By Alphonsus E.W
On Saturday, 26th October, hundreds of youths in Enugu under the auspices of Igbo Progressive Union (IPU) staged a protest demanding that the detractors of the embattled Minister of Aviation, Ms. Stella Oduah should let her be. They were protesting against calls across the country that she be sacked following her principal role in the N225m car scam.
The protesting youths who were led by their leader, Emeka Agbo, and carried placards bearing different inscriptions, insisted that a certain cabal within the Presidency wanted to stop the good work been done by the Minister in the aviation sector.
Another group too, purported to be her kinsmen led by High Chief George Nwabueze also lent their voice to the pro- Oduah protests citing political vultures that were out to derail the Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan and prevent him from returning to Aso Rock come 2015 as being responsible for the calls for her sack.
It is anomalously pitiable as to the manner ethnocentric sentiments have blinded people to the voice of reasoning. If the youths were the only ones who engaged in this act of puerile mischief, it could have been blamed on ASUU-centric idle minds.
But when adults, elders at that, who ought to know and act better, who ought to caution the youth from engaging in grandstanding, have joined in cheap rabble-rousing then it calls for a state of emergency to be declared for the societal values.
If it may be asked, how does being from a particular tribe detract from the fact a crime has been committed? How does the fact that others are committing far more heinous crimes of thievery and heist impinge on the current fact that the Minister in question overshot her Ministry’s budgetary allocation for the purchase of official and utility vehicles?
The Minister should not be allowed to hide behind any tribal smokescreen. She should be thoroughly investigated and if found guilty should be made to face the full wrath of the law. That said, it is another matter entirely if there are vested interests in the case. If she is an untouchable member of the President’s kitchen cabinet, it may mean that this case like other similar ones may be swept under the carpet of national forgetfulness. It would only take a few weeks for the country to become bored with this latest show of shame from the band of clowns masquerading as public servants.
When children exhibit juvenile delinquency, it is the responsibility of the parents to whip the erring kids in line. But when both parents and children are both delinquent, then there is more hope for the patients of an insane asylum than for the society where both sets of parents and children dwell in.
