Igbokwe, Ojukwu and the Igbo summit
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AT close to 70 years and with his numerous accomplishments in life, I think it was rather impudent and uncharitable for Joe Igbokwe to take on the Dim Ojukwu (Ezeigbo Gburugburu) as if they were age mates. Dim Ojukwu’s comment and anger was directed at some quarters and I am sure they got the message. I had discussed this matter of Ikemba bashing and indeed his frequent bashing of prominent Igbo men in the past with Mr. Igbokwe and he agreed with me that it is not in the interest of Ndigbo. As a matter of fact, he publicly pledged at the 65th birthday anniversary of Dim Ojukwu never to criticise him publicly again. I like to hold people by their promise and believe that no one should make a promise he has no intention to keep.
The idea of holding an Igbo Summit was laudable but I refuse to agree that what happened at Enugu in January 2001 was an Igbo Summit in any imaginable sense.
According to Joe "All the plots, all the subterranean moves and all the behind-the-scene scheming to continue to suppress the entire Ndigbo ended on Friday, 19 January, 2001 when eminent Igbo leaders removed the kid gloves to tell their oppressors that enough is enough". I consider this statement rather simplistic and inappropriate because if the problems of Ndigbo vanished on account of just one summit held in Enugu in January 2001, then Ndigbo had no problem in the first place.
It is very convenient to blame outside forces for one’s problems without considering one’s many contributions as the architect of his own misfortune. There is a saying that the ant, which destroys the vegetable, lives in the vegetable.
A time like this calls for soul searching and sober reflection on the part of the Igbo nation.
Joe Igbokwe attacks Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and other prominent Igbos any time he believes their actions do not suit his particular mind set, but no self respecting son or daughter of Oduduwa or Arewa can publicly criticise Chief Abraham Adesanya, Bola Ige, Alhaji Maitama Sule, Ahmed Joda or any of their leaders respectively the way and manner Mr. Igbokwe treats Igbo leaders. It is only in Igbo land that a young man disgraces his father in the public and sounds triumphant awaiting accolades and words of congratulations.
My view is that eighty percent of the problems of Ndigbo is caused by Ndigbo themselves. It is the rat in the house that tells the one in the bush where the fish is kept. Why would a Yoruba or Hausa man respect Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu when Joe Igbokwe his own brother from Nnewi takes pleasure in rubbishing him at every turn? This is the real tragedy and not Dim Ojukwu’s dismissal of the Enugu summit.
The problem of the Igbo nation, which a summit should address, is multi-dimensional. They have social, educational, economic, political, cultural, industrial, moral dimensions, which one cannot immediately capture. Were they discussed at the summit, if yes, where are the blue prints and what are the implementation modalities?
There is no doubt that the summit was well attended, but the quality of attendance is not a measure of success because it was not intended to be a social gathering or campaign rally. We should be concerned about the quality of discussions at the summit and the resultant plan of action. It is naive for Joe Igbokwe to conclude that the Enugu summit was successful because it was attended by top politicians and businessmen, like the Senate President, governors, ministers, Senators etc. its the vain glorious disposition of the Igbo man that makes some people to flaunt their presence at such a forum and similar ones as status symbol, even when their presence went largely unnoticed. The Enugu summit was indeed a show of class where the best and latest in automobile was on display and where the current power brokers showed off their newly attained status and attendant paraphernalia.
In my own assessment, the summit was a session of lamentations, story telling and regurgitation of worn-out tales of marginalisation. Little attention was paid to charting a course of action or subjecting problems of the Igbo nation to critical and dispassionate analysis.
There is no doubt that this country has been unfair to the Igbo man in spite of his many contributions to national unity and cohesion. But has the Igbo man helped matters? Look at the problems of Chief Rochas Okorocha over the chairmanship of the National Airspace Management Authority (NAMA), was it caused by an Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba or Ibibio man? Look at the divisive politics the PDP members are playing in the South East states. Is it also caused by external forces?
Cast your mind back to the Second Republic and the politics played by then NPN Federal Government and NPP controlled States governments in the South East. Did it not contribute to absence of Federal presence in the South Eastern states at that time? Was that also instigated by external forces?
The Igbo people are just too loud and tactless. This was well displayed during the Ekwueme Presidential campaign and the PDP Jos Convention in 1999. A President of Igbo extraction can only be produced by all Nigerians.. Fanaticism can only destroy it. It requires networking, consensus building, alliances and assurances.
I support an Igbo President to the extent that he will ensure every Nigerian gets his due and eschew nepotism, greed, and selfishness. We need an egalitarian society as a recipe for stability. The concept of Igbo Presidency can perhaps be said to be the only concrete achievement of the Enugu Summit and this was only canvassed by His Excellency, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu (MON) who today is the only person that I know who has the required network and has built and is still building the bridges to make it possible, with the support of other Nigerians.
Another problem of the Igbo man is shortsightedness. He wants immediate result. He talks about 2003. But why not 2007, 2010, etc. they do not make sense to him because he would have been too old to be a direct beneficiary.
The Igbo leader will readily nominate an almost retiring Judge to fill the South East quota in the Supreme Court. His nominee will serve in the Nigeria Supreme Court of Justice for say two years and a valedictory session is held for him and he retires and another gerontoract is brought in to replace him and the cycle continues. Yet he wants an Igbo man to be Chief Justice of the Federation. But how would that be when seniority on the bench of the Supreme Court is the most important criterion for appointment of the Chief Justice. Igbo leaders should embrace strategic and long term planning. They should groom successors.
Finally, I wish to remind that His Excellency Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is a former Governor of the Easter Region now comprising nine states of Nigeria. He was the first and last President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the defunct Republic of Biafra. Have we wondered why no effort has been made to give him a National Honours Award or why no Nigerian University has deemed it fit to confer him with an Honorary Doctorate Degree? Was he not pardoned? Why are some Igbo leaders behaving as if Dim Ojukwu was the only person that fought the civil war?
Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo was pardoned and had all privileges restored to him. Today he remains the only non-president who was conferred with the country’s highest honours award of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR). An Igbo summit should have discussed full forgiveness for Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and his full integration by the Nigerian state. I am sure a National Honours Award of say Grand Commander of Order of the Niger (GCON) will be appropriate.
Ojukwu alone bears the burden and stigma of that failed enterprise called Biafra and every Nigerian knows that he is symbol of Igbo nationalism. Why are some Igbo leaders reluctant to accord him this symbolic gesture which is his by act of history? Why was an Igbo summit convened without his involvement? Why was he sidelined? Dim Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu is not an ordinary Igbo man. Therefore if he had some harsh words for those who love to deride, you should appreciate his burden.
The Enugu summit was too tall on the political and too short on other perspectives of the worries of Ndigbo. It can at best be called Ndigbo political summit.
I believe that Ndigbo have enough human and material resources to organise a comprehensive summit to address the monumental problems, which presently weigh down the people. Once there is a will, there is a way.