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SILENCE IN THE FACE OF INJUSTICE: THE ISI-UZO EXAMPLE

Published

5 years ago

October 5, 2020

By Ifeanyi Ogenyi

Bishop Desmond Tutu once said: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality”.

The above quote aptly captures the position of most of the Isi-Uzo people who have chosen to be silent in the face of injustices against them in their Senatorial District.

A few days ago, I posed a question: “WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE POSITION OF ISI-UZO IN THE POWER SHARING EQUATION IN ENUGU EAST SENATORIAL DISTRICT SINCE THE RETURN OF DEMOCRACY IN 1999 TIL DATE?

The above question attracted a lot of reactions but unfortunately, the answers elicited from the question were full of sympathy for Isi-Uzo people who have been strangely seen as a political orphan and the most unfairly treated Local Government Council in Enugu East Senatorial District has been so long denied the opportunities to represent the zone in any elective or representative capacity since 1999 till date.

Many agreed that for a very long time now, Isi-Uzo has been in political oblivion in the politics of power-sharing in the Senatorial Zone.

It is crystal clear that the injustices against Ndi Isi-Uzo are numerous and as an L.G.A, it has been practically excluded in the political dimension of power-sharing by the “Core Nkanu”.

The situation of political haplessness in which Isi-Uzo people found themselves in the Senatorial calls for concern of all the Stakeholders in the zone and all men of good conscience and a good sense of justice in Enugu redress the injustice.

It is very crucial to remind our brothers from other parts of the zone that Isi-Uzo is part and parcel of Enugu East Senatorial District and all other local government councils in the zone have benefited immeasurably from the zone except Isi-Uzo people.

In fact, it is safe to state that all the persons who had represented and still representing the zone in the Senate from 1999 to date seamlessly attained that position by leveraging on the block votes of Isi-Uzo people which had always been the deciding factors of who wins. Isi-Uzo has the most politically conscious people in Enugu East Senatorial District.

And it is indeed very unfortunate that after many years of a show of support and solidarity to other parts of Nkanu land by Isi-Uzo people, the kind gestures and goodwill extended unreservedly have not been reciprocated, rather, Isi-Uzo people appears to have been judged negatively by their brothers from other parts of Nkanu who incidentally were great benefactors of the goodwill.

There is no local government in Enugu East Senatorial District that has never had a fair share in the power-sharing except Isi-Uzo. All other five local governments namely: Nkanu East, Nkanu West, Enugu East, Enugu North, and Enugu South had once, twice, or even thrice had a bite on the cherry by representing the zone in one capacity or the other. Why is Isi-Uzo relegated to the background in the power-sharing? Why is Isi-Uzo dressed in the toga of “Political Orphan? Is it deserving of them?

Is 2023 not an opportunity to redress the injustices and unfair political treatments meted out to Isi-Uzo people in their Senatorial District? The time for the healing of the wounds should be by 2023. The moment to balance the imbalances.

The cardinal principles of justice, equity, and fairness should be applied in power-sharing especially so in choosing who occupies the Lion Building come 2023 when it is expected to be the turn of Enugu East Senatorial District to produce the next number one citizen of the State.

Hence, Isi-Uzo people should be allowed this time to occupy the seat of the Governor of the State if eventually zoned to Enugu East Senatorial District in line with the long-standing zoning arrangement in the State.

As deliberately poised as politics may appear, conceding the governorship position to Isi-Uzo will not only give them a sense of belonging in the zone but will also meet the ends of justice, equity, and fairness.
The case of Isi-Uzo is so pathetic that no Stakeholder in Enugu with an acute sense of justice should rest comfortably without seeing that justice is done because you don’t know when such a thing will befall any other L.G.A for whatever reason.

But the most worrisome of all is the pretentious attitudes and political posturings of most of the Isi-Uzo people in the face of the imbalances in the zone.

In the face of all these injustices, most of the Isi-Uzo people have chosen to hide in their trenches and to die in silence.
Where are the men? The time is now! Are Isi-Uzo people naïve? Not at all. While some have chosen to remain silent in the whole pathetic situation Isi-Uzo found itself, some have opined that it is too early to be talking about Isi-Uzo being allowed to occupy the Lion Building by 2023; and I asked what makes it to be too early for Isi-Uzo people to state the obvious? One thing that is clear is that power is not always gotten on a platter of gold, it is taken most time though not necessarily by force but by constructive arguments, agitations, engagements, and lobbying which all tools of power politics. And this is what is expected of Isi-Uzo people now, having known their political status in the power-sharing in the zone.

And for those who have chosen to be neutral and silent, it is very important to remind them that they are on the side of the oppressors and posterity will not kind to them.

Let there be justice, let justice, equity, and fairness reign in Enugu East Senatorial District.

In all, let our brothers from other parts of Nkanu land support Isi-Uzo come 2023 to be in the Lion Building. It will serve the best interest of justice, equity, and fairness; and Nkanu will ever remain great.

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Senator Ndubueze’s Local Automotive Patronage Bill Passes Second Reading in National Assembly

Published

4 days ago

May 16, 2025

The Gleamer

By Jim Isilebo

On Thursday 15th May 2025,a Bill seeking to compel Ministries, Departments,and Agencies (MDAs) of governments in Nigeria at all levels to patronize locally manufactured vehicles,passed the second reading at the Nigerian Senate.

The Bill titled *”Local Automative Patronage Bill-2025″*, which is sponsored by distinguished Senator Patrick Ndubueze(FNSE) representing Imo North and introduced in October 2024 passed it’s 2nd reading at no less auspicious time as the period President Tinubu is rolling out his all-important and widely acclaimed “Renewed Hope Nigeria First Policy” to be soon backed by an Executive Order of the Presidency.

The Order will mandate all ministries, departments and agencies to give absolute priority to Nigerian goods, services and know-how when spending public funds.

During the plenary,senator Ndubueze in his lead debate reinforced the President’s thinking by stating inter alia,”…it is important that goods and services are produced locally,as it’s ripple effect is a reduction in import and a rise in export,with regards to the nation’s balance of trade”.

The Senator who have never hidden his aversion to the nation’s several years of poor support to local production capacities,stridently called on his colleagues in the National Assembly to buy into this laudable initiatives as captured in the Bill.He went further to state that the country has failed to institutionalize the use of indigenous brands as is the case in countries like China,India and Malaysia that have since banned the importation of cars as a national policy, for the purpose of growing domestic industries.

He reminded his colleagues that “today those countries have perfected their local processes and we are presently importing their products,some of which cannot compete with our locally manufactured vehicles”.

Ndubueze also revealed that over the years 54 Automative manufacturing licenses have been issued by the Nigerian government, noting that only 6 companies remain operational largely due to dearth in foreign exchange and poor infrastructure.

The Senator sadly regrets the fact that many automobile firms have moved to neighboring countries like Ghana where they are establishing plants whose production is targeted at Africa’s largest automobile market Nigeria.

Senator Ndubueze continued his painful lamentation with the following posers.;”How do we stem the free fall of the naira if we cannot address our appetite for foreign goods?”.

“How do we support the development of indigenous brands if the biggest spender(government),year on year, refuses to buy made-in-Nigeria goods?”.

He went on to make a proposal of a minimum of 75 percent of vehicles in the first instance, procured by public officers and civil servants to be locally manufactured(not just assembled), as it is the first serious step to saving our economy, protecting our currency,and creating jobs for our daily growing statistics of the employed.

A clearly passionate Ndubueze continued with a salient recommendation that only firms with at least 70% Nigerian workforce,75% local research and development(R&D) budget,and technology such as robotics painting machines and electrophoresis systems should qualify as local manufacturers.

The Bill which has already gained substantial traction amongst other senators including the day’s presiding officer, the Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin and Chief Whip Mohammad Monguno, whom in their respective complimentary contributions to the debate made very favourable supporting comments later referred it to the Senate Committee on Public Procurement for further legislative scrutiny, and feedback expected within the next four weeks.

Reacting to the event of the day right after the plenary,a former honorable member of the House of Representatives Hon Chidi Nwogu commended Senator Ndubueze for his unwavering diligence in pursuing the actualization of this crucial Bill,and moreso his praiseworthy presentation during the lead debate.

He went further to correlate the main meat of the debate with the position and recent announcement of the Minister of state of Industry Senator John Enoh, that Nigerian the President’s “Nigerian First Policy” is geared towards injection of well over N3 Trillion into the national economy(of which the local automobile industry will be a major contributor),as it aims to patronizing local content and indigenous enterprises, which will eventually strengthen domestic production and reduce import dependency.

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