2007: Again, Discordant Tune from Igbo Leaders
The caucus meeting held last weekend by leaders of the South-East Zone in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State Capital has again brought to the fore the fear among Igbo youths that their leaders may never speak with one voice, reach a bond on an issue and pursue a goal with a united mind. Chinedu Eze of our Abakaliki office reports
The varying speeches from prominent Igbo sons which largely dwelt on the people's determination to ensure that the next Nigerian President comes from the zone espoused the well known individualism, the doublespeak and sophistry of some Igbo leaders whose personal interests prompt them to bestride opposing ideologies and serve both with supposed total dedication.
The meeting, which started by 9.15 p.m. that Saturday had two sessions: the plenary session, which was an open session where journalists were invited, followed by a closed-door meeting, which lasted about four hours. The opening session started with the welcome address of the chief host, Dr. Sam Ominyi Egwu, the Governor of Ebonyi State, who welcomed the dignitaries that came from different parts of the country to attend the meeting.
Governor Egwu said that the meeting was necessary because as political leaders they must engage in periodic self-examination to fine tune strategies for collective survival and progress of the Igbo people. He admitted that the Igbos have made progress in the present political dispensation, but noted that in comparison with other geo-political zones, the area has not developed as rapidly as the people would have wished and attributed the problem to the "institutional constraints, which have confronted us as a people".
Egwu reminded the Igbo leaders of the challenges before them, which include "the crushing poverty that has become the companion of our people", the "de-marginalization" of Ndigbo and their failure to have meaningful political agreement with other political blocs in the country. The Governor stressed: "Frequently, our postures, public utterances and internal bickering have tended to give the impression that we are not serious in our corporate aspirations. In the face of these challenges, we have reached the proverbial crossroads where we must get our acts together in the interest of our people. If we fail to do so, posterity will hold us responsible for abdicating our responsibility to Ndigbo and history will record that we unwittingly submitted our people for national decimation".
As a way to move forward Egwu advised that Igbo leaders should imbibe the virtues of reconciliation, accommodation and inclusion because their problems is that they "tended to overstretch the boundaries of our differences both in our political affiliations or even intra-party levels".
After the above prologue Egwu then stressed the need that the next Nigerian President comes from the South-East Zone and argued that this need is not only a viable project but also a patriotic one and reeled out the credentials of the Igbo people, which underscore the reason why the ethnic group should present the next president for Nigeria.
"Igbos have an unrivaled track record of dynamism, performance and clear vision. Our accomplishments in various sectors are beacons of inspiration for any dispassionate auditor. Importantly too, Igbos have contributed enormously towards the creation of Nigerian commonwealth."
He dispelled the fear and pessimism of those who doubt that this could be achieved and lashed out at the Igbo leaders who "tended to play into the hands of opponents of Igbo presidency project through unguarded comments about zoning, our lack of preparedness or non-availability of presidential materials among the Igbos" and doubted whether there is any other geo-political zone that could boast of so many quality presidential materials as the South-East Zone. "While I must concede everybody's entitlement to his opinion, I do not know what any Igbo person stands to gain by denigrating his people. I do not expect that there will be no disagreements or differences of opinion among us, but we do not have to make our disagreements subject for public and media celebrations."
Egwu reminded the Igbo leaders that their frequent bickering and discordant tunes "seriously undercut our corporate respectability as a people".
He also reminded them that millions of ordinary Igbos "are unhappy and unimpressed by our frequent inability to speak with one voice on strategic issues of public concern", and emphasized, "it is not late to have a change of attitude".
The Ebonyi State Governor urged those from the South-East who hold positions at the national level to protect Igbos in their establishments, stating that it was not a secret that many Igbo professionals and public servants were made sacrificial lambs "even in establishments headed by their brothers and sisters in a bid to cut a detribalized and principled image".
Speaking at the meeting, the Senate President, Chief Adolphus Wabara, said that he agreed with Governor Egwu that the South-East Zone has personalities that are highly qualified to be president of the country but stressed that the zone has a lot of problems, which should be looked into with a bid to solving them in order to prepare for 2007. The Senate President emphasized that the Igbos must be united in order to realize the goal of having their son become the president of Nigeria in 2007. "Talking about 2007 you will agree with me that the Igbos must be united. We must be united to fight for a common course. We cannot continue to run helter skelter; we cannot continue to step on each other's toes; we must continue to fight for a common course from a common background."
The Senate President veered off to speak about party discipline, which he said was necessary if Igbos were looking forward to 2007. Although the gathering was for Igbo political leaders from different political parties but Chief Wabara still campaigned for his party and said "I believe that all of us in this chamber today do not have any other party to go to except our great party, the PDP".
He said that for Igbos to achieve their aim they must change their attitude in the past and must be disciplined to the party, no matter which party they belonged or would belong and eulogized the Peoples Democratic Party, reiterating the need for discipline as a party member.. Wabara also used the forum to disclose how he used his position to secure more board appointments for the South East from the President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar whom Wabara said agreed that the Igbos were marginalized in the number of board appointments given to the area. According to the Senate President, before his intervention South East Zone was given 30 Chairmanship positions and 140 membership positions, but after meeting with the president and vice-president and after a delegation was sent to them, the number of chairmanship position was increased to 33 from 30 while board membership was increased to 160 from 140.
Dr. Alex Ekwueme, the former Vice-President of Nigeria attended the meeting and his gray hairs brought credibility and seriousness to the event. And when he spoke he told all that it was the first time he attended such meeting because he felt it was high time Igbos put their act together and become purposeful in their quest to present Nigeria's next president and advised that Igbos should select a think-tank committee that would work out modalities on how to pursue the objective of ensuring that an Igbo man becomes the next president of the country.
He did not dwell much on that aspiration, rather he went to sound an alarm that the Igbo language would soon become extinct as UNESCO had predicted that there would be no Igbo language in the next 25 years and urged Igbos to make bold efforts to revive the language. Many who spoke after Ekwueme made feeble and unsuccessful attempt to deliver their speeches in Igbo Language, Chief C.C. Onoh, the former Governor of the old Anambra State succeeded in doing that and was vociferous and blunt when he accused the South East Governors of quarreling among themselves and betraying the Igbo interest for their selfish aspirations. He said that the call for an Igbo man to be the next president of Nigeria by the governors is hypocritical and unserious and lamented the marginalization of the Igbos who are usually left with the crumbs and remnants of political appointments when juicy political positions have been taken by other parts of the country.
The former Governor condemned the in-fighting among the Governors and said that lack of unity among Igbo leaders was responsible for their inability to organize themselves well and observed that it was the factor that has undermined the efforts of the zone to have one voice because as political leaders they ought to show the light so that the people could see the way.
Chief Achike Udenwa, the Governor of Imo State who is also the Chairman of South-East Governors, urged Igbos to be determined and put their heads together to achieve this one goal, reminding them that other ethnic groups have their own peculiar problems; therefore, the Igbos should not allow theirs to engulf and discourage them.
Most Speakers during the plenary session of the meeting harped on the need for unity among the Igbo leaders, to eschew bitterness and rancour and the collective determination to pursue the project of Nigerian President from the Igbo stock in 2007.
In terse communiqu� issued after the closed-door meeting, the Igbo political leaders stated their resolve to pursue the 2007 President project to ensure that an Igbo man becomes the next President of Nigeria.
They also resolved that Igbos would continue to be part of the entity called Nigeria and unlike other ethnic groups whose kiths and kin spilled over to other countries, that the Igbos could only be found in Nigeria and there would be nowhere for them to go to if the country becomes "void and incapable of habitation".
The communiqu� referred to Igbos as the indigenous indigenes of Nigeria, "because this is the race you cannot find anywhere else in the world other than Nigeria".
It disclosed that the meeting deliberated on issues like privatization, revenue allocation, reconciliation and the setting up of a number of committees, which include committees on constitutional review, budget implementation and reconciliation.
Although the caucus meeting, which witnessed commendable attendance was encouraging it did not stem the rage and lack of confidence Igbo people have against their leaders.
Indications show that many Igbos believe that these leaders are the cause of their problems, which defined the unfavourable circumstances Igbos found themselves in Nigeria. Many who spoke to THISDAY at the venue of the meeting expressed the conviction that the socio-economic miasma that dictate Igbos' grudging existence was plotted by their elite and rapacious political leaders whose selfish desires force them to succumb to the temptation of negotiating away the soul of the Igbo people for pecuniary gains.
|
