Who loves Ekweremadu’s country?

It was an uncommon meeting of minds last Wednesday when Nigeria’s top political, business, diplomatic, religious, traditional and academic leaders converged at the International Conference Centre, Abuja to ponder on the rarely discussed issue of love for Nigeria. The event was the presentation of the book, “Who will love my country: Ideas for building the Nigeria of our dream”, written by the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
 

Ekweremadu, the highest political office holder in the ranks of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP showed the superiority of his political balance in the composition of the gathering that overflowed the conference centre. President Muhammadu Buhari who was held back from physically attending by the Federal Executive Council, FEC meeting despatched as a worthy representative, the minister of information and culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed. Mohammed who has in the past ten years worked as spokesman of the country’s leading opposition parties was hailed by Ekweremadu in his opening remarks as the country’s most successful political party spokesman. Chief Olisa Metuh, the PDP spokesman and a very close political associate of Ekweremadu, who may have contested that position with Mohammed was conspicuously absent on account of ill-health. 

Three former presidents of the Senate, Senators David Mark, Ken Nnamani and Joseph Wayas were at the venue that overflowed with serving and former senators, members of the House of Representatives, governors and former governors and such.

 The effusions of patriotism that overflowed the ceremony were ably guided by the masters of ceremony, Mr. Ebere Young and Mr. Osita Chidoka, a former minister of aviation. While many of the speakers at the event praised the deep thoughts of nationalism, nation building and sacrifice as articulated by Ekweremadu in the book, President Buhari in his assertions, however, drew back from the crowd. The president said that for him, Ekweremadu’s injunction was like preaching to the converted! 

“He (Senator Ekweremadu) demonstrated in the book that Nigerians can only build a Nigeria of their dreams if they make bold efforts to love her above their individual selves and narrow interests,” the President remarked. He aligned with the views canvassed by Senator Ekweremadu in the book and said for his government, those words propounded by the author amount to preaching to the converted. “Our mantra is CHANGE, starting with individual attitudinal change. That explains why this Administration will soon launch a major campaign, tagged ‘CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME’, aimed at getting Nigerians to realize that the change they so much desire starts with them. If we all change our ways for the better, the society itself will change,” the president said. 

While endorsing the need to secure the social welfare of the people as encapsulated in the book, the President said it was in line with this that his administration designed the 2016 budget to bring millions of Nigerians out of poverty, enhance the living conditions of the citizens and put smiles on their faces. 

The president also used the forum to, for the first time, condemn the spate of attacks by herdsmen against innocent civilians saying that the government would hunt down those involved. 

It was a fitting proposition given the fact that earlier, while welcoming his guests, Ekweremadu had asked for a minute silence in memory of his fellow Enugu citizens and other innocent Nigerians recently killed by the marauding herdsmen. 

The profusion of patriotism had started that day with the opening remarks delivered by the chairman of the occasion, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the former head of state who praised the motivation of the author in writing the book. He was to assert that Nigeria is stronger together as one, affirming that “the things that unite us are far more than the things that divide us.” Admonishing Nigerians to uphold the common things that bind them together, the former head of state in reference to the title of the book asked, “’who will love my country,’ no one but you,” he answered. 

Then drawing from a biblical citation, he again asked “Who will separate us from the love of our country?” Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Jos, Prof. Isawa Elaigwu subsequently reviewed the book and paid glowing tributes to Ekweremadu for the depth of his thoughts on the issues raised in the book which he said will generate robust debate.

 Elaigwu particularly agreed with the author on the need for specialised courts to try corruption cases saying that it would go a long way in fastening the wheels of justice which he said have been continuously held back in the country. Following his review, Prof. Sam Egwu, himself, a former student of Elaigwu’s and Prof.

 Pat Utomi spoke on the book. To Egwu the book was a summation of Ekweremadu’s thoughts on the failure of the country’s development agenda. Utomi pressing on from there made mention of continuous conflicts in separate parts of Nigeria in the form of militancy, insurgency and now herdsmen attacks as suggesting a country in a “state of rolling civil wars.”

 Noting the positive communalism propagated by the country’s founding fathers, he noted how in the past regional leaders competed to make progress in their respective regions. He cited the establishment of the Aba/Port Harcourt Industrial Zones by the Eastern Region administration, the Ikeja Industrial Region in the West and the determination of the Northern Region to become the hub for the textile industry. 

Such positive competitive drives, he said, have now been swallowed by the urge to share the monthly booty from the federation account. “Share the gala, share the boo,’ Utomi said to applause. 

The touch of royal counsel came from the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi who was represented at the occasion by the Magaji Rafin Kano, Alhaji Shehu Mohammed who focused on poverty as one of the major snares against the development of the country. 

The book was presented to the gathering by Senator Ben Murray-Bruce, now popularly known as the author of the commonsense revolution. Senator Murray Bruce praised the book as the outpouring of a very patriotic and nationalistic man, a fact he said was reflected by the attendance at the event. 

The senator, however, drew back from launching it with funds as he called on his leader, that is the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio identified as the author of uncommon transformation to carry out that part. Senator Akpabio on behalf of the PDP Senate caucus launched the book with N2 million and did not leave the stage without a teaser that the majority party would launch with a much higher figure.

 It was upon that that the deputy Senate Majority Whip Senator Francis Alimikhena, standing in for the Majority Leader, Senator Ali Ndume made a donation of N10 million on behalf of all senators! The depth and quality of the impressive attendance at the book presentation was reflected in the erudition of Ekweremadu in the book in which he reflected on the need to shrink the 36 states to six geopolitical zones, a holistic approach to the fight against corruption, decentralised policing, fair distribution of resources among others.” 

“Act of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which I term feeding bottle federalism, is at the heart of poor governance, underdevelopment, indolence, and ineptitude in the Nigerian federation,” Ekweremadu affirmed in the book running into 158 pages.