By Onwuasoanya FCC Jones
Someone called me up by 5:am to tell me about a post made by Pascal Okechukwu, alias ChiefPriest condemning the judgement of the Federal High Court, which sentenced the terrorist IPOB founder to life imprisonment. I told the person that ChiefPriest couldn’t have made such a post, that it could be bloggers trying to trend with this development, by writing something they feel aligns with popular opinion and crediting it to a popular socialite like ChiefPriest. My friend insisted it came from ChiefPriest.
In order to confirm, I tried to check ChiefPriest’s verified social media handles to be sure that he made the post he is being credited with, but I couldn’t locate any of his pages, both on Facebook and Twitter. It’s strange because I follow him on Facebook and his page easily pops up when I search it in the past. I concluded that he had either blocked me or restricted access to his page.
If there is anyone who could be said to have got a direct hit from Nnamdi Kanu’s terrorist activities, ChiefPriest should be the one. He once complained that he had relocated his businesses to Lagos because of insecurity caused by Nnamdi Kanu’s hooligans. A few days ago he went viral on social media, celebrating his ability to get back to his country home in Orsu LGA, after more than three years of being on exile as a result of the activities of ESN bandits. He had also escaped a direct attack on his convoy by these Nnamdi Kanu boys.
If there is anyone who should pop champagne in celebration of the justice meted on Nnamdi Kanu, ChiefPriest should be among them. However, it will not be absolutely surprising if the young millionaire is proven to have been the one behind that viral post.
When I read Robert Greene’s 50th Law which he co-authored with Curtis James Jackson III, alias 50Cent, I was exposed to the extent to which public figures, especially, those who play in the entertainment industry, could go in seeking publicity. 50 Cent, it was reported, sometimes sets up a fake brawl in order to get the media’s attention, especially, when he is about to release a new project.
ChiefPriest understands that there is a very loquacious mob of emotional noisemakers in the Southeast who promote the false impression of Nnamdi Kanu’s popularity, and he feels it could be good business to ride on the trend by patronising this noisy mob of Nnamdi Kanu’s apologists. As someone who also has his eyes on politics, it is possible that he feels it is politically correct to be on the side of “the people”.
However, he might have gotten this wrong, because there is a silent majority of Igbos who are in celebration mood over the just judgement passed on Nnamdi Kanu and who feel nothing but revulsion at those who try to excuse Kanu’s destructive actions against the Southeast. These people will speak during the 2027 elections. And I can assure you that if seeing the conclusion of Nnamdi Kanu’s trial is the only criteria for gauging President Tinubu’s love for Ndigbo, then, he might get over 80% of the votes from the Southeast in the next election.
Cubana Chiefpriest is an entertainment industry captain who thrives on controversies and rides on trends. He is also a capitalist who looks at the financial profit side of things, without minding the human or moral implications of such actions and choices.
Pascal Okechukwu, as long as this issue of Nnamdi Kanu is concerned, is absolutely on his own. If he really admires Nnamdi Kanu, then, he should welcome back his boys who held Orsu and a few places in Imo State to ransom in the last few years, until the government liberated those areas.