'The dismal state of politics in a divided nation'

"An uncomfortable truth can in time, become a great potential asset. But first we have to be brave enough to acknowledge it, and then bold enough to deal with it"-Simon Wolley

Hurray, His excellency, Chief Bola Tinubu finally lends his voice to the restructuring debate. No doubt, this is very unsettling to his party leadership and sends very clear message to his party's indecision to address this very important national issue that helped them to win the 2015 elections.
We all know that IPOB is a threat to both the under-performance/under achievement of the South-East Political leaders, especially the Governors and the endless vulnerability and marginalisation of Ndigbo in the Nigeria project. It is also a threat to a sudden emerging coalition that now sees the South-East and the South-South as the next strategic ally come 2019. The body language of the Political leaders can reveal this new struggle to build a new historic coalition with the promise of re-election, what they call automatic second term in office. The threat is very easy to predict; anyone that does not co-operate will be humiliated, probed, dethroned and possibbly end up in jail.
The propaganda and intimidation of IPOB has worked. IPOB is a terrorist organisation that wants to plunge the nation into another civil war. The statistics of what the people stand to lose is well presented instead of  what autonomy or independence will offer. IPOB is now going through the courts to fight for survival. Their leader has simply made a tactical retreat which is very important in this crude game of politics. According to Ian Birrell, This is like "looking backwards to find answers in a fast changing world that threatens to leave the country behind". Till date the South-East remains the most vulnerable and marginalised in the country since 1970. This very administration has demonstrated the use of conquering technique in handling the affairs of the region with its retrogressive development impact in the region, deepening the dependency culture. The thinking that this sudden coalition for the purpose of re-election is the solution to our vulnerability and marginalisation is false, pseudo-intellectualism and mocking good sense. It simply shows how greedy, heartless and brutal our political leaders are to the people that elected them to office. The Governors should be cautious of this sudden Greek-offer and follow the footsteps of their counterparts in other parts of the country especially the South-West who will always remain the beautiful bride in the nation's politics. Instead of finding a constructive way to work with IPOB and other indigenous groups fighting for a common cause, the Governors have simply chosen to 'flirt with crude nationalism with ideas so inimical to modernity'; what Simon Wolley, describes as 'protecting the advantages of an already favoured group'. Such marriage is always doomed. He warned: "the path to power for minorities is strewn with rocks and hurdles". We must learn to fight for our rights even if the odds seem hoplessly stacked against us. The political party that guarantees us restructuring and better future should earn our votes instead of embracing a pseudo coalition that threatens to tear us apart, while tightening their grip on power to continue business as usual. One of my good friends says they are on the ground. People are now deployed to challenge those labelled as against 'national interests', even with smear campaign. National interests is when the government want to determine what citizens see and hear, so they deploy people to peddle the party line in various threads as if we are at war. I enjoy President Trump's rhetorics a lot; he said "the rocket man is on a suicide mission, you won't be around long". Naturally you won't expect the 'rocket man' to keep calm. He says; "we are waiting for the right time to have a final battle with the US". Please let them take it easy....
Poloitics is the battle of ideas. Speaking up to change policy or behaviour is a right of every citizen especially in a democracy. This is my personal view.

Uche Okeke.