Hello Big Brother,
I’m that voice that will always speak up when it should, I’m that person that doesn’t hide in the crowd. I remain the prickly conscience admist men, who swallow shame for pride. I still say it as it is, not minding whose ox is gored. Above all, I’m a proud and a concerned onye Osumenyi, who holds shoulder-head-high knowing my root and my worth whenever the Igbo nations gather!
GREETINGS!
It has taken me several sleepless nights of sober reflective pondering to come up with the option of reaching you this way, just for the records of the saying,. Pardon and permit my open medium of approach in doing this. I don’t join the bandwagon of murmurs and peddling of the bush path talks, I’d rather make bold to speak out and stand by it, even if it’s to my peril.
TRUTH BE TOLD!
You are a man of uncommon courage, guts and drive, admired widely by all who may have known or come across you. You are so infectious, as well as contagious that even the grass on your paths adore your presence in present. Little wonder that the title of *IKUKU OMA* fits perfectly on you! You represented a dream to the people of my age and class at the twilight of your bold life endeavours in the early 1990s. Impossibility got no place in your lexicon. When the name Chukwujekwu was on the lips of every growing young man. You have remained a model of generosity, and have been unconsciously crowned the benevolent spirit. You became the pride and the flagship of the land of the giants called Osumenyi at your prime. Our landscape though small, you singlehandedly made it very large on the map of the gathering of the Igbo nations! Our people walk tall, in and around Nigeria and beyond because of you. Your personality in Osumenyi is too large to be written on a piece of paper, given the impact of the energy that go with you.
GREAT ARRIVAL!
Your entrant into the Nigeria’s perilous political ring was never taken seriously, until you unsettled the seeming powers-that-be at the Abuja Municipal local Council elections in the mid 1990s. Where you raised the dust that couldn’t settle till you clinched, to the amazement of all, the federal constituency seat of the same Abuja as a House of representative member in the 1999 federal general elections. These were uncommon feats that nobody could have taken you seriously if you never ventured! Then, our people believed in you, supported you, as ndi Osumenyi, we were whole and wholesomely rolling and standing by you all the way. You became our pride and our loyalty became your prize, we spoke with one voice and our words were sacred, our tongues never broken. Soliderity was paying off, we grew in leaps and bounds. We raised giants scattered everywhere, every other community around us envied us, some even sought to be adopted by us. Osumenyi became a name to be respected, and resonated across borders! 1999 to 2003 was our peak of the top then, we sought to get higher when you returned home to the complex Anambra state politics, in order to provide leadership to your own people. We all stood with you through the thick and thin, it was a glorious home coming of hopes for the greater heights. We worked together in hope for a stronger incubation of ambitions in your eagerness and zeal for service through providing leadership, we still waited positively, hopefully for the 2007 season for the works ahead.
SUDDENLY!
Cracks appeared on the walls, tongues broke, a wing withered out, the feathers flew, scattered. Our strength weaned, our lungs gasped for breath of life. Foes sprang admist brothers while tale of woes rage the land. Fraternity turned brutality, the plunderers found a feast on us as the vultures perched in wait to feed on our ruins. Our sacred places got desacreted. Power, left us. Ego bruised, hearts wounded, we fed in false accusations baked in half truths borne of hatred and envy, traded in greed and avarice. Lazy opportunists got a trade, fuelled the cauldron of disunity to their own callous advantage and wished it never ends! The scar of this bruise may never go away, but we’ve got to heal to scare the vultures and keep the vampires at bay.
IPSO FACTO!
Your sojourn into the Anambra politics beyond 2003 (2007 going forward) had personally seemed to me like a big bird attempting to fly with one wing, this is naturally impossible! It may look like my personal opinion which it is really but, I still belong to the lower cadre called the grass root, and can feel the actual pulse of the earth made of sand. Through the guts you inspired, our land has grown giants in their own rights, who hold sway and direct their own tides. This, has never worked in our favour nevertheless. Our envied unitary strength has been weaned of its valour and gotten wearied so much famished lasting about two decades. Lesser enclaves around mock and laugh us to scorn. Our disadvantages becomes their advantages as we’re no longer counted in any strategic scheme. We only get schemed out all the while, as brothers keep celebrating the misfortune of brothers to the gain of strangers!
WORRIED!
The announcement of your victory at the primary election of a leading political party in Nigeria as their guber candidate in the coming November 8th 2025 Anambra state governorship election was another uncommon feat of yours, after the celebrations, arose my worries. I can assure you that I’m not the only one aboard this boat of worries. It will amount to rascalty and dangerous approach should anyone dismiss this spate of worry with a wave of hand. Osumenyi is as big as the name sounds, greater credits to you, as I stated. Our strength is not only physical, it’s spiritual too, this means that the cosmic minds are needed at work all the time as well as the labours of seen hands. My motive of reaching out to you in this open medium is that we believe strongly that you hold the ace that can bind us as a force once again, just as of old. To the dismay of the greater majority of our indigenes, your family hold the other end of the stick that has held us apart for upwards twenty years as of today! It has remained an evil wind that blows no one no good all these years. We can not afford to lose this opportunity again! Let they that are on their high horses get down now, and the humble pie eaten in the interest of posterity. The time is now, or it gets too late. Our land yearn for healing. Broken hearts, injured feelings, disjointed minds, yearn for solace! The spirits of the dead yearn to be appeased. Forgiveness should be sought and gotten, call for the solemn assembly is needed, the love banquet must be consumed. Amendments must be made! There’s no price too high to pay now. The youths should be guarded and guided aright, *that our light, may not go out!* There’s still some ample time to straighten bended steel, but the heat of furnace is needed to be applied. That’s the heat that will sanctify us and maka us whole again. A unipolar force will get us much closer to achieving this coveted goal. Time is ticking and may sadly not be on our side.
SUBMITTING!
I write for no personal interest, neither for recognition, nor for gratification, but for the love and sustainance of the achieved greatness of my dear land, Osumenyi. I don’t mean to bruise ego, but to boost it where necessary. It’s not in my character to disrespect, but to say the truth even if it hurts. I’ll be proud to announce that the governor is from my town, that’s the most I want to get. We must therefore painfully admit that the status quo places this chances once again in jeopardy. Osumenyi is my pride, in unity, we can only get bigger.
THE BITTER TRUTH IS….
They that cheer in your presence, jeer and tear scornfully at your back. Let our joy and laughter come from the depth of our hearts as true and pure, without blemish. Only unity and peace can do it. No price is too high to pay.
If this is not done, I speak for myself alone at this point. If this is not done, I will bow my head in sorrow, and watch just another great opportunity slip us bye, as I can’t shout in pride the glow that dim in gloom. If this is not done, my sword of war can only remain sheathed, and just form part of my ornament of valour, and at the end signifying nothing. If this is not done, there will still be celebrations at the far end, far from us. I’m saying my mind, it may not apply still, but let the load be off me that I spoke. I’m just a proud and a concerned citizen.
May it be well with you, may it be well with our land, the land of the giants, Osumenyi.
Sincerely Yours,
Ikeonye Tony Nzekwe, KSM.
Ojiaku village, Obiuno community. Osumenyi.