness. Governments after governments since the time of Suswam till now, have found a new way of replacing the vacancies with their people while the Igede people are left out.
This is particularly dangerous and highly oppressive. While the older Igede civil servants retired, there are no replacement from the same place, which is not supposed to be the case. This has, however, led to shortages and serious depletion of Igede workers in the State civil service.
Unfortunately, there is no sign that this trend will end soon. How do I know. Major and key political appointments in the State as at present are not in our favor. Governor, Deputy Governor, Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Head of Service, Secretary to State Government, State Party Chairman; name them, are completely removed from Igede people.
If this is the case, how do you expect Igede people to have a say in any replacement exercise that had been carried out or may be carried out in the near future? Any Igede man or woman whose name happens to appear in any replacement exercise will be considered extremely lucky. But how many lucky ones do we have? And how are we sure the lucky ones are our best?
Worst still is the marginalisation going on at the political level. The deliberate skewing of political appointments against the interest of Igede is increasingly alarming. This is happening in spite of the knowledge of the existing precedents and the law.
Rules and conventions are being violated in order to make sure Igede man or woman is not given opportunities. This is evident in the election and nomination of governorship and deputy governorship candidates of political parties in Benue State. The deliberate refuser of the leading political parties in the State to choose their deputies from Igede extraction is horrible, terrible, shocking, tremendously wrong and calculated attempt to silent Igede ethics stoke in Benue forever.
There is no single justification by the political elites in Benue State for doing this. To me, this is like a dangerous conspiracy from within the State.
Igede people are part and parcel of Benue family, and they know this, they work for that while they live it.. This can be proven from the various contributions Igede people had made and are continuing to make to the development of Benue State. No Igede person, if I remember correctly, who has occupied a sensitive position in the past has ever been indicted or sacked for corruption. This goes to show the transparent nature of the people. An Igede man discharges his or her work with the fear of God.
We can end this systemic marginalisation if we want. We must stand up to the powers that be without fear. We must be bold to speak the truth and stand by it. Our political leaders should not be by mouth and proclamation of the followers alone, but they must prove by their actions that they are leaders.
Most importantly, as 2023 draws nearer, we must let government know about our needs and challenges. To do that there should be constructive engagement by the leadership class in Igede with the political leaders in Benue State. We must be determined to put our votes where our voices will be heard and our demands met. We must work with people that respect us indeed. Anything else will be counter productive.
Awo Whiskeys Ogbo, a media practitioner and public analyst writes from Makurdi.
Few vital comments by anonymous readers.
a. While it is good to call attention to perceived inequity, we should bear in mind that civil service work cannot create wealth for any group in the long run. The only civil servants who are ever super rich, do so by engaging in corrupt practices. And only members of the favored tribes can do that with impunity.
The discrimination against the Igbo at the federal level after the Civil War ended, was far worse than the picture you have painted about the Igede in Benue state. But they survived all of it and even thrived better than most of the corrupt civil servants, because of their ingenuity in wealth creation through the private sector, with Onisha and Aba markets as their main commercial hubs. The Igede must learn a lesson from this rather than burning down their most viable market, and be looking forward to government jobs alone as a means of escaping poverty.
b. Without unity and oneness among Igede people, especially the political class, Igede is still likely to be relegated in the employment into civil service in this democratic representative governance.
Our political leaders since 1999 till now are individualistic, make only personal request to the Governors, Senators and House of Reps members representing them. They refused to unite, make a collective demand that will benefit majority of Oligede before going into election.
It's never the minority syndrome that's responsible for this current known socioeconomic marginalization of Igede but the refusal of Igede people to come together and bargain politically during each election that's largely responsible.
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