Ike Okoroafor:The South-West Is Building Rails, the South-East Built Excuses With N16 Billion

Tinubu gave the South-East exactly what they demanded a development commission, their own people in charge, and billions to work with. Sixteen months later, N16 billion had vanished. N153 million went to a single one-room office in Abuja. N2.5 billion was labelled “implied expenditure” with zero explanation. The Senate couldn’t even get the real figures from the commission they had to call the Central Bank of Nigeria directly. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, an Igbo son himself, sat before that board and said out loud: “Your financial report is completely unacceptable.” When your own patriarch condemns you in public, Abuja is no longer your problem.

Meanwhile, the South-West took their commission and secured a rail operating licence connecting all six states through a 44-city network. The North East installed N3 billion in medical equipment. The Niger Delta is completing a 1.2-kilometre bridge. Same Nigeria. Same Tinubu. Completely different results because different regions sent leaders who build instead of leaders who bill.

Here is the debate nobody wants to have: marginalization is real, but so is self-sabotage. You cannot cry federal neglect while your own appointed sons are eating the federal allocation. You cannot demand a seat at the table and then auction the table for parts. The South-East’s greatest enemy right now is not in Aso Rock it is sitting in board meetings, signing fraudulent expenditure reports, and flying business class on your collective pain.

Fire the thieves. Audit the billions. Rebuild the trust. Then talk about marginalisation. Until then, the South-West will keep building rails and the South-East will keep building the most expensive excuse in Nigerian history.