My Igbo Brothers, Leave Primate Ayodele, Hold Your Leaders Accountable

By Chukwuka Victor

I must admit that I haven’t seen my Igbo brothers so united as I have seen them in the last one week, just that they are channeling it in the wrong direction involving Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele.

Just because Primate Ayodele said Igbos are the problems of Nigeria, and that we have to reverse a curse if we ever want to produce a president in the country, hell was let loose, and we made the prophet our focus—attacking him, calling him names, abusing his family, sending threats to him, and several other things.

I was even surprised to see one of the prominent Igbos on X sharing the contacts and emails of Primate Ayodele for his followers to start harassing him on the phone. Some went as far as sharing their conversations with the prophet on the phone, hurling several insults at him, and even threatening to attack him because of the statement he made.

Apart from the Twitter users, I have also observed some political players attacking Primate Ayodele. The APGA national youth chairman, Eze Onyebuchi Chukwu, called on President Tinubu to warn the prophet over his statement regarding the Igbos. He said Primate Ayodele is using his prophecies to cause division instead of unity.

Likewise, a Labour Party chieftain, Oluchi Oparah, joined the bandwagon to say Primate Ayodele is a tribal bigot, while advising him to resign from the pulpit to join politics if it excites him so much.

From the religious sector, a Catholic priest, Fr. Chinaka Justin Mbaeri, called on the federal government to arrest Primate Ayodele for his statement on the Igbos.

Also, from the legal sector, a legal practitioner based in Enugu, Maduabuchi Idam, slammed the prophet and threatened to sue him for defamation if he doesn’t retract his statement in the next 48 hours.

I could go on and on to mention some people who have spoken against Primate Ayodele in the last one week, but because of time and space, I would like to stop here and speak the truth to my Igbo brothers.

Our fathers have a saying, “Awọ na-asị ibe ya wọkọm,” which can be used to describe someone who blames others for their own mistakes; the truth about this matter is we as Igbos are all guilty of whatever Primate Ayodele or anyone has said against us, but we like to shy away from the truth and attack people who tell the truth to our face.

Primate Ayodele said we are the problems of Nigeria. Can any of you say categorically that we haven’t cost Nigeria so much more than other tribes have? Is there any tribe in the country clamoring for division like we have done? Is there any tribe that is unwelcoming like ours? The answer is NO. How are we not the problem of Nigeria?

Years ago, everyone that is calling out Primate Ayodele now—from social media, to legal practitioners, to religious leaders, to politicians—when Nnamdi Kanu started his IPOB movement, how many of you spoke against his divisive initiative? How many of you openly declared Nnamdi Kanu the enemy of Igboland? How many of you called his number to rain curses on him? Instead, every one of us praised him as a revolutionary leader. We have even been clamoring for his release as if he is a god to us. Can we name any tribe in the country that has someone like that?

When Sunday Igboho rose up among the Yorubas to fight Fulani herdsmen, it was still his fellow Yorubas who called him to order, even though he was doing what benefited his kinsmen. He was later arrested and taken away from Nigeria, and today, no one has risen to engage in such an act. But for us, what have we done exactly to show that we are not a problem to Nigeria?

Nnamdi Kanu would go on live streams, cursing Yorubas, calling them all sorts of names. We would, by ourselves, share his live streams and praise him for being fearless, and the sad thing was Nnamdi Kanu’s actions didn’t even benefit any of us. Our parents back home are cursing him because every Monday, they are unable to go and fend for their daily living. Any attempt to step out of their homes on Monday ends badly; they either get killed or injured. Why are we yet to curse Nnamdi Kanu?

Nnamdi Kanu aside, what about our leaders? What have we done to ensure that our leaders get it right? Absolutely nothing. We have just been making noise all along, shouting Obidient and wasting our efforts unnecessarily without making any tangible progress in the South East region.

Our leaders are actually acting like there is a curse upon them, because why are they always at loggerheads? Peter Obi, whom we feel is the biggest politician in the South East Region for now, is fast losing real-time followers; most of those with him are just noisemakers. Just last week, Morris Monye, one of Obi’s biggest supporters and on-site mobilizers, resigned because of poor coordination, especially during the Anambra governorship election where the Labour Party could only gather less than 10,000 votes.

Peter Obi isn’t even on good terms with politicians in Anambra, which is his state. The governor, Charles Soludo, has openly blasted him on several occasions, and I can’t point to one prominent politician in the state who has spoken well of Peter Obi. Charles Soludo has declared support for Tinubu in 2027, yet we have not been able to call these people out? But we are out here calling out Primate Ayodele for obviously saying the truth.

We have governors in the South East who haven’t even done well for us in the region. They are all decamping to the All Progressives Congress, but did we expose their phone numbers? Did we threaten them? We are just a bunch of hypocrites looking for someone to blame for our misfortune.

I have said my truth. Ma ànyị na-ekwu eziokwu ma ọ bụ na anyị ekwughị, anyị ga-anwụ. If any one of you likes, you can share my number and start calling—it won’t stop what I have said. Primate Ayodele is not our problem. Let’s hold our leaders accountable instead.

I rest my case.