Head of Investigations at Premium Times, Nicholas Ibekwe, stirred controversy on social media when he questioned the authenticity of the ethnicity of the newly-appointed Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ikechukwu Ogalla.
The new head of the Nigerian Navy was born in 1968 in Enugu Ezike, Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State. Based on this fact, there exists no doubt that Rear Admiral Ogalla’s ethnicity is Igbo.
Furthermore, his appointment pokes holes in the divisive claims of those contesting, without supporting fact, that his region of the country has been ‘overlooked’ in the ongoing government composition process under President Bola Tinubu.
The facts notwithstanding, Nicholas Ibekwe, whose profession and specific role as head of investigations requires him to carry out due diligence before commenting on serious subjects, was quick to feed the divisive rumours with a tweet that declared Ogalla as being from “the non-Igbo speaking part of the country.”
Critics have said that his tweet reflects the intra-tribe bigotry that exists in Nigeria and the South East particularly, in which sub-groups have their claims to major ethnicities such as Igbo constantly de-legitimized with controversial historical retelling and distortions. They are called slurs of different variants that promote the bigoted idea that they are “half breeds” ineligible for consideration as a member of the larger, ‘superior’ group.
By immediately declaring Rear Admiral Ogalla as not being from the “Igbo-speaking” part of the South East, relying on no other evidence other than his name, Nicholas Ibekwe revealed his bigoted mindset and was amplifying a common trope used to alienate sub-groups for discrimination and abuse in the South East region, critics say.
Ibekwe has now deleted the tweet in question and has published several more to ‘clarify’ his intent. But his critics are unrelenting in their upbraiding of him, especially as the tweet at issue came amid contestations that Ogalla’s appointment cannot be considered an inclusion of the South East in the ongoing reconstitution of government departments and security agencies as expected of any new president.
According to them, Ibekwe’s partisanship and thinly-veiled bigotry inspired the instinctive response which endorsed the false and bigoted notion that Ogalla was Igbo of an “inferior stock” and his latest elevation should not be celebrated as a regional advantage, similar to others from other parts of the country who were so promoted.