IN DEFENCE OF MIKE OZEKHOME BUT, WITHOUT THE WIG:

By: Amb. Dr. Iyke Odo

I stumbled on a post where somebody took High Chief Mike Ozekhome to chase ten thousand. The power of plurality is geometrically astronomical not 

one man is simple for a group. What one man cannot do, a people will do. 

the little contributions by everybody in the many in time and purpose. The 

High Chief, Barr. Prof. Mike Ozekhome’s antecedents as not just a lawyer but 

The highest work done is not the greatest work done by one strong man but 

reward of team work is beyond mathematical extrapolations. It is 

equity are evident. 

arithmetical.

humanity, Senior advocate of the masses and subsequently, Senior advocate 

The holy Bible did tell us that: a man will chase a thousand but two will 

a human rights crusader, a free Nigerian, a humanist and conscience of 

phenomenal. This is the sermon beingpreached by this chief priest.

From his days in the trenches with the effervescent and indefatigable icon of 

task for declaring that Nigerians are not resilient, they are cowards. I have 

What is impossible to one man is possible to the many. What is difficult for 

of Nigeria, Chief Gani Fawehinmi of blessed memory, to his ruffled journey 

and set aside the groundless insinuations questioning his contributions to 

done this rejoinder to raise fundamental objections in the court of the people 

the liberty of Nigerians:

through the contours of terror challenging every decadent government to 

not for himself,but for the people of Nigeria.

facts about the Nzogwu coup that has become mislabeled an Igbo coup by 

when Nigerians went into hiding out of fear for the forces of state coercion, 

records straight. He wentdown memory lane an excavated the suppressed 

Every man no matter how powerful, is weak alone. The strength of a 

demanding good governance and accountability at high risk to his life.

their personal gains and safety. He did not have to be an Igbo to do this. This 

date, he has remained consistent in defending justice and demanding equity 

At that lecture, he broke the ice, repositioning history onits legs. He put the 

This man has sued the federal government of Nigeria to court for inept, 

spread of our geography.

revolutionist is the solidarity of his men for the power he has derives from

He clearly demonstrated the ideology, strategyand composition of the 

people. He has gone round this country delivering lectures and even taking 

I have watched him on the television and read several of his newspaper 

enemies of history and haters of Ndi Igbo. 

One of such lectures demanding great courage was on the Igbo 

the collective strength of those behind him. 

championing the cause of a misled and downtrodden generation. 

selfish, corrupt and jaundiced leadership countless times in defence of the 

publications echoing the desires of Nigerians. He has written books 

marginalization and the Nzogwu coup, an issue most men will not dare for 

is how detribalized he is. For him, injustice to one is injustice to all. 

officers and how it was a coup by Nigerian military officers from the full 

on very controversial and delicate and sensitive topics fearlessly in defence 

He has challenged military and civilian governments alike even at moments 

of the truth.

In the days of the General Sani Abacha’s regime when Nigeria became one

He did this in that era even as irokos amongst men were felling to the bullets 

TOMORROW.

provision of two terms, this great Nigerian led from the front to demystify 

IN ITS PURITY,HISTORY CANNOT BE DESTROYED OR RECREATED.

emotionally fragmented, directionally reversed and defeated. What is left? 

expression closer to what the approximated truth is: Nigerians are docile, 

aimingto elongate his tenure beyond the confines of the constitutional 

ideologically paralyzed, mentally decapitated,physically disarmed, 

MORE THAN THE TRUTH THAT HISTORY IS, HISTORY IS THE MIRROR OF 

THE VAGARIES OF HUMAN MEMORY FOR TRUTH DOES NOT DIMINISH.

people in solidarity with the NADECO struggle. 

president, somebody dared to reduce the nation to a collection of pawns 

I can go on and on for like I have written:

HISTORY REMAINS WHAT IT IS THROUGH THE DISTORTIONS IN TIME AND 

and good governance, this man firmly took his position on the side of the

apathetic, confused, disunited, dismantled, disoriented, suppressed, 

rearing was unambiguous, and when in the Gen. Obasanjo’stime as 

subdued, cowed, compromised, hypnotized, dissociated, sabotaged, 

SACROSANCT TRUTH. 

huge hunting ground for Nigerians who raised their voices for democracy 

His position on RUGA and herders-farmers confrontation and migrant cattle 

that evil masquerade.

HISTORY IS NOT PENCIL WORK, IT HAS NO ERASER. HISTORY IS 

His view that Nigerians are not resilient and that they are cowards is a 

mellowed expression of what we truly are as a people. To bring this mild

of SergeantRogers and Major Mustapha. 

If one man has done all that Chief Ozekhome has done, imaging what the 

immunity against it. 

enterprise and we applaud them as they convert the people’s common 

of American negros. 

where if you are not stealing, you are the thief. A country where things 

accountability have been orphaned and rule of law is in chains. It is has 

he started if not for the massive support he got from the teeming population 

We as a people have created for ourselves through our indolence, a country 

everybody for his problems and the problems of the country except himself. 

outcome would have been if fifty million Nigerians added their voices and 

Mahatma Gandhi would have meant nothing without fellow Indians rallying 

It is a country where to be dishonest is an infectious disease, an epidemic 

happen and nothing happens because consequence management is zero. 

We now have a country where our leaders see leadership as personal

wealth to personal gains. 

actions of support to the matters of our clamorfor a sincere nation building.

country where people no longer apply for work, they apply for money.

to be rich but many are unwilling to genuinely create wealth. Instead, they 

ravaging the country, bringing men down in their millions and only few have 

People get away with their actions and inactions. We now have a country 

generation of man. 

where men are ashamed to tell the truth, a country where everybody wants 

become a country of impunity at all levels where everybody is blaming 

Nigeria has driftedinto a country where values, due process and 

engage in diverse shades of objectionable sharp practices. We are now a 

Once again, the only strong man is the man with the people behind him. No 

man alone has been able to bring about change or lead a revolution in any 

around him. Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. would have ended his career before 

On account of our growing apathy, we have created a country where the 

We are complacent, divided by religion and ethnicity, given only to what 

relocate. In Nigeria, there is no dividing line between leadership and politics

law is powerless and the institutions are weak. No man is powerful before 

themselves the kind of institutions and systems and nations they end up and

Nigerians are day dreamers. They wish for the best of everything but do 

Nigerians have become so used to poverty that it is now culture. They have 

become so adapted to lowly living that many resist the opportunity to 

Accordingly, everything is politics and everything is politicized. 

dramatize renovating class room blocks orbuying an ambulance for a 

midst of stupendous wealth. They clap for their leaders who lavishly 

peace by our doorsteps. We expect transparency in government and good

nothing to actualize them. We desire to wake up in the morning and find 

divides us but shunning whatever binds us into a family. 

hospital or pay delayed statutory workers’ salaries.

governance without sacrifice.Nigerians forget that things do not just 

people who know who theyare and what they areto only where they are 

happen. Men make things happen. 

In Nigeria individuals are powerful, very powerful, so powerful that they 

This is the message of this great Nigerian, a prophet of liberation and a 

average Nigerians have never known good governance and good life in the 

and power and so,leadership is appropriated topolitics and power. 

independent and powerful systems and a leveling legal system that does not 

select itsvictims. Nations do not evolveon their own. The people create for 

High Chief Mike Ozekhome is telling Nigerians that leaders can only take the 

it does not come on a platter.

have become above the law not because they are powerful, but because the 

messenger of truth.

willing to go.He is also reminding us that no wise and courageous people 

be led to where they are not willing to go to no matter how powerful the 

government is for there is no power in the world more powerful that a 

United and courageous people.

who know their rights and are willing to demand them and defend them can 

Let us pray.