Sir: I refer to the interview granted by the former Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the Second Republic, Chief Osuolale Abimbola Richard Akinjide, SAN, in The Guardian the other day.

Even though this writer does not have the larger-than-life persona of the elder statesman, I crave the indulgence of The Guardian to write a rejoinder for the sake of development.

“In darkness the stone becomes the buffalo but in sunlight all is as it is.” A statesman should be above partisanship and be a fair disciple to all. After all, there is always a peasant Joan in a French Army and a small David in the Jewish Army.

To have an elder statesman blackmail a political-party that defeated another party that had the chance for close to two decades to repair Nigeria is ridiculous. To have an elder statesman blackmail the Yoruba nation instead of commendation for fighting shy of ethnicity and for being idealistic enough to form an alliance with the north, south east and south south, unlike in the times past when nativism reigned is worrying especially in a fickle country where tribalism is celebrated to a pitch as Heaven’s Fare. Unity, a scarce commodity which cannot be counted upon forever in Nigeria, must be encouraged.

Worrying again is when that elder statesman chose not to castigate two presidents (Obasanjo and Jonathan) of his own party for truncating the rotational presidency that should have seen the Igbo produce a president either in 2003 or 2015.

Perplexing is when that statesman assumes people who read the papers don’t know history and don’t research enough to know how Vincent Ogbulafor, a former PDP chairman, was disgraced out of the party because of his stance on rotational presidency that might have produced an Igbo President in 2015.

Do you blackmail a people to power? Isn’t power negotiated. The South West negotiated its way into power in 1999 over the death of MKO Abiola. The South Easterners not only have numerical strength at their disposal but have many mighty men to negotiate their way into power if they want the presidency.

If the Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo always complain about marginalisation, what do they expect the minorities who in sum are more than the majority to say? You expected the elder statesman to also talk about equity for the minorities like Chief Obafemi Awolowo did, but he didn’t.

Before readers misconstrue my intention. I am not against a South Eastern president. I campaigned for it in this medium (Rotational presidency in Nigeria, Simon Abah, The Guardian, July 29,2013) but I love analysis to be in proper perspective with facts, reality and history.

Our democratic magnifying glasses are being destroyed daily because our statesmen in all regions have let Nigeria down, due to the lack of respect for other people. They give off the false scents that their personal interests are the interests of the people. They do not walk their talk, never represent ideals or promote competence.

A country without proper history is lost and what other people to teach correct history than the elderly?

Simon Abah, Port Harcourt, Rivers State