Ngwa: The way forward
By
In the early hours of our democratic experiment before the advent of my generation, Ndi-Ngwa have already achieved national acclaim as a dynamic and courageous people. The likes of Chief Jaja Nwachukwu were making waves at national politics where he held sway as foreign affairs minister of the federal republic. The jaundiced view and antagonistic stance of today was absent. It is an eclipse of that beautiful episode, what I may call the black era, characterised by hate, planlessness, antagonism, disunity, and retrogression.
I represent a new generation of Ndi-Ngwa purged of the psychology and burden of defeat, hate, antagonism and conscious of the peculiar socio-political circumstances and full of determination to forge a new identity and vision for our people. I am one of those who do not share in the belief that the "old Bende" constitutes an albatross to the Ngwa quest for governorship. I also believe hat we should neither be beggarly about our pursuit nor be naive enough to think that an Ngwa governor can best be enthroned on the pages of newspapers through deliberate falsehood. Media war is good, but when fought from a disjointed and disunited front it becomes defeatist and bad.
In a key note address of May 27, 2001, titled "The Dawn of a new era" on the occasion of the first enlarged meeting of the Ngwa solidarity movement at the palace of HRH Eze Nelson Nmerengwa, I dwelt extensively on the inevitability of an Orji Uzor Kalu governorship come 2003 and reason why the coveted seat of governor has eluded the Ngwa despite our numerical strength. "What is realistic of Ngwa land to the best of my knowledge is that we must strive to produce the governor after governor Kalu’s second tenure. The governor has repeatedly voiced this position at different fora. And if for fear of persecution, I say 2003, where is the structure? Where is the unity? And where is the leadership?"
Of the three, the issue of disunity is so threatening to our goal that we require God’s hand to produce the governor even after Governor Kalu’s tenure. The position in Ngwa today is that we are divided into three divergent groups namely, those who hate the governor with passion because of their selfish interest, those who follow, and may not necessarily love him, for their selfish interest, those who follow, and may not necessarily love him, for their selfish motives, and at the same time retained and maintained the sanctity of their ‘Ngwaness’. I belong to this group which incidentally is the largest and most reasonable of the groups. While it is obvious that the governor owns my job, he does not own my conscience and when it becomes imperative to judge using the same conscience, it is only fair that I exercise a rightful judgement of my conscience without minding whose ox is gored. This is the burden of both leadership and service.
Maybe, an x-ray of all political gladiators of "Old Bende" extraction is all we need to do to remain glued to our traditional friend —Orji Kalu. One disheartening feature or attitudinal semblance of these seemingly messianic friend of today is that none of them is favourably disposed on an Ngwa governor as Kalu is. Whether it is Chief Ojo Maduekwe or Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, their interest in Ngwaland begins and ends with anticipatory Ngwa support for their governorship aspiration — a task too Herculean to be achieved. An Ojo candidacy is too lilliputic in the face of Governor Kalu’s towering political machinery. In the same vein, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor has lost whatever was left of his "Roman Catholic" structure to Governor Kalu who is now as Catholic as the Pope. Without sentiment, these men put together cannot be our trusted ally. Chief Onyema Ugochukwu does not seem to understand the terrain. The petro-dollar cannot make any difference. The Ukwa-Ngwa axis are yet to forgive him for denying them the chairmanship position of NDDC.
As one of the governor’s reliable aides, I can say without any equivocation, that the governor means well for Ngwa. He has demonstrated a rare magnanimity in the way he provided social amenities in our senatorial zone. In addition, he has been fair-minded in the allocation of political offices, giving Ngwaland a reasonably fair share.
You will agree with me that no governor-civilian or military has enjoyed the kind of support he has garnered from the entire Ngwaland. His popularity cuts across religion, age or social standing in Ngwaland. Some of the rallies organised by prominent Ngwa groups are a visible testimony of his populist presence and intimidating stature among our people.
I still believe that this is the morning for Ngwaland —the dawn of a new era—a new beginning. Our problem has been our inability to forge an acceptable leadership and a common cause for the pursuit of our collective aspiration and destiny.
It is regrettable to hear some people talk of "Old Bende" as the albatross between Ngwa and the coveted seat of governor. Far from it? Our problem is ourselves. Our problem like I have said earlier lies with the ambition of every prominent Ngwa man to become governor at the same time. This inordinate ambition has even led to more heated internal squabbles that tend to destroy our sense of unity and purpose before facing the common "enemy".
Let me make it clear that I am not in any way against the Ngwa desire to produce the governor whenever it so pleases God. My position remains that we should not in a hurry blow our only opportunity to get our vision and goal.
From available facts, it is abundantly clear that the Ngwa have the brightest chance of producing the governor under Governor Orji Uzor Kalu if only we can show some maturity, tact, patience and diplomacy. Have we not waited for close to 50 years to make an impact on the politics of this region? I know that our time will come.
I know quite well that the enemies of Ngwa from within are quite many. It behoves us therefore, to jettison the inordinate desire to engage in confrontation to secure the governorship. We must resist the temptation to write all the trash I read on the pages of newspapers against our sons in government and against our action governor. In modern politicking, caution and common sense are the two operative words which when applied intelligently, have the potential of producing positive results.
I do not belong to the school of thought who think that the best way to wrestle the governorship from "Old Bende" is to engage in mud-slinging, bitterness and political gerrymandery. After; an Ngwa governor will sure need a cohesive and peaceful state to govern effectively. I am an advocate of Machiavellian politics and a believer in the sociological theory that the end justifies the means. Today, the movement for positive change in our state has acquired an unstoppable dynamism. And perhaps nowhere is this movement stronger than Ngwaland where so much transformation has taken place and where people are yearning for a clean break with their sad past. This is principled enough. But do not forget that principles are not negotiable but the means to realise the principles are negotiable. This is exactly what we are going to do.
In our resolve to pursue the Ngwa agenda as reasonably as possible, and to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated, we have after a careful consideration decided to form the Ngwa Solidarity Movement (NSM) to co-ordinate all activities in relation to our desire to produce the next governor after Orji Kalu. The NSM is a conglomeration of all the vocal groups of Ngwaland with the sole objective to assess critically, all the options available to our people in the actualisation of the Ngwa agenda. It is also made of whoever matters in Ngwaland.
In chasing these lofty objectives, we shall be fair and transparent. Whosoever thinks that NSM will be hi-jacked for his selfish end will be gravely disappointed because we have all it takes to sustain this crusade without selling out.
I wish to urge all our people to close ranks with one accord for the emancipation of our people. The time is now or never. Generations yet unborn will not forgive us if we do not make the best use of this opportunity. The era of "sidon look politics" is over. Now is the time for action. And together we shall work to hoist Ngwa in the global map.