posted
�Revisiting� REBUILDING IGBO SOCIETY: CALLING IGBO NATIONALISTS.
BY Education & Political Action Committees EKWE NCHE ORGANIZATION P.O.Box 408250 Chicago, IL 60640 Website: www.ekwenche.org email: [email protected]
In the past several months, we have written to you about so many issues. We note with pleasure that Ndiigbo have been seriously discussing all the things we wrote to you about. We are particularly delighted that now Ndiigbo have taken very seriously the vexing problem of Leadership in Igbo Society, which we presented to you more than one year ago. You are discussing it very seriously at all levels of Igbo society and in our towns and villages. You are asking the right questions: Who are our community leaders? Who are our political leaders? What qualities do we want in our leaders? Do the people who claim to be our community and political leaders have these qualities? Let's remind ourselves of a few important points about leadership:
1. Ndiigbo have leaders (Ndi Ndu), never rulers (Ndi Ochichi).
2. Ndiigbo always elect their leaders. They reject self appointed or imposed "rulers".
3. In Igbo society, a leader is a man or woman elected by a group to act and speak on their behalf.
4. The leader derives his authority and power from the people he is leading or representing and exercises such power and authority for the benefit of the people and not himself or herself.
5. The leader's words and actions must at all times reflect the fully discussed and agreed views, opinions, needs, aspirations, fears and interests of the people he/she speaks for.
6. The leader protects and defends the interests of the people at all times and is prepared to lay down his life in their defense should the need arise.
7. The leader demonstrates his commitment to the group's welfare by providing forums for COLLECTIVE articulation of the group's VISION that will ultimately ensure the survival, security and prosperity of the members of the group. Leadership therefore is held responsible to the people. Every work, every act and every policy must conform to the people's interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected immediately.
8. If leadership ceases to represent, protect the interests of the group, if he uses his power and authority to enrich himself or pursues a personal agenda; if he becomes dictatorial by not consulting the group and having thorough and exhaustive discussions; if he demonstrates incompetence or foolishness by consistently pursuing policies that expose the group to shame, ridicule, social, economic and political harm; if he shows lack of vision by leading the group into a wilderness of thought and action; the people immediately remove such a leader and replace him with a more competent person.
9. If the group does not remove such a leader very quickly, the group could suffer severe ridicule, shame, social, economic, political harm and even disintegration.
10. In Igbo society this group could be a family, Umunna, Village, Ama, Age grade, Ogbe, Obodo, Town, Autonomous Community or Igbo Nation. It is a fundamental principle of survival among all social organisms that if their leader fails or ceases to protect the interest of the group or works against the interest of the group, that leader is immediately challenged, demoted, chased out of the group and may even be killed. This principle is very strictly applied from chimpanzee and monkeys to bees and ants. It is a practice that guarantees the survival, prosperity and regeneration of the species. The same principle applies in human beings from Nations, (Israel, U.S.A., Japan) to clubs (Rotary, United Way).
One question that has vexed us so much is whether Ndiigbo as a Nation have been using the principle to ensure their survival as a group. Is Igbo Nation marching on the path of self preservation or hurtling down the path of self destruction? A quick review of our behavior and the behavior of our "leaders" in the past several years will provide the answer to that question.
From the 1940's to the early 1960's Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was unquestionably the most powerful and articulate political philosopher on the African political stage. He was really a Pan Africanist who contributed more than anyone else towards the emancipation of Black Africa from European colonialism. He was also a Nigerian Nationalist who did most to free Nigeria from British colonialism and honestly believed in "One Nigeria". He preached "One Nigeria" to Ndiigbo, the people of Eastern Nigeria and Nigerians in general. Ndiigbo and other people in Eastern Nigeria accepted his philosophy of "One Nigeria" and practiced it, others rejected it.
His contemporaries, Obafemi Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello preached Yoruba Nationalism and Advancement and Hausa/Fulani Nationalism and Domination respectively. They devoted all their energies to improving the lives of Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani people respectively. Ndiigbo bought Zik's "One Nigeria" political philosophy. Ndiigbo set about developing Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, Minna, Yola, Ibadan, Benin, Maiduguri, and Jos.
What did Ndiigbo get from this "One Nigeria"?
For embracing this doctrine of "One Nigeria", you [Ndiigbo] got nothing but the slaughter of your wives and children and looting of your property. Even on a personal level, Zik himself was not spared. Awolowo and Western Nigeria politicians dealt him a deadly political blow during the 1951 Western Regional elections when his own "party loyalists" turned coat and joined the Action Group, a Yoruba Party during the infamous carpet crossing on the floor of the Western House of Assembly. Zik scampered back to the East. You would expect him to have reevaluated his position and adopted a more pragmatic theory. After spearheading the fight against British colonialists in Africa and winning independence for Nigeria, Zik was rewarded with a useless, empty post of Governor General and later ceremonial President. These were vacuous posts that carried neither power nor authority. In the meantime Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, hand picked by Ahmadu Bello, was handed the post of Prime Minister, with power and authority to run a country whose independence they and other Hausa/Fulani feudalists vehemently opposed. Yet Zik continued to preach "One Nigeria" to Ndiigbo and you continued to follow. In 1969, as the Biafra Nigeria war was raging, thousands of Igbo children, women and old men were being starved to death daily by the Nazi like policies of Yakubu Gowon, Obafemi Awolowo and Anthony Enahoro. Zik left his brothers and sisters who were being persecuted and exterminated by Nigerian vandals and defected to Nigeria. He was still in pursuit of his philosophy of "One Nigeria". After the war, Ndiigbo did not demand an explanation from Zik. No, they just went on as if nothing happened. We are not in any way indicting this great son of Africa and Igboland. We are not at all suggesting that the great Zik was a bad man. No. Not at all. But we are worried that Ndiigbo never critically examined the consequences of his political calculations for the, welfare, survival and advancement of Ndiigbo in Nigeria. As a consequence many other Igbo leaders have followed his "One Nigeria" mantra. The result has been a colossal disaster for the welfare, advancement and survival of the Igbo Nation in Nigeria.
Ndiigbo who fought fiercest to free Nigeria from the colonial stranglehold of the British, worked hardest to develop Nigerian towns and cities, labored most to make her social services work, have been the most maligned, persecuted, abused, degraded, insulted, assaulted, disenfranchised, discriminated against people in the geographical area called Nigeria.
It is widely acknowledged among Nigerian, Commonwealth and United Nations Army Officers in the 1960's that General Ironsi was a very brilliant army officer who during the crisis in the Congo in 1960, demonstrated outstanding leadership, negotiating ability, as well as persuasive skill. It is on record that his ingenuity saved the lives of thousands of Congolese people and scores of United Nations troops. As Head of State of Nigeria in 1966, he was briefed about the plots to attack and murder Ndiigbo in towns and cities all over Northern Nigeria. He was told that the plotters planned to kill him too. He was given the names of the people who were at the meeting as well as the venues of some of the meetings. After the first wave of massacre in May 1966 during which thousands of Ndiigbo and other Easterners were butchered in cold blood in Northern Nigeria, Ironsi went on a conciliatory "meet the Emirs" tour of Northern Nigeria. He was on his second leg of that tour in Western Nigeria when he was abducted and murdered together with his host Col.Adekunle Fajuyi, by T.Y.Danjuma, now Obasanjo's minister of defense and his fellow murderers. Many more thousands of Igbo, Ibibio, Efik, Ogoja and Ijaw people of Eastern Nigeria were also slaughtered like cattle in Northern and Western Nigeria. By early October 1966, about 500,000 Easterners, men, women, children including unborn fetuses, which were torn out of the wombs of their mothers, had been slaughtered in Western and Northern Nigeria.
Zik and Ironsi genuinely believed in One Nigeria and were willing to make any sacrifices to preserve it. They were genuine Nigerian Nationalists, who believed in One Nigeria. Since their time there has emerged a new breed of Nigerian Nationalists in Igboland. These people do not believe in One Nigeria for one moment. However, they will shout "One Nigeria" to get contracts, bribes and appointments to political posts. They are opportunists who stand for nothing and believe in nothing. They are very dangerous because they will sell the entire forty million Igbo people for a bag of money, lucrative contract or political appointment. They are penny a dozen in Igbo Land today. Ukpabi Asika was the Administrator of East Central State from 1967 1975. As the war progressed, he became fully aware that thousands of his brothers and sisters (Ndiigbo) who were non combatants were being murdered daily through targeted bombing of markets, schools, churches, refugee camps, feeding centers and hospitals. He knew that tens of thousands of his own people were being murdered like this by Egyptian pilots hired by the Nigerian Government of which he was part. What did Ukpabi Asika say to Yakubu Gowon? At the end of the war, Ukpabi Asika was a friend of Yakubu Gowon and Awolowo. When Obafemi Awolowo and Yakubu Gowon decided that every Igbo family gets no more than twenty pounds irrespective of how much money they had in the bank before or after the war what did he do? Did he protest this robbery and overnight impoverishment of his brothers and sisters, his fellow Igbo, by the Gowon/Awolowo government or was he toasting Gowon and Awolowo and drinking with them? Even more important, what did Ndiigbo do about it? They congratulated Ukpabi Asika for supervising the holocaust and liquidation of his own people. Traditional rulers in Onitsha conferred on him the traditional title of "Ajie". They were honoring him for giving twenty pounds to each family in Onitsha and for supervising the destruction and looting of Onitsha town including the world famous Onitsha Market.
After the massacre of 500,000 Igbo and other Easterners in Northern and Western Nigeria, the Nigerian Government under Yakubu Gowon embarked on the elimination of more than one million Igbo children, women and old men through starvation. As this was going on, one Ikoku was travelling the length and breath of the former Soviet Union arranging Soviet support for Nigeria and speaking to large audiences. He told them that there was no genocide against the Igbo and that nobody was killing Ndiigbo in Nigeria. Records of his speeches are available. At the end of the war, he came back to Igbo land and was moving as freely as air. He even held very important government appointments. He was often called "Igbo Leader". An Igbo Permanent Secretary in Lagos in 1967 was said to be the most strident in prevailing on Yakubu Gowon to renege on the Aburi Accord reached in Ghana by the delegation of Yakubu Gowon and that of all the State Governments in Eastern, Western, Northern and Mid Western Nigeria. If the Aburi Accord had been implemented, there would never have been a Biafra Nigeria war. More than three million Ndiigbo would not have been killed and starved to death. Igbo property worth several billions of dollars would not have been looted and burned by Nigerian vandals. By this singular despicable act, this Igbo man contributed in a very large measure to starting the war that took the lives of more than three million Igbo men, women and children and set the stage for the economic, social, technological retardation of Ndiigbo for at least the next fifty years. For betraying his brothers and sisters, he has been amply rewarded by the Federal Government with plum appointments. For betraying his own blood, his own brothers and sisters, the Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba coalition has showered him with political appointments, chairmanships and directorships. He has been in every government since 1967. Today he is an Igbo Leader. He even contested the presidential election on the platform of the PDP and asked Ndiigbo to support his candidacy. Many of you did. He would have done better if he could resurrect three million Ndiigbo whose deaths he helped orchestrate. He continues to swim in and drink from the fountain of the blood of more than three million Ndiigbo, his brothers and sisters, whose deaths his despicable treachery generated. But why did Ndiigbo stop demanding accountability from their leaders? Why don't you ask your so called leaders to account for their actions especially those actions that put the survival, welfare and progress of Ndiigbo as a group, in serious jeopardy? Why? Why? That is not the Igbo way. Ndiigbo have always held their leaders accountable for their actions. Ndiigbo rewarded their leaders for purposeful and effective leadership and punished them for treachery and bad leadership according to the traditions in different parts of Igbo land.
If the Jews today find out that a Jewish Army Officer colluded with the German Army of Hitler and participated in the killing of millions of Jews during the Jewish Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazi, what do you think the Jews will do? They will skin that Jewish Officer alive or make his life a living hell. They will hound him from here to the end of the earth until he is no more.
Yet, Igbo Army Officers joined the Hausa Fulani/Yoruba Alliance in shooting defenseless men, women, children in Asaba, Onitsha, Azumini, Ikot Ekpene etc. They supervised and participated in the rape and torture of Igbo women (their sisters and mothers) by Nigerian vandals. They supervised the burning and looting of Igbo houses, businesses and property. Ndiigbo have never asked them why they did it. They have never been asked to account for the abomination (alu) which they perpetrated on their mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Do not even think of asking them to apologize or even be punished for their abomination and treachery. No! Rather Ndiigbo quickly made them their Governors, conferred high chieftaincy titles on them, elected them Senators and Representatives and made them Chairmen of Everything. They became Igbo Leaders. Ndiigbo, can't you hear the anguish, agony, wailing of the spirits of Igbo children burned alive, pregnant women disemboweled, infants slaughtered like chicken, young men and women who sacrificed their lives and died horrible deaths at the war fronts, mothers and fathers shot in cold blood, buried alive and starved to death. Can't you hear them begging for justice? They are tossing and tumbling in their graves. They are asking why you have let their supreme sacrifices come to naught. Ndiigbo, you looked at a mountain of abomination (alu) and swept it under the carpet. You just went on as if nothing ever happened. These people are now part of the core of what is called "Igbo Leadership". And yet we wonder why there is serious leadership problem in Igbo society today. We wonder why there is so much chaos in our communities. We wonder why our children commit all kinds of abominations and seem to lack any conscience. We wonder why the Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba alliance has a vice like grip on the throat of Ndiigbo.
Igbo businessmen were very active during the Biafra Nigeria war. It is open secret that there are Igbo merchants who supplied some of the arms, ammunition, bombs that were used to bomb, strafe, kill and main millions of Ndiigbo, their brothers and sisters. Ndiigbo know these businessmen. Has anyone asked them why they participated in the abomination of helping to kill millions of their brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers? No. Rather, we quickly rewarded them with high sounding chieftaincy titles, plum political appointments, Chairmanship of banks and boards of corporations. We elected them Governors, Senators and Representatives. We never asked any questions and never demanded any explanations. Today they are our "Igbo Leaders". They are our "Traditional Rulers". They are Ministers, Ambassadors, Special Assistants etc. If they do not want the post, they send their sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, and cousins for appointment as Ministers and Special Assistants representing the interest of Ndiigbo. They are honored and revered everywhere and at every turn. Yes, they are your "Igbo Leaders". Are you still wondering why we have leadership problem in Igbo Society today?
In 1983, Buhari/Idiagbon overthrew the Shagari/Ekwueme government. They put Shagari in comfortable house arrest and dumped Ekwueme in Kirikiri prison. In 1999, our brother once again put his destiny and to a large extent that of Ndiigbo in the hands of the same Hausa/Fulani oligarchy that had treated him like ****. In Jos they dipped his hand and head and by extension that of Ndiigbo in a cauldron of boiling oil once again. What did he tell us after this disastrous debacle? Simple, "It is the will of God". We hear rumors that he is being lured once again by the Hausa/Fulani oligarchy to replace Obasanjo and become the puppet while the Oligarchs hold and pull the strings. Will he fall for this trick again? You bet he will and many Ndiigbo will be gloating and following him to God knows where.
Igbo is the largest ethnic group in Nigeria. Ndiigbo, what is wrong with putting your house in order so you will negotiate from a position of strength with other Ethnic Groups? Why must Igbo Opportunists always crawl to the North or West like hungry lizards to cavort before Ciroma, Shagari, Dikko, Umar, Babangida, Adesanya etc? Why must you be an errand boy for Obasanjo? Why? What happened to the dignity and pride of the Igbo man?
At the PDP presidential nomination convention in Jos in 1999, a full fledged son of Igbo land decided that the best way for him to address the huge Nigerian audience gathered there was to speak in Hausa language. Yoruba, Tiv, Fulani, Hausa, Igbo, Efik, Anang and other ethnic representatives and contestants there addressed the audience in English. Even Hausa/Fulani representatives there addressed the audience in English. How low can an Igbo man stoop? How much worse can an Igbo man hate himself? Is there a level of stupidity that is ever unacceptable to Ndiigbo? Or have Ndiigbo simply decided that it is alright for anyone to simply kick dried feces into their mouth. Of course today he is still our "Igbo Leader". Well, what else is new? After all notorious armed robbers are now "Traditional Rulers", "Chiefs" in Igbo land and people go to their houses to eat and drink during ofala festivals.
A promising Igbo Naval Officer went out on a limb to protest the annulment of June 12 election and the denial of the mandate to Chief Abiola by Babangida and his Northern Feudal Barons. This Officer was quickly relieved of his command by General Abacha and retired. Nobody even from the S W said a word. Earlier, another promising Igbo Naval Officer was ignominiously dismissed out of office by Babangida for having the balls to demand that he be given his rightful position in government hierarchy. What did Ndiigbo say or do? Nothing. Yet when Abiola's presumed electoral victory was annulled by Babangida, June 12 became the pet project of Igbo Human Rights activists in the CLO and other Organizations. They were all over the world organizing demonstrations, making speeches and threatening hail and brimstones. Yet only recently, Odi was obliterated and our relatives and in laws there were massacred. Umuechem had earlier been razed and destroyed and our brothers and sisters massacred. Jesse was roasted. Many towns and villages in Eastern Nigeria have been scorched and obliterated by the Nigerian army of occupation. Half a dozen members of MASSOB, a non violent, civil rights movement seeking freedom, liberty, justice and self determination, have been murdered by Obasanjo's goon squad. Hundreds of them have been thrown in prison. What did the Igbo Human Rights Activists do or say? Nothing! Are you surprised?
World Igbo Congress convention, was held in Chicago in 1999. At that convention Ekwe Nche Organization put in time and effort to make the convention Igbocentric. Ekwe Nche draped the walls of the convention hall with giant pictures of the starving and dying children of Biafra, the carnage caused by the bombing of civilian targets by the Nigerian Army as well as pictures of Igbo Civilization dating thousands of years. Two large size sculptures of Ikenga, Igbo symbol of achievement, were also prominently displayed in the conference hall. Many of the delegates who came to the conference took time to look at the heart rending pictures and most men and women wept openly. Ekwe Nche's goal was to remind Ndiigbo who they are and what has been their history in Nigeria. Most of the "Igbo Leaders" who were visiting from Nigeria did not even care to look at the photographs, talk less show any emotion. One such prominent son of Igbo land who came to the conference from Nigeria told the assembled delegates that he was sent by Olusegun Obasanjo. He went on to chide Ndiigbo who had gathered for the convention about the rumor he and Obasanjo heard that there might be talk of Biafra at that meeting. He warned the delegates never to talk about Biafra because Obasanjo will be upset. That Obasanjo could sit somewhere in Abuja and send his Igbo stooges to tell Ndiigbo not to talk about the most important and painful part of their history is not only an outrage, but also an insult of inestimable proportion. The shock however was that after being chided like primary school children, these delegates, most of who are men and women of distinction in their professions, clapped and cheered like high school cheer leaders. Then they spent the rest of the convention time denying that they ever planned to talk about Biafra. That was the double tragedy. Well, the contracts continue to flow and the political appointments (rewards) for "savaging Igbo agenda" continue unabated. This Obasanjo stooge was later appointed Ambassador and is now in New York.
Try to imagine any human being on the face of this earth telling delegates to a Jewish Convention not to talk about the Jewish Holocaust. Just try to imagine it. That person will be awfully lucky if he escaped being lynched on the spot by irate Jews. If he survives, Jewish Organizations and Interests will pursue him until he drops off the face of the earth.
About a year ago we urged all our elected officials to join the call for a [Sovereign] National Conference. We emphasized that it will be in the best interest of Ndiigbo to pursue such a conference because it will provide one of the best opportunities for Ndiigbo to achieve self determination. Chuba in his characteristic style called it the talk of idle minds. In our published open letter, we warned Igbo elected officials not to be deceived by the fleeting political positions which their Hausa/Fulani friends have temporarily ceded to them. We reminded them that the same Hausa/Fulani friends will ignominiously kick them out any time they feel like doing so notwithstanding whatever song they may be singing. Yes, not quite one year after we said that, they threw the butt of the senate president in the gutter, his song notwithstanding. By the middle of September 2000, the call for the funeral and burial ceremony of all Igbo infants, children, women and men savagely slaughtered by Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba murderers during the pogrom of 1966, and the millions of old men, women and children starved to death by the Nazi style government of Yakubu Gowon, reached fever pitch. Thirty four years after the pogrom and thirty years after the end of the Biafra Nigeria war, Nigerian perpetrators of the Igbo Holocaust have continued to refuse to acknowledge the criminal and abominable acts they perpetrated against people they wanted to force back into a national union with them. The Igbo have also carried on as if the lives of more than three million Igbo people were not worth anything. Finally as if awakened from deep slumber, they decided that it was time to bury and mourn their dead. It is important to remind us that there is practically no Igbo family alive today that did not suffer the loss of a loved one during that war. Most countries of the World set aside a special day for the remembrance of their loved ones. In the United States of America this day is called Memorial Day and is a public holiday. Interestingly in the year 2000, it fell on May 29, the same day the Hausa/Fulani started their slaughter of Ndiigbo in all parts of Northern Nigeria. Igbo leaders had originally set May 29 as the date for this important ceremony. No sooner had people started getting ready for the program than "Igbo Leaders" announced a postponement of the event because President Obasanjo, one of the chief architects of the starvation, death and destruction of Igbo lives and property had objected to the ceremony. Igbo "Leaders"acquiesced and shifted the date to September 29, 2000. On September 29, 2000, to the shock and consternation of Ndiigbo and their numerous admirers, almost all Igbo elected officials boycotted the ceremony. Only a handful of the so called Igbo leaders bothered to attend the ceremony. The governor of one of the Igbo States was even quoted as saying that he was afraid of President Obasanjo. Afraid of Obasanjo? Ndiigbo, goat has eaten the palm frond you are carrying on your head. The mentality displayed here is nothing short of that of a HOUSE SLAVE. The stupidity and idiocy of these elected officials and so called Igbo Leaders cries to heaven for vengeance. In traditional Igbo Society, these men would be arraigned in the Village Square for the public to throw ashes at them. Ndiigbo, these are the caliber of men who have been your leaders. They are men who will cower and tuck their tails between their legs like frightened dogs, when Obasanjo tells them that Ndiigbo should be happy with the way Nigeria is treating them as third class citizens. They are men who will deny their sons and daughters in Biafara and Igbo Nationalist Organizations and ask Obasanjo to send his Gestapo security outfit after them. They are men who after their Igbo brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, were murdered in Kaduna, went on tour of the North to beg the Emirs of the North to forgive their Igbo brothers and sisters who were butchered and roasted alive by Hausa/Fulani tugs. They are leaders who were jostling for position to be the most visible in organizing welcome parties for Chief Anthony Enahoro, the man who organized the starvation to death of about two million Igbo babies, children, women and old men. How many of them ever asked Enahoro if he ever regretted or felt sorry for starving millions of their Igbo brothers and sisters to death? They are the leaders who are so afraid of losing their friendship with Obasanjo that they hid in the darkest corners of their houses when Ndiigbo were honoring the memories of Igbo brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers slaughtered by Nigerians from 1966 1970, for fear that Obasanjo will be offended. They are leaders who will crawl to Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto and Abuja to beg Hausa/Fulani Emirs and Alhaji's to appoint them governors, senators, representatives, assemblymen, ministers, directors, advisers etc. They are leaders who will not lift a finger to defend and protect Ndiigbo for fear of losing their contract jobs in Abuja. They are leaders who will not confront Obasanjo or whoever is in Abuja and tell them to their faces that the killing of Ndiigbo, looting of their property, maltreatment, humiliation, and dehumanization has got to stop NOW. They are leaders who will not tell Obasanjo and the Federal Government, that refusal to build and repair federal roads, provide good port facilities in Onitsha, Oguta, Onne, Port Harcourt; improve telephone services and build at least one International Airport in Igboland, are outrages that will no longer be tolerated by Ndiigbo. They are leaders who will not tell Obasanjo and his federal government that the bulk of the oil drilled in Nigeria is on land that belongs to Ndiigbo and demand the right of Ndiigbo to control the resources in their territory. They are leaders who do not care that our Igbo brothers and sisters in Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Benue, Kogi, are truly part and parcel of Igbo bu Igbo, and need to be strongly woven into the fabric of Federated Igbo Union. They are leaders who do not care to work for strong cooperative and collaborative relationship with our neighbors in Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Bayelsa, Edo, Benue and Kogi. No, they won't do these things. These Igbo Leaders live in their mansions in Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna and visit Igboland for a few weeks every year when they come to tell you who to vote for at the next election. Compare them with Igbo Leaders like Dr. M.I.Okpara, Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Maazi Mbonu Ojike, Dennis Osadebay, Alvan Ikoku, Dr. Kalu Ezera, Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani, Mazi Zachious Obi. These Igbo Leaders recognized the needs and sufferings of Ndiigbo and went right on to do something about them. To ensure self sufficiency of food for then Eastern Nigeria, they built farm settlements, oil palm estates, rubber estates, cattle ranches etc. They established an industrial base for the industrial take off of Eastern Nigeria. You can proudly recall Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Emene Industrial Layout as well as industries in Calabar, Umuahia, Aba, Owerri Asaba, etc. Between 1960 66 food was so plentiful that Eastern Nigeria government was begging people to eat chicken and eggs.
Politically, Michael Okpara was the epitome of bravery. When S.L.Akintola forbade him to enter Ibadan to campaign for the Action Group, he told Akintola that he was not only going to go to Ibadan to campaign but that he would pay him a courtesy call in his Governor's mansion in Ibadan. When Akintola learned that Okpara was on his way to his Governor's Lodge, he ran away from his house.
M.I.Okpara and Akanu Ibiam were like wishbone in the throats of Ahmadu Bello and Tafawa Balewa. They rejected fake Northern Nigeria Census Figures, and challenged the North's rigged election results. In 1964, they fought to reinstate revenue allocation on the principle of derivation and lost because they were opposed by the Governments of Western and Mid Western Nigeria, which colluded with the Federal and Northern Nigerian Governments to defeat the proposal. Dr. Okpara and Dr. Akanu Ibiam had VISION of where they wanted to take Eastern Nigeria and Ndiigbo. They did not cavort for contracts from Balewa or anybody for that matter. They devoted their lives to serving Ndiigbo and they had magnificent results. Wherever Ndiigbo lived in Nigeria, they were proud to be Igbo. They also made Nigeria a proud country. Dr. M. I. Okpara, Dr. Akanu Ibiam and other Igbo Nationalists were proud Igbo nationalists. They believed in the power and ability of Ndiigbo and other people of Eastern Nigeria. They were not Nigerian Nationalists running to Lagos every time and mouthing the empty slogan of "One Nigeria". They knew that you had to be Igbo, Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw,Ogoja, Anang before you became a Nigerian. There were other people from Eastern Nigeria who were Nigerian Nationalists and believed that you became a Nigerian before you became Igbo, Ibibio, Efik, Ijaw, Ogoja, Anang. They sold Eastern Nigeria to the war coalition of Hausa/Fulani feudal Emirs and Yoruba monarchies. Most of them are still around and continue to play this game with your lives. They will sell the people of Eastern Nigeria to Obasanjo or to a Northern Emir or politician for a few million naira. During the crisis of 1966 67 and the Biafra Nigerian War, they even told you that the war was not about Oil Revenue from Eastern Nigeria. They told you that the war was just "To Keep Nigeria One". You believed them. Today see what you got out of One Nigeria: rape of your mothers, wives and sisters, killing of your fathers and brothers, looting of your property, destruction of your farmland and streams, scorching fires, confiscation of your land, military occupation of your towns and villages, brutalization of your people, military destruction of whole towns and villages.
Today you still have so called leaders in your communities, towns and villages preaching "One Nigeria", "Nigerian Unity" to you. They are your Governors, Senators, Representatives, Assemblymen. They are Ministers, Special Advisers, Directors. They are Politicians, Contractors, Businessmen, Intellectuals. They held big political offices before, are holding political offices now or they are planning to run for political office in 2003 and beyond. They have huge property or investment in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Ibadan, Jos, Maiduguri. They are constantly holding political and business meetings with their friends and associates from Sokoto, Kano, Yola, Ilorin, Lagos, Kaduna. They have been in politics, government or government related business for many years. They will tell you that if you struggle for self determination and separate yourself from Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba stranglehold you will die. They will tell you that God put Nigeria together. They will tell you that if Nigeria breaks up and you become a Nation of 10, 20, 30 or 40 million people, you will perish, you will be landlocked, the world will come to an end. But they will not tell you that many of the rich countries of Europe and Asia have populations of 10 million or less [Belgium (10m), Denmark (5m), Norway (4m), Sweden (9m), Switzerland (7m), Hong Kong (6m), Singapore (4m).] They will tell you that there is so much to gain from remaining in "One Nigeria". But they will not tell you that the only things your have gained from One Nigeria are enslavement, dehumanization, loss of freedom, loss of liberty, loss of your land, unemployment, hunger, poverty, destruction, injustice, insecurity of life and property as well as death. They will tell you that things will improve tomorrow. But they will not tell you why things have gone from bad to worst in the past 35 years. For the Ethnic Groups in Eastern Nigeria, they will even tell you that the Igbo are the cause of your problems. But they will not explain to you how come somebody else confiscated your land and the mineral in it, devastated numerous communities in Ogoni, wiped out several Ijaw communities. They will not explain to you how come someone else militarily sacked Odi, destroyed your farmlands, rivers and streams, put a permanent army of occupation in your communities to terrorize children, men, as well as rape girls and women. They will not explain to you how come thousands of people in your communities have been burned alive by these pipeline fires and nobody cares to do anything about the danger the pipelines pose to your people. They will tell you that prosperity is around the corner and will soon reach you. But they will not tell you why you have been getting poorer every year and who has been stealing the $70 million earned everyday from petroleum in your land. They will tell you many more cock and bull stories. They will even try to bribe you with little money. They will never reveal to you that the only reason they have been lying to you about the beauty of One Nigeria is to enable them accumulate more money for themselves. But this time it is up to you to say, "enough is enough".
Ndiigbo, nobody is holding you down but yourselves. The same thing applies to the Ibibio, Efik, Anang, Ogoja, Ijaw, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ishan. Individually and collectively you can stop your brothers and sisters, sons and daughters who have sold you into permanent slavery to the Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba Coalition. Ndiigbo if you believe that things have been better for Ndiigbo since you followed the proponents of One Nigeria [Nigerian Nationalists e.g. Ukpabi Asika], than in the days when you followed Igbo Nationalists e.g. Dr. M.I.Okpara, then do not listen to us. If you believe that your lives and those of your children are better now, your pride as an Igbo, Ibibio, Efik, Anang, Ijaw, Ogoja, Itsekiri, Urhobo, Ishan, are better now, then stop reading this piece. If you believe that your future and that of your children are brighter now than when you were led by Igbo, Ibibio, Efik, Anang, Ijaw, Ogoja, Itsekiri, Urhobo, and Ishan Nationalists, stop reading this message. But if you believe as we honestly do, that the proponents of "One Nigeria" [Nigerian Nationalists], are leading you to the bottom of hell, then we trust you to summon enough courage to stop these people from leading you to total destruction. If you believe as we honestly do that all these people who are preaching ONE NIGERIA to you are leading you and your children to a state of perpetual slavery then listen to us and resolve today that it is time to stop them. Ask all these former and present Ministers, Senators, Representatives, Special Advisers, Governors, Directors of this and that etc to mention specifically what they did for Ndiigbo. For example, many of the Ministers of Aviation since Nigerian independence have been Ndiigbo. Yet Igbo land from Agbor, Igbo Akiri, Kwale to Arochukwu and Nsukka to Opobo is the only area in Nigeria that does not have one International Airport. Why? Because they don't care. They just steal enough money for themselves and their families and ignore the agenda of Ndiigbo. In fact some of them openly fight against any such project.The same problem applies to Ministers of Transport, Education, Health etc. It is time to sweep these parasites who do nothing but serve the interest of Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba oligarchy.
We trust you to turn the leadership of Igbo Nation to Igbo Nationalists, who will relentlessly pursue an Igbo agenda and not a Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba agenda. We trust you to turn the leadership of Igbo society to Igbo Nationalists who will not be bought with contracts and fat bribes. We trust you to elect Igbo Nationalists who will not be afraid to confront Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba colonialists and exploiters and tell them eyeball to eyeball that Ndiigbo will henceforth take their destiny in their hands. We trust you to elect Igbo Nationalists who will insist on respect for the Igbo man, protect the pride and dignity of the Igbo Nation and will not take nonsense from anybody. We trust you to elect Igbo Nationalists who will be willing to make personal sacrifices for the welfare and defense of Ndiigbo at all times in all places, even at the risk of their own lives and safety.
A case in point today would be the Governor of Anambra State, Maazi Ngige (Dr.) who has refused to turn over the coffers of the state government , even at the threat to his life, to Obasonjo and his Igbo collaborators, who are yet to face Igbo retribution for the abominable acts against the lives and collective property of Ndi Igbo. This is visibly the only government since the days of Maazi M. I. Okpara and Maazi Ibiam, of blessed memory, who worked to improve the lot of Ndi Igbo. Maazi Ngige, as long as you continue to fearlessly better the lot of Ndi Igbo, we stand with you!
We trust Ndi Igbo to elect Igbo Nationalists who will consult with Ndiigbo to find out what they want rather than crawl like beggars to Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba oligarchs to beg for crumbs. We make the same suggestion to the other ethnic groups mentioned earlier. There are too many fake Nigerian Nationalists in the Igbo Nation today. You see them everywhere everyday. They crawl on their bellies like obedient, begging dogs. They are always flying to Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, Minna, Lagos, Ibadan, Maiduguri to seek the approval and support of one Alhaji, Emir or Oba. They visit Igboland when they are in trouble or when they want your votes. They have no shame. You can hear them jubilating and telling their friends, " Alhaji Aminu, Ciroma, Abubakar, Shehu have kindly agreed that I should contest for president, senate, representative, governor" Since when did Ndiigbo become slaves of the North or West? When they plan meetings to discuss important Igbo Agenda, they schedule such meetings in Lagos, Abuja, or Kaduna. Whatever happened to Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Aba, Awka? Few hours after the meeting, they jump into cars and airplanes and head to Abuja, Sokoto, Kaduna and Ibadan to relay in great detail to Obasanjo, Abubakar, Shehu, everything that was discussed at the Igbo Meeting. You know such men and women in your villages, towns, cities, market organizations, women organizations, students' unions, among intellectuals, professionals, journalists, youth organizations and clubs. Identify them now and kick them out of leadership roles which they now occupy. Henceforth avoid them like leprosy. You also know men and women in your communities who are strong Igbo Nationalists. They have the interest and welfare of their community and Ndiigbo at heart. You never find them running to the North or West begging for contract. They are proud Igbo men and women. You will not find such people throwing tons of money around. You will not find them making noise like empty barrels. You will not find them engaging in vainglorious show of wealth or brandishing all kinds of foolish titles.
These are the people Ndiigbo elect as their leaders. Draft them and make them your leaders at all levels of governance. Ndiigbo, this is very important. Igbo Nation is about ready to take off. You do not want to be stuck with foolish, self absorbed so called leaders when the house falls in Nigeria. You need young, dedicated, fearless, intelligent, visionary, committed "Leaders". Push the One Nigeria, fly by night, corrupt, contractor, "leaders" of the recent past to the background. Make them sit down and watch Nationalist Igbo Leaders take charge of Igbo Agenda as Ndiigbo prepare to take off in this new millennium. Your ancestors, youth and children demand this action NOW. It is not our intention to suggest any names to you. But just as an example, compare the work of TRUE IGBO NATIONALIST AND BIAFARA LEADERSHIP and that of some other so called Igbo leaders. TRUE IGBO NATIONALIST AND BIAFARA LEADERSHIP is touring villages, towns, and cities educating people on the plight of Ndiigbo. They are mobilizing people to think of how they can save themselves from the crushing jaws of Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba conspiracy to destroy Ndiigbo. They are working with the youths to resuscitate and strengthen their Igbo Identity. They are working with them to develop a vision of the future. They are working with our immediate neighbors to rebuild the long established brotherly relationship that was poisoned and ultimately destroyed by the Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba coalition. They are working tirelessly often at great risk to their personal safety and that of their lieutenants. Like Igbo Leaders of repute, they rejected bribes of millions of dollars to betray their brothers and sisters. They have been castigated, maligned and haunted daily by the Government of Olusegun Obasanjo. They do not go around in expensive airplanes or limousines. They do not make noise. They go about this business with honor, dignity and decorum just like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.
The other so called Igbo "leaders" virtually live in Abuja, Lagos and Ibadan. Some are kept in expensive hotels and Federal Government guesthouses in Abuja and Lagos. Their hotel accommodation and meals are provided by the Government of Olusegun Obasanjo. From time to time Obasanjo, Gemade, Shagari, Ciroma call on them to settle disputes between the North and the SW, OPC and APC, Obasanjo and Naaba, Obasanjo and Senators etc. They brag that they are very busy working for their political party. Yet when important decisions like completing the Benin Asaba expressway, allocating funds for important projects like dualizing Onitsha Owerri road, dredging the River Niger, building a river port at Onitsha, Oguta, improving the port complex at Port Harcourt, citing important industries, choosing Directors of Corporations, Privatization, etc are made, nobody invites or consults them. Yet they come home to Igbo land once in a while and tell Ndiigbo, "We are in charge." They have in effect become agents of Olusegun Obasanjo and fire fighters for a political party that they do not control. Another group hangs around Lagos and Ibadan. They pretend to have some influence in what happens in the AD political party. They roam around Lagos looking for an opportunity to talk to newspaper reporters on issues of national importance. At the end of any interview, they make sure that the reporter will call them "Leader of the AD" in the S E zone. They know full well that Adesanya, Falae, Ige and other leaders of the AD have absolutely no respect for them. They do not consult them when decisions are made and just tolerate them for their nuisance value. They neither influence nor shape the policies of the AD, which in any case they are never allowed to be privy. The third group is the "Roving Ambassadors". This group is the self appointed Igbo ambassadors. They are constantly on the move. They shuttle from one Emirs palace to another. They trudge from one Obas palace to another. Any time there is a crisis in Lagos, Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, Minna, Ibadan, they will be the first to go to the traditional ruler and the prominent politicians in the place and beg for forgiveness. If Hausa/Fulani tugs just slaughtered Ndiigbo, these self styled ambassadors will beg Fulani Emirs to forgive Ndiigbo. If OPC murdered scores of Ndiigbo and looted their property, they will beg the Oba of the town as well as Obasanjo and prominent Yoruba politicians to forgive Ndiigbo. You never see the logic in their begging missions. Yet these "begging ambassadors" are constantly on the move looking for the next opportunity to beg. These three groups share these general characteristics. They have never talked to a group of unemployed young men and women in their community or elsewhere concerning how they are surviving and how their condition can be improved. They have never attended a meeting of the town union and advanced a properly conceptualized and clearly articulated program designed to address the problems of the community in particular or Ndiigbo in general. They have never planned or arranged even one meeting with the Traders Associations, Market Women Associations, Student Unions in Aba, Onitsha, Umuahia, Enugu, Awka, Abakaliki, Owerri, Asaba, Ogwashi Ukwu, Agbor, and Okigwe. They have never talked to the leaders of Market Associations at satellite Igbo Markets located at Alaba, Oshodi, Kano, Benin, Gombe, Jos, Minna, Sokoto, Kaduna, Zaria etc. They have never tried to find out what kinds of harassment, hardship and discrimination Igbo businessmen are subjected to by forces of hatred and jealousy in the host communities. They have never brainstormed with these brothers and sisters on how they can deal with these problems.
Consider the following situations and ask yourself what it means for your survival and that of Ndiigbo.
1. Most so called Igbo Leaders in whose hands you have entrusted your welfare and survival live permanently in Lagos, Abuja. They do not live in Enugu, Aba, Awka, Umuahia, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Onitsha, Abakaliki, Asaba. They only visit Igbo land.
2. No Yoruba leader of any significance lives permanently in Abuja, Enugu, Onitsha, Aba or any other town in Eastern Nigeria from Igbo Akiri/Agbor/Kwale to Arochukwu and from Enugu Ezike/Okpuje to Opobo/Bonny. All of them live permanently in Yoruba land.
3. No Hausa Fulani Leader of any significance lives permanently in Lagos, Enugu, Onitsha or any other town in Eastern Nigeria. All of them live permanently in Northern Nigeria.
4. Because Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba leaders live among their people, theyknow first hand what problems their people face and fight, together with their people to solve these problems.
5. How will Igbo leaders who live permanently in Lagos and Abuja know what problems you are facing everyday? If they do not know how can they fight for you? If it does not affect them, how can you be sure that they will fight for you?
6. Most so called Igbo leaders built multi million naira mansions in Lagos, Abuja and live there.
7. No Yoruba leader built a multi million naira mansion or lives permanently in any of the above mentioned towns in Eastern Nigeria.
8. No Hausa/Fulani leader built a multi million naira mansion or lives permanently in any of the above mentioned towns in Eastern Nigeria.
9. Why do Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba leaders not build and maintain personal mansions in Eastern Nigeria while Igbo leaders build and maintain very expensive personal mansions in Yoruba and Hausa land? Yet Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba "rulers" are hundred times richer than Igbo leaders who run around developing Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani towns and cities.
10. Why do your so called Igbo leaders not build these expensive mansions in any of the above mentioned towns in Eastern Nigeria from Igbo Akirri/ Agbor/ Kwale to Arochukwu and from Enugu Ezike/ Okpuje to Opobo/Bonny?
11. Eighty per cent of private real estate businesses in Abuja, especially expensive hotels and houses, are owned by Igbo Leaders [politicians and businessmen]. The same is true of Lagos.
12. How many private real estate businesses [expensive hotels and houses] in the above mentioned towns in Eastern Nigeria were built and owned by Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani leaders? The answer is zero.
13. How are Igbo professionals: engineers, architects, surveyors, lawyers, doctors, nurses, accountants, bankers, teachers, professors etc who migrate to places like Abuja and Lagos (developed by Igbo leaders) in search of jobs treated? They are treated like dogs. Most of them are severely discriminated against and kicked around like slaves. Many of them live from hand to mouth. Yet they are the best brains and they are the people who do all the hard work.
14. So If Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba leaders do not invest their money and resources in Igbo land why are Igbo leaders investing their money and resources in and developing Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba land only to be discriminated against, attacked, humiliated, and often killed?
15. If Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba leaders neither build their residential mansions in Igbo land, nor live there, why are Igbo leaders building their residential mansions in and living permanently in Hausa/Fulani and Yoruba land and not in Igbo land?
16. Where did M.I. Opkara, Akanu Ibiam, Dennis Osadebey, Mbonu Ojike, Alvan Ikoku, Phillip Effiong build their residences? How many private mansions and expensive real estate did they build in Abuja and Lagos?
17. Do you honestly believe that a person who has sunk several millions of naira in real estate in Lagos and Abuja will seriously support your efforts towards liberating yourselves and Ndiigbo from the Hausa/Fulani./Yoruba colonialism and your struggle for self determination through TRUE BIAFARA MOVEMENTS?
18. Do you honestly believe that Igbo leaders who have mortgaged themselves to Hausa/Fulani feudal oligarchs, Emirs and generals, who wine and dine with Hausa/Fulani oppressors of Ndiigbo, who share oil money with these corrupt thieves and oppressors, will rise against the oppressors in defense of Ndiigbo. Do you honestly believe that they will be willing to put their lives at risk for the benefit of Ndiigbo as Okpara, Ibiam, Osadebay and others did?
19. Do you honestly believe that Igbo leaders who have sold their souls to Yoruba Obas, politicians and generals will rise up, challenge these people with whom they share money stolen from your ancestral land, and defend your interests and that of Ndiigbo? Do you honestly believe that?
20. Is it any wonder that every time Ndiigbo are persecuted, killed and their property looted in Northern and Western Nigeria by extremist mobs unleashed by Igbo hating Hausa/Fulani/Yoruba colonialists, Igbo leaders simply remain mute, dumb, quiet or go on begging campaigns in Northern and Western Nigeria. Ndiigbo, Igbo Youths whose lives have been turned up side down, stop waiting for deliverance from the current crop of Igbo leaders. Most of them are neck deep in the decadence, corruption, stealing that is going on in Nigeria. They are not interested in whatever happens to you. All they are interested in is how to become President, Senator, Representative, Minister, Commissioner, get million dollar contracts from Abuja, become rich and hobnob with other crooks from Northern and Western Nigeria. They tell you that once they get into office they will solve all your problems.
It is all lies and you know it. Look at their records. Your destiny is in your hands. Take it now. A single example will convince you. For many years you were begging Igbo leaders to save you from the chokehold of armed robbers who threatened to strangle to death every town, village, market, business in Eastern Nigeria. Your lives became a living hell as Igbo society was driven back into stone age lifestyle. What did Igbo leaders do? Igbo leaders hired tugs and mobile policemen to guard themselves and their families. Their guards chased you off the road with their sirens and horsewhips. You were left to fend for yourselves. Several thousand of you were slaughtered by heartless robbers. Mothers, wives and daughters were mercilessly raped and brutalized. Billions of dollars worth of businesses were ruined. Then you, ordinary men and women took up the challenge. You challenged them, liquidated them and ran the rest out of town. See what you can do when you take charge of your lives.
Those who are still standing on the fence we urge you to join any of the many TRUE IGBO NATIONALIST OR BIAFARA ORGANIZATIONS WHO INSIST THAT BIAFARA MUST BE FOUNDED ON THE TRADITION, CULTURE AND PHILOSOPHY OF ITS PEOPLES. Become part of this MOVEMENT to reorganize Igbo land, and create a good life for yourselves. It is your MOVEMENT. You will reorganize LEADERSHIP in Igbo land from Governor, Senator, Representative, Minister, Commissioner, Chairman, to Town Union Presidents. You will decide who will lead or represent you. You will tell them what to do and they will do it. You will make them accountable to you, not to Obasanjo, Ciroma, Alhaji, Oba, or any so called General. Once you do this, you will solve the problems lazy, corrupt Igbo leaders have failed to solve. You will create bright and rosy future for yourselves, your children, and future generations by building a just, honorable and progressive society. You will bring back the glory of your fathers and forefathers. Youths, your future is in your hands. Don't sit on the fence. Join the MOVEMENT.
Brothers and sisters, all Igbo Nationalists, the time is now. It is time to choose between living the life of a slave in Nigeria, the most corrupt country in the world and living with freedom, liberty and dignity in the free Nation of Biafra? It is like choosing between darkness and light, evil and good, hell and paradise. Which do you choose? The choice is yours. What we say to Igbo Youths also applies to the youths of all the other ethnic groups in Eastern Nigeria.
Ndewo nu. Ekwe Nche ekene unu
Posts: 166 | From: chicago | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
