,………CLANNISH POLITICS — PART 1 By Hon. Kasarachi Sunday
A clan in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State has been making noise in public spaces, boldly proclaiming that it is their turn to produce the next State House of Assembly member come 2027. I have watched this narrative grow with deep concern, and the time has come to address it directly, honestly, and without apology.
Let me begin with a question that deserves a straight answer: What exactly gives this clan the moral authority to stand in a public space and talk about “our turn” — when this same clan shamelessly sabotaged its own best and most qualified candidate during the 2019 State House of Assembly election?
A clan that could not unite behind its own son when it mattered most, that placed personal interests, petty grievances, and internal politics above the collective good of its own people — that clan now wants to lecture the rest of Ikwuano about whose turn it is to occupy a legislative seat? The audacity is breathtaking.
And let us not forget: this same clan has, over the years, contested freely against other clans on the clear and acknowledged basis that the Ikwuano State House of Assembly seat is an open, competitive, and contestable position — available to any qualified candidate from any part of the local government. How then does that same clan suddenly pivot to a “turn by turn” narrative and expect to be taken seriously?.
You cannot eat your cake and have it. You cannot freely contest against others when it suits you, then turn around and invoke a rotational principle the moment you feel emboldened. That is not politics. That is hypocrisy dressed in the language of fairness.
Let me state this clearly and without ambiguity: there is no constitutional provision for turn by turn or clannish politics anywhere in the Nigerian constitution. The Ikwuano State House of Assembly seat is not the exclusive property of any clan. It belongs to the four clans that make up this great local government area — and every qualified citizen from every corner of Ikwuano has a full, equal, and constitutionally guaranteed right to contest for it.
To my Ndi of the clan in question, I say this with all due respect: there is nothing wrong with other clans contesting against you. If you truly believe it is your turn, prove it at the polls. Build your candidate. Earn the mandate. Win the argument in the court of public opinion.
But stop hiding behind a turn-by-turn narrative that has no legal, constitutional, or moral basis. It is intellectually dishonest, it is politically divisive, and it is deeply disrespectful to the democratic intelligence of the Ikwuano people.
My sincere advice to you is this — instead of pushing a clannish narrative that divides our people and weakens our collective political voice, channel your energy into something productive. Reach out to people across clan lines. Solicit genuine support from all corners of Ikwuano. Identify and project your best candidate on the basis of character, competence, and capacity — not on the accident of birth or the politics of rotation.
That is how you win. That is how you earn the respect of the electorate. And that is how Ikwuano moves forward.
Ikwuano deserves better than clannish politics. And in 2027, the people will decide — not any clan’s sense of entitlement.
— Hon. Kasarachi Sunday is a political commentator and stakeholder in Ikwuano LGA, Abia State.
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