“Igbos are not known for Lawlessness”

Ben Ngwakwe, Special Assistant on Special Duties to Gombe State Governor, Mohammad Danjuma Goje

– Ben Ngwakwe, Special Assistant on Special Duties to Gombe State Governor, Mohammad Danjuma Goje
By Levinus Nwabughiogu, Gombe
Your appointment came as a surprise to many people judging from the fact that you are not an indigene. How come?
Well, we thank God. It was the miraculous hand and wisdom of His Excellency, Alhaji Mohammad Danjuma Goje who graciously gave me that appointment. But before then, if you remember, I was the first Correspondent that was sent to Gombe state after its creation in 1996, and it was through Vanguard newspaper that I came to Gombe. By that time, NTA and Gombe Radio were not working. The only voice the people of Gombe could hear was through Vanguard then. The good people of Gombe state who I have been serving for 14 good years know that I have been contributing to the development of the state. God used Goje as an instrument to fulfill that. I use this medium to give special thanks to His Excellency. He is a detribalised man. He is a leader of substance. He is a leader with a difference. He is a leader that impresses everybody, irrespective of religious, ethnic or cultural affiliation. Now, apart from that, if you come to Gombe here being a good participant both in local and state politics, for instance, in Igbo community, I think I have been the longest serving Igbo man within the Igbo community Welfare Association. I started as Assistant Secretary-General and I have now served them for two terms as both Secretary-General and Vice President General. And it will interest you to know that when we were in Kwara at the beginning of this year, I was appointed the PRO for the Igbo Delegate Assembly (IDA) . You know that IDA is the highest decision-making body of the Igbos in the North made up of 19 Northern states and Abuja . So you will wonder how I have been able to go that far. In Journalism also, I reached the level of a Bureau Chief, putting over 19 years in the profession. So I have contributed to my people, the state government and to everybody.
Given your portfolio, what more do you intend to do?
Well it is very simple. They say the lamb takes the footsteps of his mother. I’m copying my mentor, His Excellency, Alhaji (Dr.) Danjuma Goje. He has now initiated me into politics. Initially, I was concentrating on journalism, but now I’m a journalist as well as a politician. The man that brought me into politics is a man I should copy, and If I  should copy the political dexterity of this man, Goje, I think the sky is my limit. It is good to follow an achiever. Goje is an achiever. He is somebody you can copy, despite the ugly sides of life. You know among the Igbo, we believe that there is nobody you look in his anus without seeing some pieces of feaces. Goje might not be 100 per cent okay to some people, but then the landmarks he has been able to put on ground are things everybody will benefit from whether you hate him or not. So, if I should be brought into politics by a grandfather in Political Science, a grandfather of modern Gombe, I think I will be able to achieve the same thing the man has achieved.
The North is adjudged a hotbed of religious crises, sometimes targeting non-indigenes. Would you now ensure more protection for the Igbos in Gombe with you good office?
Peace is what God ordained ever since. So, on the issue of the Igbo, the Igbo have no problems. In short, if you watch what happened recently, virtually all the states surrounding Gombe have had one religious crisis or the other. But it is here in Gombe that you didn’t hear anything like that. Apart from that, the Igbos are mainly businessmen. It is a few of us that are civil servants. Then, we also mind our business. We equally assist by telling the government that so, so and so are looking for our trouble. And the law will take its cause. So as SA and an Igbo man, I believe that that peace God has used all these groups to sustain will be sustained. Igbos are not known for lawlessness. Igbos are not known for doing anything unusual. The Igbos are not known for doing anything illegal. So if we should compose ourselves and respect our host community, give them their dues, knowing that they are sons and daughters of this place, that we are all strangers, complimenting their efforts, I think all of us will live peacefully and there won't be any problem.