{"id":10434,"date":"2026-02-01T10:13:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:13:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/?p=10434"},"modified":"2026-02-01T10:17:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T10:17:29","slug":"warning-to-igbo-leaders-ohanaeze-technocrats-and-politicians-by-beady-nnanna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/2026\/02\/01\/warning-to-igbo-leaders-ohanaeze-technocrats-and-politicians-by-beady-nnanna\/","title":{"rendered":"SILENCE OF IGBO ELITES IS KILLING IGBO ECONOMY \u2014 A WARNING TO OHANEZE &#038; POLITICAL POWERBROKERS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is a clear warning to Igbo leaders\u2014Ohaneze Ndigbo, technocrats, political elites, and so-called respected elders and groups\u2014whose <strong>silence in the face of injustice<\/strong> has become a betrayal of the people they claim to represent.<\/p>\n<p>The closure of <strong>Onitsha Main Market<\/strong>, the pride of Igboland and the largest market in West Africa, is not a minor policy decision. This market predates many governments. It was built by the sweat, resilience, and enterprise of Igbo people\u2014<strong>without government assistance<\/strong>, long before today\u2019s political actors were even born. Yet, today, it is being crippled while those who should speak remain quiet.<\/p>\n<p>Where are the Igbo \u201cbig names\u201d?<br \/>\nWhere are the voices of Ohanaeze?<br \/>\nWhere are the technocrats and political elders?<\/p>\n<p>Instead, what we see is <strong>cowardly silence<\/strong>\u2014a pattern that has defined Igbo elite behaviour for decades. These leaders avoid speaking truth to power, not because they do not know what is wrong, but because they are <strong>protecting personal interests<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>friendships with those in power,<\/li>\n<li>contracts they expect,<\/li>\n<li>appointments for themselves and their children.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When governors misbehave, figures like <strong>Arthur Eze, Orji Uzor Kalu, Cletus Ibeto<\/strong>, <strong>Benedict Peters<\/strong>, <strong>Emeka Offor, Tony Elumelu, Allen Onyema, Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma, Cosmas Maduka, Pat Utomi and others,<\/strong> these are men who understand what business is, suddenly become blind and deaf\u2014not out of ignorance, but out of selfish calculation, don&#8217;t want to offend the governor. At the same time, ordinary Igbo traders and families suffer.<\/p>\n<p>Governor <strong>Chukwuma Soludo\u2019s<\/strong> actions against the Onitsha Main Market have crossed a red line. Closing, threatening demolition, and making careless remarks about a market that feeds thousands is an attack on Igbo economic survival. The claim that this is governance is unacceptable.<\/p>\n<p>The shutdown of Onitsha Main Market and other markets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Has, crippled businesses,<\/li>\n<li>destroyed livelihoods,<\/li>\n<li>violated fundamental human rights guaranteed by the <strong>1999 Constitution<\/strong> and the <strong>African Charter on Human and Peoples\u2019 Rights<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>right to personal liberty,<\/li>\n<li>freedom of movement,<\/li>\n<li>human dignity,<\/li>\n<li>freedom from forced labour,<\/li>\n<li>right to economic development,<\/li>\n<li>freedom of expression and association.<\/li>\n<li>Governor, you did not open those shops for them; they have the right to open or close them at will.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This act of Governor Soludo is illegal\u2014it is about <strong>survival, dignity, and the limits of government power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FINAL WARNING<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Igbo leaders must understand this clearly:<br \/>\n<strong>Silence is no longer neutral. It is complicity.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>History will remember who spoke and who kept quiet while the economic backbone of Igboland was attacked. The people are watching. Traders are watching.<\/p>\n<p>Enough of the fear.<br \/>\nEnough of the selfish deals.<br \/>\nEnough of sacrificing Igbo lives and livelihoods for personal gain.<\/p>\n<p>The time to speak is <strong>now<\/strong>. Governance is for the people, not against the people. You speak as a Governor,\u00a0 to manage the situation, not to be making sitution worst.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is a clear warning to Igbo leaders\u2014Ohaneze Ndigbo, technocrats, political elites, and so-called respected elders and groups\u2014whose silence in the face of injustice has become a betrayal of the people they claim to&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10434"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10438,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10434\/revisions\/10438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beadysword.com.ng\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}