DIKE CHUKWUMEREIJE
2 nights ago, my brother, Chaka Chukwumerije, escaped an attempt on his life. He was on his way from Okigwe to Umuahia, when the car behind him opened fire. It was not his time to die. So, he and the 3 others with him escaped unscathed. Even though the car was riddled with bullets.
2 years ago, my brother was appointed a Commissioner in Alex Otti’s government. No, we didn’t send him off with a wish list. All we asked of him was – do not bring us shame. Don’t take what is not yours. And use every resource within your power to help our society become a better place for us all.
My brother has been a faithful supporter of Alex Otti for at least 10 years. Every election since, at least, 2015 he has poured his heart, soul, and resources into campaigns. And when his team did not win, even when they were clearly rigged out, he came back home, and licked his wounds in quietness and dignity. Where we come from, no matter how provoked, we tend to keep a civil tongue. So, he has always played the sort of politics that has sat well with my own conscience.
I did not fully understand his loyalty to Alex Otti. But knowing him, and having implicit trust in his judgement, I stood by my brother in his chosen political path. Till Alex Otti won, and I came to see why my brother had placed such trust in him for so long. In 2 years, Abia has turned around. I don’t praise politicians lightly, because – to me – one should not be effusively praised for doing one’s job. But he is doing the job, and doing it to a level that we have not seen in Abia in many, many years. And, today, I am proud to be Abian.
My brother is a part of that government. And I know that he is totally aligned with the principles and developmental drive of his Principal. So aligned, so committed, that I have not seen my brother (like proper seeing) in, at least, 8 months. But I understand that politics is public service. That a family member in politics is a family member lost. We know this. And take it in our stride. When you have finished, you will come back and meet us. And so, my brother has buried himself in his work. Buried himself so completely, so selflessly, that we are constantly picking up the slack in other areas of his personal life.
Unfortunately, it is people like this – who are totally, selflessly, committed to public service – that are too often the victims of our current socio-political order. For we are not yet a meritocratic society. We are still very much a society riven with materialistic greed, nepotism, and the toxic type of tribalism. Not just in our politics but also in our social spaces. And so the incentives everywhere are skewed. Those who are comfortable with doing things anyhow-anyhow are safe and ascending. While those who are not, are not. This is the struggle we all, who are true change agents, face. And the further threat of being physically harmed for nothing more than doing the right thing.
Still, Death does not scare me. But I can only speak for myself. I know it is coming. And when it arrives, it will find me alive, from the very core of my being. And unafraid.
I thank God for sparing my brother’s life. I pray he continues to keep us all who are living true to the purpose for which He made us. May His shield of protection continue to hold until we are done. And on the day He calls us home may we step forward without a single reason to look back. For, as Patty Obasi once soulfully put it, ‘O si mu gaba a tula ujo’. Yes. Eyes forward, no fear.