"A tiger by the tail" The immense symbolism of Senator Ike Ekweremadu's Ishi Agu and war cap court appearance

 "A tiger by the tail" The immense symbolism of Senator Ike Ekweremadu's Ishi Agu and war cap court appearance 

In the Igbo Tribe, otherwise known as the South East of Nigeria, there is a song which is sung on a rare occasion: Onye akpana nw’agu aka n’odu, ma odi ndu, ma onwuru anwu….onye akpana nw’agu aka nodu. 

It is a philosophical idiomatic song which cautions people not to trifle with a tiger’s tail; whether it is alive or dead.

The tiger, Agu, is apparently the most favored in the lottery of life among the animal kingdom. 

This is because; the tiger among other characteristics commands an unquestionable authority. 

It is noted for strength, agility, courage, calmness, swiftness, unflinching determination and decisive action. 

The tiger moves calmly, selecting it’s steps without noise while it preys on its victims and at the same time watchful for a possible predator attacking; even from the rear. 

Among other attributes in the tiger is it’s unique ability to remain unflappable in the face of danger. 

Above all, the tiger unlike the lion neither roars nor barks but would rather activate its paws, reflexes, lares and penates in the face of any threat to its life. 

Further research indicates that the tiger is meticulous, peaceful and patient. 

The tiger does not attack in a hurry and to provoke a male tiger requires a good deal of effort or provocation.

But when sufficiently provoked, it pounces on its prey with a decisive aggression. 

In Igbo Tribe, there is a song. It is a philosophical

idiomatic song which cautions people not to trifle

with a tiger’s tail; whether it is alive or dead

The predominance of Agu as a name among the Igbo is to say the least, the expectation in a true male Igbo. 

Inversely, Agu is often a fitting name to a man who displays the above qualities. 

Among other virtues, the Igbo believe that dignity is the soul force that drives the human activities. 

Every Igbo, therefore, strives to the best of his ability to uphold the essential core values that promote human dignity. 

Those values such as self-esteem, achievement motivation, resourcefulness, hard work, forthrightness and tenacity are the hallmarks of the Igbo persona. 

The Igbo are focused, determined and are not whimsical or easily carried away by the fantasies of the moment. 

Added to the Igbo identity is an obsession for good performance and excellence. 

Embedded in the inherent dignity-identity paradigm is the Igbo pragmatic socialism, a concept that underscores the need to be our brother’s keeper and that the stronger should protect the weaker brethren.

Research shows that most of these values in the allegory tiger are in short supply in most other African cultures. 

Perhaps, this accounts for why the Igbo are one of the most misrepresented and misunderstood but yet one of the most accomplished of all the tribes in Africa. 

To drive home their tigritude, there is a special dress, dotted with the tiger-heads with a war cap that symbolize the fully initiated among the Igbo.

The Igbo are one of the major tripods that sustain Nigeria and have played active roles in social, economic and political development of Nigeria beginning from the colonial era to the present day Nigeria. 

All the democratic dispensations in Nigeria from the First Republic (1960-1966) to the present time, the Igbo have never been as sidelined in the scheme of things as in the present regime headed by President Muhammadu Buhari. 

President Buhari, shortly after his election, declared to the bewildered world that patronages and rewards in his government will be directly proportional to the voting pattern during the 2015 general election. 

On the other hand, the Igbo will be victimized for voting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the general election.

Based on the above backdrop, the only position of worth occupied by an Igbo in the present Nigerian government is the Deputy President of the Senate. 

On June 9, 2015, the senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria freely elected Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, PhD, CFR , Ikeoha-Ndigbo a PDP senator as the Deputy President of the Senate . 

Since then, President Buhari has vowed to remove him from the position by fair or foul means. 

The chairman of the All Peoples Congress, APC, in his lamentations, regretted publicly that the worst mistake in his life is to have allowed Ekweremadu to be elected as the Deputy President of the Senate. 

The recent recrudescence is the arraignment of the senator to an Abuja High Court on trumped up charges of forgery. 

According to Ekweremadu, “the case of forgery was just another phase in the orchestrated persecution he has faced since he emerged as a deputy senate president”.

In spite of the burden imposed on Ekweremadu by the Buhari mind-set, he has strived to show allegiance to the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

For instance, it is a common knowledge that the first national budget presented by the executive was the most jaundiced in history yet Ekweremadu ignored the ineptitude and assisted the President for the budget to go through.

When the list of ministers was presented for confirmation by the senate, in spite of obvious inadequacies, Ekweremadu in his maturity cooperated with Buhari for the list to go through.

When the President was sick and was flown abroad for treatment, Ekweremadu publicly prayed for the quick recovery of the President, etc. In general the present crop of senators had in several ways overstretched themselves in support of President Muhammadu Buhari administration. 

These and more compelled the Senate spokesman, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, to caution that “the maturity and hand of co-operation being extended to the presidency by the legislature is not a sign of weakness”. 

And that they had “bent backwards to accommodate various infractions and inefficiencies in pursuit of inter-arms co-operation and national interest and bigger issues which the government has to attend to in order to ensure that every Nigerian has food on his table and live comfortably in a secure environment”. 

Despite the benign gestures, the executive has remained antagonistic towards the National Assembly. 

By these unwarranted executive excesses, there is no gainsaying that they have trifled the tiger by the tail.

To the Buhari handlers, the president should be informed that democracy flows from the alchemy of the heart. 

According to Parker Palmer, the human heart, this vital core of the human self, holds the power to destroy democracy or to make it thrive. 

And perhaps that is why Plato recommended the Philosopher Kings for rulership, stressing that the sharpened intellects, brilliant minds and cultured hearts, are the gifts that every progressive humanity must embrace for the greatest good of the greatest number. 

And Alex de Tocqueville in his treatise, Democracy in America (1830) posited that the future of democracy depends heavily on the habits of the heart. 

Buhari requires a complete change of heart, what Ibrahim Babangida referred to as the human face, for Nigeria to come out of its present doldrums. 

Since Albert Einstein informs that problems cannot be solved with the same mindset that created them, Buhari handlers should therefore intervene to rescue Nigeria from galloping downhill.

Those who have worked with Ike Ekweremadu can attest that he is an exceptional humble, hardworking, trustworthy, patriotic visionary and team player. 

His courage, brilliance, charisma and strong ethical persuasion are disarming. 

As a presiding officer in the senate, his mastery of the gavel task domains is nonpareil. 

The global community has watched with keen interest and admiration how skillfully, the Democracy Archetype has tried his very best in the delicate balancing act of the leader of the opposition on one hand and unalloyed allegiance to the nation and his wider constituency on the other.

“But for people to use the colour of their office to pursue private vendetta and to persecute perceived enemies” re-echoes the admonition of GFW Hegel who stated that peoples and governments never have learnt anything from history, or acted on the principles deduced from it. 

In his press statement, tagged Democracy on Trial, Ekweremadu finds comfort in the immortal words of late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe that “history will vindicate the just” and in the historical inevitability that “the wicked will not go unpunished”.

- Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia