1. Background
Information
The
Igbo people have an interesting story about a man who knowingly killed someone else�s
chicken and put it inside his handbag, believing that nobody witnessed what he
did. It turned out that he was sincerely mistaken. As soon as he zipped his
handbag, hung it on his left shoulder, and started to walk away, something he
never anticipated happened: kids who were watching him silently from the window
of a nearby house emerged from their hideouts, greeted him with boos, and
hurled pebbles at him -- all in condemnation of the chicken he killed.� As that was happening, the killer saw an
elderly man of his age bracket returning home from the neighbouring village and
stopped him.� �Could you look into this
bag with the eyes of an adult and tell me if you see anything that resembles a
chicken in it,� he told the man. His interlocutor immediately understood what
he meant, looked into the handbag as requested, and reported that he saw no
chicken in it. He then turned around and chased away the naughty kids who were
shouting �thief, thief� as they followed the killer.
As
every native Igbo speaker knows, the handbag examiner saw the dead chicken. He
simply did not want to embarrass the killer further before the kids who were
too young to understand the intricacies of human nature.� So, he did what he thought was culturally
expedient under the circumstances -- suppress the truth. In his mind, the
examiner had good moral reasons for the stand he took regarding the content of
the handbag; however, suppressing and hiding the truth will not help the
advancement of the Igbo nation. The deliberate attempt to camouflage reality
may have helped one person, the chicken killer.�
But it did not help the Igbo nation and the owner of the stolen chicken,
just as the pro-Ngige resolution divided ndi Igbo in Ottawa rather than unite
and bring them closer together.
The
above story is somewhat reminiscent of a chronic
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moral
malaise Nigeria infected the Igbo nation with at the end of the Nigeria-Biafra
war. The virulent contagion quickly spread like forest fire across Igboland and
engulfed millions of defenseless families.�
As a result, the compassionate, tightly knit, and God-fearing Igbo
society that was once the envy of the entire world has gradually become a
society of negative virtues � la Nig�ria.
Truth, uprightness, honesty, self-contentment, hard work, moral rectitude, and
respect for the old and young -- all of which originally set the Igbo people
apart as a peculiar nation in Africa -- have virtually lost their appeal.
For
ndi Igbo to move forward in life as a people, they need to know the truth, tell
each other the unpalatable truth, and be true to themselves at all times. I am
aware, though, that tampering with the truth the way the handbag examiner did
is not always the fault of the average Igbo speaker living under military
occupation in Nigeria since the end of the civil war. The nature and
artificiality of Nigeria -- a developing country in which the sitting president
with a stolen mandate earns more money annually from his farm than the richest
farmer in the United States of America -- makes truth and honesty so impossible
that even the Pope would have a hard time remaining immune to negative
influences if he were to live in Nigeria or become the Nigerian head of state.
As ndi Igbo say, no one can expect water from the lower region of a stream to
be clean and free of contaminants when the contaminants flow from the source of
the stream.� For the Igbo speaker,
therefore, masking the truth in Nigeria is often a necessary survival strategy
that the creator of the universe looks upon with sympathy.
In
addition to the truth, ndi Igbo need to re-discover and embrace those enviable
attributes that served them well before the Nigeria-Biafra War.� They must inculcate the said qualities in the
minds of the younger generation of Igbo speakers -- the future custodians of
our endangered linguistic and cultural heritage.� And the Igbo Diaspora living freely in their
countries of refuge against their better judgments must do a lot more for the
Igbo nation than those at home, given their exposure to freedom, liberty, and
good governance.� Most importantly, the
Igbo Diaspora should shoulder the burden of preserving and promoting the Igbo
Language and culture at home and abroad pending the emancipation of our
oppressed and impoverished people from the fangs of Nigeria.
2.
Reaction to Preliminary Report
After
the publication of my preliminary
report on the Contentious Resolution of Ndi Igbo in Ottawa, Canada, I
was for some time the subject of malicious verbal attacks by the resolution
clique. Some of them ridiculously accused me of calling them �four-one-niners,�
of supporting Chris Uba and President Olusegun Obasanjo instead of Ngige, and
of acting against the interest of ndi Igbo back home. Nothing, of course, can
be further from the truth. Those who had advance knowledge of the preliminary
report and were quite comfortable with its content denied knowing anything
about the report prior to its publication on the Internet. And the moderator
hurriedly withdrew the document from the Anambra Council of Chiefs that had
been given to the signatory to give to this reporter, as he requested.
Apparently, members of the clique enjoy exposing themselves to unnecessary
ridicule.
Interestingly
enough, I also received overwhelming calls of support from disinterested ndi
Igbo far and wide who, unlike the double-faced critics in Ottawa, saw in my
preliminary report the picture I was anxiously trying to paint.
3.
Genesis of Meeting/Consecration of Kolanuts
Within
the last two weeks of December 2003, ndi Igbo in Ottawa organized no less than
four end-of-year parties. When some Imo State indigenes realized, late in
December 2004, that there was going to be no such party before the end of the
year, they quickly floated the idea of having a half-party, half-meeting forum
to enable ndi Igbo celebrate the New Year and discuss the protracted political
crisis in Anambra State. Many people welcomed the proposal.� One family offered to host the event on
January 1, 2005. And arrangements were hurriedly made for food and drinks.
Although
the meeting was scheduled to start at 1800h, the early birds waited until 2030
for enough people to arrive.� Mazi
Anozie, our benevolent host, welcomed ndi Igbo with kolanuts.� And in keeping with tradition, the kolanuts
were handed over to our elder brother, Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani, for blessing --
an important part of the kolanut rituals. It was at that point that the first
unfortunate incident of the evening occurred: the veering of the benediction
off the cultural runway. Unlike elders of his generation in Igboland, Dr. Ikejiani
deliberately did not stand up to bless the kolanuts, as Igbo culture required
of him. And as if the insult to the spirits of our ancestors for not standing
up before them was not enough, he condemned the Igbo Diaspora kids to perpetual
life abroad with his characteristic assertion that �our children born here will
never go back home.� The eternal condemnation raised a few eyebrows and was
immediately denounced by this reporter and some concerned parents. As ndi Igbo
say, Aga ayọ ka mma n�ije (for
a journey to be pleasant and uneventful, the person who embarks on it must
return home alive).
4.
Summary of Brief Speeches
The
breaking of the kolanuts was followed by brief speeches. Mrs. Anozie, our
hostess,
spoke
first.� After thanking the Imolites who
hatched the idea of ndi Igbo getting together and those who helped to organize
it, she handed the floor over to Dr. Ikejiani who, ironically, stood up on this
and subsequent occasions to address the audience. In his brief address, Dr.
Ikejiani first reminded the audience that he came to Canada when most of the
attendees were not yet born.� He then
went ahead to describe Nigeria as a failed state beyond redemption, to deplore
the situation of our suffering people back home, to condemn the senseless
killing of civilians and politicians, and to regret the lack of good leadership
amongst the governors of the Igbo-speaking states of Nigeria.
After
describing to the attendees how he was trained oversees by someone who was not
even his relative, he wondered what happened to the collective psyche of ndi
Igbo since the Biafran war and called on us to return to our Igbotic ways of
doing things in the days of the Igbo Union, of Michael Okpara, and of Nnamdi
Azikiwe -- two exemplary Igbo leaders whose spirits, unknown to many
participants, were witness to the kolanut sacrilege.
In
closing, Dr. Ikejiani drew a parallel between the plight of ndi Igbo in Nigeria
today and the situation of Southern Americans after the American Civil War,
asked the attendees to pass a resolution supporting the continued stay in
office of Chris Ngige, the Anambra State Governor, and handed the floor over to
Justin Akujieze, his special guest and leader of Ekwenche.
After
explaining how the Ekwenche
organization was invited to the Ottawa gathering, Akujieze passionately
deplored the non functionality of virtually every infrastructure in the
Igbo-speaking states of Nigeria: the Oji River Power Station, the Owere
International Airport, the Port Harcourt Wharf, the Enugu Airport, the shaky
Niger Bridge, the Port Harcourt Airport, the Afam Power House, the Nkalagu
Cement Factory that died twenty years ago, and neglected roads.
Akujieze
further denounced the carefully orchestrated economic strangulation of the Igbo
people in Nigeria, highlighted some events in other parts of Nigeria, and
called on ndi Igbo to take their future into their own hands and empower
themselves economically.
In
response to a question thrown at him by this reporter regarding the meaning of Ekwenche, Akujieze explained that Ekwenche is a clarion call. He asked ndi
Igbo to remember how Egypt, the centre of Christendom, has become a place with
little or no trace of Christianity today. He openly agreed with the majority of
the attendees that the Igbo Diaspora should do more to help our oppressed
people at home.� And he ended his speech
with a plea for ndi Igbo in Ottawa to do two things: become the voice of our
voiceless people at home and support the activities of the Ekwenche organization.
In
an apparent misunderstanding of the meaning of the Igbo word ọchịchị (=
leadership), which he confused with ọchịchịrị
(= darkness), Akujieze referred to Igbo politicians as ndi ọchịchị,
which he wrongly translated into English as �blind people.� He told the audience,
in unmistakable terms, that the Igbo people needed ndi ndu (= leaders), not ndi
ọchịchị (= blind
people). This reporter will discuss the semantics of the confused words ọchịchị (= leadership)
and ọchịchịrị
(= darkness) in one of his Igbo Language lessons at the Igbo Language Center� -- the same website Justin Akujieze, in his
infinite wisdom, claimed to have been one of its original founders and yet asked
this reporter to tell him what anyone could possibly learn from it.� Akujieze then spoke about an alleged trip
that Ekwenche made to Geneva to make
the case for Biafra.
For
his part, this reporter informed the audience that he had more talks with Dr.
Okechukwu Ikejiani (between December 2002 and 2004) on the plight of ndi Igbo
in Nigeria than the latter had with any of the attendees.� On no occasion, throughout the period in question,
he added, did the elder statesman believe that the Igbo Diaspora could do
anything to improve the plight of our people at home.� So, persuaded that the apparent overnight
conversion of the statesman on the road to Damascus was a pretext to lure the
gullible attendees into a metaphorical lobster trap blindfolded, this reporter
dismissed the call for a resolution supporting Ngige as political 419 and
pleaded, to no avail, with the organizers of the events to give the people the
opportunity to debate the issue first in a serious, non-party environment.
5.
Importance of Debate in Igbocracy
Debate
is one of the fundamental pillars of Igbocracy
(the Igbo traditional system of government also called Ọhacracy). Its importance is best illustrated by the story of
the proverbial chicken that was too busy to attend a joint meeting of all the
animals and the birds of the universe. It chose, instead, to endorse a priori
all decisions reached by the participating animals and birds. It turned out
that the meeting was called for the sole purpose of discussing man�s request
for a sacrificial lamb, an animal or bird that he could use for his ritual
sacrifices. So, by popular acclamation, the animals and birds present elected
and sealed the fate of the chicken forever.
In
Igbocratic (or Ọhacratic) society, everybody is given the opportunity to
voice his or her opinion without fear or favour on any issue that concerns him
or her. And nobody, big or small, is taken for granted or looked down upon.
The
supporters of the resolution praise Chris Ngige for paying the salaries and
pensions of state employees and retirees. In addition to that, they give him
credit for repairing roads
that were neglected for years by his predecessors.� As if the said payment and the repair of
roads are not part of Ngige�s job as Anambra State Governor, the supporters of
the resolution want him to remain in power, for so doing, regardless of how he
got there. To them, therefore, the end justifies the means.
For
those who voted against the resolution, the primordial issue is neither the
payment of salaries and pensions by Ngige nor the repair of roads. It is rather
the manner in which the cart was put before the horse. Since a resolution is a
formal expression of the opinion (or collective will) of a people, a group, a
community, or a nation adopted by a vote, they expected the proponents of the
resolution to provide them first and foremost with two things: (a) the
opportunity to debate the issues freely and (b) sufficient background information
on the Anambra crisis that would enable most of the attendees with scanty
knowledge of the situation make an intelligent decision.� Rather than do that, the clique chose to ram
the divisive resolution down the throat of ndi Igbo with apparent impunity.
6.
Components of a Resolution
A
resolution consists of two main parts: the preambulatory clause(s), and the
operative clause(s). The preamble clearly identifies the problem that needs to
be solved, clarifies the reasons for the recommended action(s), and makes a
brief persuasive argument (in a series of whereas clauses) as to why the
resolution should be unanimously approved by the people concerned. And the
operative (or be it resolved) clause -- the most debated section of the
resolution -- specifically designates the actions that should be taken to solve
the problem. It is a matter of respect for the opinions of others, a fact
recognized and respected by the framers of the American Declaration of
Independence, as evidenced by the following statement:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature�s God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident �.
For
the same reasons, the Proclamation of the Republic of Biafra began with the
following statement:
IT IS RIGHT and just that we of this generation of Eastern
Nigerians, should record for the benefit of posterity, some of the reasons for
the momentous decision we have taken at this crucial time in the history of our
people.
The
appalling resolution posted on the Internet by the Ottawa resolution clique, one of whose active members is a well of
knowledge on the history of humanity, makes one wonder how concerned the
distinguished members of the clique are about the images they project as ndi
Igbo.� Perhaps, the resolution is a
message from the universe reminding us that that they are both products of the
Nigerian predicament and unfortunate victims of the Anambra syndrome that must
be extirpated before long.
7.
Catalogue of Avoidable Blunders
Failure
to meet the above minimum requirements was not the only problem with the
resolution
published by the clique in Ottawa. The meeting that produced the resolution was
called behind the backs of the Igbo Association in Ottawa, an existing forum
for ndi Igbo. The president of the Igbo Association and some members of his
executive committee boycotted the meeting in protest. The adult Igbo-speaking
population in Ottawa is less than the �more than 100 people� that supposedly
voted for or against the resolution. The published resolution, the best that
ndi Igbo in Ottawa could produce, not only leaves a lot to be desired; it was
drafted at a closed-door emergency meeting of the resolution clique, after the
publication of this reporter�s preliminary report. The January 1, 2005,
announcement that subsequent discussions on the resolution would be referred to
the dormant Igbo association was a manoeuvre
to deflect accusations that the meeting was not called under the auspices of
the Igbo association. The signatory of the published resolution is questionable
and grossly misleading, as some people want to know in what capacity and on
whose behalf it was endorsed and published. Some members and non-members of the
Igbo association contemplated issuing a collective disclaimer to distance them
from the bogus resolution. Ndi Igbo who voted for or against the resolution
were not counted. The moderator did not ask if there were abstainers. No attendance
list was compiled for record purposes. No minutes of the proceedings were
taken. And Ndi Igbo, who came for the party, long after the divisive vote, were
presumed to have supported the resolution they knew nothing about.
8. The
Ekwenche Connection
This
reporter stated in the preliminary report that Ekwenche, the US-based outfit led by Justin Akujieze, is openly
anti-Dim Odumegwu-Ojukwu and anti-Chief Ralph Uwazuruike�s Movement for the
Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). �Shortly after the publication of the report,
some members of the Ottawa resolution clique received calls from Akujieze, who
complained bitterly to them about the allegation.� Other members defended Akujieze�s right to be
anti-anybody of his choice.� I urge the
members in question as well as those who may have entertained doubts about the
authenticity of the allegation to read between the lines of the following
statement:
That
was the birth of the �Igbo Renaissance Movement� and the �Igbo Biafara Peaceful
Actualization Movement�. This Movement did not take off until a very special
elder-Statesman, who we will always consider the father of Igbo, gave his
blessing to the aims of this Movement.
Nna anyi, Okechukwu Ikejiani, just as Moses led the
children of Israel to their promised land, Israel, it has been ordained that
you will lead Umu Chukwu, to the promised land Biafara. But unlike Moses, your
feet will stand on that promised land and you will make that victorious speech
in praise of Chukwu Okike, the Mighty Yah, you promised Igbo � it has been
written, so it shall be ISEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The
meaning and implications of the above quotation posted on Ekwenche�s website (www.ekwenche.org/aboutus.htm)
are clear. And the leaders of Ekwenche
know that the allegation is irrefutable. Why then are they trying to crucify
this reporter for doing unto them once what they have done unto others
innumerable times?� They should stop
being hypocritical and consider apologizing for their shortcomings.� It is a matter of common sense and fair play.
9.
Conclusion
If
ndi Igbo can come together over kolanuts as those in Ottawa did on January 1,
2005, they certainly can come closer together over matters affecting the Igbo
nation. They only need to transcend artificial state boundaries that divide
them and work together as a people threatened by a common enemy. That is the
thinking that inspired this report.�
Written with anguish of heart, it is an appeal to the senses of ndi Igbo
in Ottawa and elsewhere, not a critique per
se. The reporter therefore hopes that the highlighted blunders committed by
ndi Igbo in Ottawa will serve as a partial checklist for future meetings and
resolutions of the group as well as a self-reflecting mirror that will almost
always keep them on track.
For feedback on the Report or additional information
regarding ICIO and the Igbo Language Lessons, communicate with the reporter at
the following address: [email protected]