The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance(APGA) Chief Victor Umeh has berated Gen Theophilus Danjuma (Rtd) for what he saw as his unacceptable remarks on the late Biafran warlord and Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Chief Umeh had in an interview in Awka yesterday wondered why some Nigerians who could not summon courage to talk ill about Ojukwu while alive have now suddenly woken up from their slumber to insult the memory of the symbol of Igbo man. He noted that any insult on the late warlord, was actually on all Ndigbo, hence would not be tolerated from any individual or group of individuals. He warned all citizens to respect the sensibilities of others and tame their leaking mouths.
According to Umeh, “….Danjuma displayed rare cowardice for not talking while Ojukwu was alive. Of course how dare he talk before a lion, a strong man is always avoided, and those of them who talk ill against late Ikemba were inferior to him in terms of education and wealth.
“As at the time Ojukwu was involved in the Nigerian affairs in the 1960’s he had a Masters Degree from the University of Oxford, but those insulting Ojukwu now had no education. They shot themselves into the Nigerian oil and got rich overnight, which has now emboldened them to talk carelessly today.
“and for insulting Ojukwu who is a symbol of Ndigbo, Danjuma will be judged rashly as one of the people who contributed to marginalization of Igbo’s in Nigeria, he has always being a hater of Ndigbo, now that his memory and brain is failing him, he can talk anyhow, people should ignore him, at the end of his journey in Nigeria and on this earth he will be judged very rashly,’ he said.
Umeh noted that most Nigerians are having their past time by insulting prominent and ordinary Igbomen, ‘We have in recent time become a laughing stock for some irresponsible men who gets up and start talking nonsense about Igbo people, if it is not about voting in an election, it is about one nonentity insulting respected Igbo men”.
“Well Ojukwu our leader has passed on, so, instead of joining issues with Gen. Danjuma, Ndigbo should rather wait for him to pass on since, he belongs to the generation of late Ikemba Nnewi, one day he will pass on too.
“I believe he is suffering from insomnia, loss of memory, it is a sickness he is actually suffering from, he loses memory intermittently, his brain is no longer connecting well and instead of us joining issues with him, we will wait for him to join his generation that is already exiting, we cannot begin now to bite ourselves because somebody whose time is almost up is talking very irresponsibly,’ he said.
For Umeh, “Ojukwu from every account of history was a bold man who resisted the injustice being handed down on his people, Gen. Danjuma does not belong to that league of strong personalities, he only became relevant after the Nigerian Biafran war which he used the advantage of being on the Nigerian side to amass oil wealth in Nigeria” he maintained.
“Danjuma is having plenty oil money, he can afford to abuse anybody, including President Jonathan who visited him, but what consoles us is that he is a human being, one day he will also pass on like Ikemba he insulted and history will record him for what he has done.
“He has oil wealth in Nigeria today, he is richer than many state in the country, he was the one who fought the war and took advantage of the war to appropriate oil wealth to himself, common wealth of Nigeria, he appropriate for himself and family,’ Umeh said.
He regretted that some Nigerians stole our commonwealth to the extent that they do not know what to do with it again, and they do not even know that people are suffering or are in need of help.
“Millions of Nigerians are unemployed, yet some people who shot themselves into oil wealth with guns and became richer than some states cannot provide jobs for them with our common wealth they stole, instead they are saying and doing things that can make the people revolt against them.
“I know that in no distant time the Nigerian people will take their revenge on all the oil thieves who stole their oil wealth through the guns and their ill gotten wealth will be taken and recovered from them, if we did not do it now, one day our children will go after their children and recover all their fathers stole from Nigeria, and it will become history”
“They settled themselves with the nation’ soils wells for carrying gun against Ndigbo during the civil war, they shot themselves into riches and affluence at the expense of Nigerians, so they did not understand the issue that led to the war because at that time, somebody like Danjuma was not mentally developed to appreciate what Ojukwu saw and confronted at that time, Umeh stated.
