Needless to say, the legacies of Dr. Nnamdi
Azikiwe and Dr. Michael Okpara resoundingly prove that the Igbos would have
been far better off had they not been forced back into the Nigerian bus.
Needless to say, the Nigerian Minorities such
as those in the Delta region or the Middlebelt would have done far better on
their own. What is the logic or morality of this fixation on unity? Let us
stay united if and only if being �united� will foster peace, liberty and
prosperity for our people. Otherwise, let us convoke around a mahogany table
and discuss the terms of our parting of ways.
What we call unity today is nothing but coerced
co-existence in which all of us are equal opportunity victims of distrust
and concomitant marginalization.
Our part of Nigeria is marginalized
In traveling across Nigeria, one commonly
encounters the fallacy of the greener grass. �Those in the other parts of
Nigeria are doing much better than �we� are; �they� have better schools,
hospitals, roads etc.� Quite commonly, southerners portray the north as a
region flowing with milk and honey; easterners think the westerners are
doing swell; the westerners think that life is more abundant in northern and
eastern Nigeria!
This myth is echoed daily across Nigeria. In
sad reality, Nigeria has been reduced to a fragment of hell, from Port
Harcourt to Kaura Namoda and from Lagos to Nguru.
Today, a Yoruba is the President in Nigeria.
But how has that preferentially benefited the workers of Osun State whose
salaries are rarely paid on time? We must not discountenance the
ethnocentric undercurrents of Nigerian politics. But we must not allow
corrupt leaders to exploit the concern about marginalization for their
self-serving purposes.
In any case, when a Nigerian politician decries
the marginalization of his people, his primary concern is often for himself
not the people; he is craving more opportunities for graft and embezzlement.
If a Yoruba Stealator enriches himself by
inflating the cost of procuring computers, does that make Yorubas less
marginalized than their Ibiobio compatriots? Our elite, regardless of ethnic
origin, are plundering Nigeria�s treasury while sentencing the masses of all
ethnic groups to marginal existence.
How many of our senators or ministers are
concerned that after 30 years of service, the total gratuity of a professor,
engineer, lawyer, surveyor, teacher or civil servant is less than the
furniture allowance of a senator or minister? What is needed is a united
front by the marginalized masses of Nigeria against adventurers in power and
career opportunists who have turned public service into looting service.
Nigeria is a rich and great country
It is true that God has bequeathed Nigeria with
abundant natural resources that can make us a rich and great nation.
However, the truth is that nations do not become rich or great simply
because they have natural resources. The Soviet Union, a nation with a
surfeit of natural resources, languished in economic stagnation and
eventually imploded under the crushing weight of its own internal
contradictions.
Their experience and ours epitomize the great
gulf between greatness and potential greatness. Those who enjoy the thrill
of watching a buffoon making a fool of himself may deceptively call us the
�Giant of Africa� but we must not be hoodwinked by such frivolity.
Of course, the antics of a buffoon in the
market square is a comic relief but those who enjoy and laugh at such antics
never wish to have a buffoon for a child.
The whole world has become a global village in
which being �the giant of Africa� while remaining a �dwarf of the world� is
nothing to sing about.
The pandemics of grinding poverty, preventable
diseases, ridiculous superstitions cloaked as religion, environmental
degradation and technological backwardness, all sprawling across Nigeria are
not indicators of greatness.
Do we talk of greatness about a country where
educational institutions have broken down, transportation services are
backward, physical infrastructures are decrepit, and agricultural technology
is primitive?
Can we describe as great a nation where medical
services are extremely poor, water supply is episodic, and power supply is
epileptic? These variegated but all-too-familiar woes inflict economic
asphyxiation and physical debilitation on our people. Yet, we talk about
greatness!
Likewise, how can we say that Nigeria is rich
when there is more wealth in this city, Dallas Texas, than the entire
country of Nigeria? Sure, Nigeria has the potential to be rich. As we speak,
there are many individuals in this room today who have the potential to be
rich.
But unless they develop that potential, they
will never be rich. Likewise, the wealth of nations is not created by
wishful thinking or bloated ego.
Rather, it is created and sustained by the
concerted application of human ingenuity and discipline in the exploitation
of natural resources.
It is clear by now that I have not come here to
paint for you a rosy picture about Nigeria�s future. I have long
disqualified myself from the membership of OFN (Operation Fool the Nation).
Problems are not solved when we shy away from them.
The perennial recurrence of our woes is
sufficient proof that problems do not disappear just by being neglected. The
Nigerian bus is badly damaged. Together, we can repair it. Every bus needs
headlights. Nigeria will not prosper until we embrace a collective vision of
justice for all.
If unity is our goal, justice must be our
guiding light. When a nation sows the seed of injustice, it inevitably reaps
disunity. Together, we must fight injustice in every part of our land. Every
bus needs a roof, windscreens and a protective frame.
For the Nigerian bus, the Rule of Law together
with an unflagging adherence to universal human rights must be our roof and
windscreen.
Nigeria will not prosper until the winds of
tyranny and the disregard for due process are structurally disabled from
ever assaulting our human rights and civic liberties. These liberties are
our God-given unalienable rights.
Any government attempting to infringe upon
these liberties must be resisted by any means necessary.
Every bus needs a steering wheel. For the
Nigerian bus, the steering wheel must be discipline. And by discipline, I
speak not of the regimentation of our lives by military or civilian
autocrats. Rather, national discipline is the singular focus on noble goals
and the rational process for achieving them. It is not about morbid
centralism; it is about the resolute choices of a free people in moral
pursuit of progress.
Every bus needs brakes, and seatbelts. For the
Nigerian bus, our brakes and seatbelts must be constitutional checks and
balances that safeguard our nation against governmental excesses. Of course,
every bus needs an engine, a battery, tires, wheels accelerators etc.
I have no doubt that together, we can provide
the Nigerian bus needs. However, Ladies and Gentlemen, the issue is not what
we can do together; it is what we shall do together.
First, we may leave the bus unattended and
continue our journey of harrowing woes. Needless to say, it is suicidal for
anyone to knowingly travel in a bus that is in a state of disrepair. Sooner
or later, such a bus will crash. Ask the Soviet Union, India, Pakistan,
Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia all of whom imploded under the weight of
internal stress. We must reject this option.
Second, we may repair the bus and take a ride
to peace and prosperity. Examples abound in history about nations that
rebuilt from disrepair.
Third, we may disembark the bus and let the
passengers get unto new ones according to their sovereign and free wishes.
That was what happened when Denmark peacefully
broke into Sweden and Denmark; Sweden later peacefully broke into Norway and
Sweden. That was what happened when Czechoslovakia peacefully broke into
Czech and Slovakia.
Quite frankly, I am completely comfortable
either with joining to repair the Nigerian bus or helping to peacefully
dismantle it so that we all can be spared the agonizing but inescapable
destiny of riding a damaged bus to our collective perdition.
And so, to that infinite Source of vision,
wisdom, courage and grace, the Supreme One we call Allah, Chineke, Obong,
Oghene, Olodumare, Ooundu, Osalobua etc., I say: So Help us God to either
repair soon or peacefully and quickly dismantle our hapless bus!
Adeyeye is Secretary-General of the United
Democratic Front of Nigeria (UDFN)The angry monarch lamented the incidence
of allowing those he described as certificate fraudsters to become
traditional rulers thereby desecrating the revered institution. He equally
expressed his reservations about those Igbos who have already indicated
their interests to run for the 2007 presidency. �If you involve me in the
committee that will screen and choose our candidate, none of the people
parading themselves now from Igboland will be cleared,� he asserted.
So far, Imo State Governor, Chief Achike Udenwa,
has openly shown an interest in the 2007 presidency while Governors Sam Egwu
(Ebonyi), Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia) and Chimaroke Nnamani (Enugu) are being
speculated to be interested in the race too but none of them has confirmed
it yet. Indeed the refusal by most of the South-East governors to attend the
Asaba meeting has been attributed to their respective interest in the 2007
presidency.
Only Udenwa and Egwu, the chairman of the
Conference of South-East Governors graced the occasion. Governor Chris Ngige
of Anambra State sent his deputy, Chief Ugochukwu Nwankwo. Kalu was
represented by the secretary to the state government (SSG), while a
commissioner stood in for Nnamani.
From the National Assembly, only the Senate
President, Chief Adolphus Wabara and Senator Emma Anosike came. Sixteen
other senators from the South-East, Anioma (Delta North) and the Igbo
speaking parts of Rivers State were absent, including virtually all the
House of Representatives members from the five South-East states and the
affected parts of the other two South-South states. Besides, Rivers State
Governor, Dr. Peter Odili, who is married to an Igbo woman and who with
their kids bear Igbo names was absent at the meeting. He is known to be
interested in the 2007 presidency.
It is believed that Odili is President Olusegun
Obasanjo�s choice for either the presidential or the vice-presidential slot.
The snag is that even though Ohaneze�s expanded search for presidential
materials has put Odili into reckoning, he is not known to be keen to openly
identify with the Igbo cause, when compared to his association with the
Yoruba of the South-West, Obasanjo�s ethnic group.
Achuzia told NewAge in an interview that Odili
is very qualified to be the Igbo�s candidate if the Ohaneze screening
committee, which is yet to set up clears him.
He argued that the only qualification anyone
needs to be considered by the committee is being born an Igbo and an
assurance that he is not ashamed of being an Igbo.
The screening committee earlier established by
the �South -East caucus of elected and appointed political officeholders�
headed by Nzeribe, is seen be many people as a hydra-headed monster which
Ohaneze and Aka-Ikenga must first of all deal with, if they ever plan to
make a success of the screening exercise.
Virtually all the members of this committee,
which include �some chieftains of Ohaneze, the five governors of the zone,
all the National Assembly members from the zone, past Senate presidents and
speakers of the House of Representatives and all national officers of
registered political parties who are from the zone� are members of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This committee was set up in August 2004
independent of Ohaneze. Apart from Nzeribe�s controversial personality,
other Ohaneze chieftains in its membership are equally the same PDP members.
Against this background, Achuzia explained that, �Ohaneze, unlike Aka-Ikenga
or any other Igbo group, is open to all Igbo sons and daughters. So, every
Igbo man or woman is a member of Ohaneze. We are not an elitist or
professional group.�
The question has also been raised over whether
the committee should report to the PDP or Ohaneze. But from the proceedings
at the Asaba retreat, it is likely that the Irukwu-led organisation might
have distanced itself from the Nzeribe-led committee. According to Irukwu,
Asaba retreat is a fence-mending prelude to the main all Igbo summit that
would take place in December. It is there that this and other knotty issues,
including what manner of sanction that would be taken against �saboteurs�
and how to go about them will be discussed and made public.
Apart from Odili, the names of some potential
presidential candidates have cropped up. One of them is former Commonwealth
Secretary-General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku who is married to a Yoruba woman,
Foluke. Anyaoku, it is believed, would make an acceptable candidate both in
the West and in the North.
Again, like Odili, Anyaoku is not known to
associate himself with the Igbo cause and one of the organisers of the Asaba
retreat told NewAge that his major misgiving about an Anyaoku presidency is
that it would tilt more towards the West and North than even the East.
Prof. Pat Utomi, an Aka-Ikenga trustee and
chairman of Platinum Bank, is another person whose name cropped up. Utomi is
a consummate intellectual and technocrat from Anioma. Since the area is
regarded as being in the fringe of Igbo land, this may work against him.
Besides, he is not known to have any political leaning.
Others include Chief Arthur Mbanefo, Nigeria�s
former permanent representative at the United Nations, Chief Anyim Pius
Anyim, former Senate president, Dr. Dora Akunyili, the National Agency for
Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) director-general and
Governor Egwu who was a relatively unknown lecturer at the Enugu State
University prior to the 1998 gubernatorial primaries.
But one of those at the Asaba retreat who spoke
to NewAge advised Ohaneze to collaborate with the Movement for the
Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), in its desire to
maintain discipline among Ndigbo if �political hawks who have perfected the
practice of pulling the carpets off the feet of our people� would not
continue with their nefarious activities unabated.
When NewAge wanted to know why MASSOB�s leader,
Ralph Uwazurike, was not invited to the reconciliatory retreat, Asoluka
explained that reconciliation is an ongoing exercise and would be gradual to
avoid sending the wrong signal. Another Aka-Ikenga leader added that the
group was proud of Uwazurike and what he stood for, especially his
non-violent approach to drawing national and global attention to the plight
of Ndigbo in the country. However, he added that with time Uwazurike�s
perceived �extremities� would be tempered down to a level where other groups
would no longer be suspicious of openly associating with him and MASSOB.
One major achievement of the Asaba retreat may
yet be the coming together for the first time of core Igbo leaders from east
and west of the Niger.Culled from New AGE Newspapers.
