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World Igbo
Day Celebration: A re-awakening of
consciousness
By
Ben Duru Owerri
The
2004 World Igbo Day celebration organised by Ohaneze Ndigbo no doubt would
remain a watershed in the annals of the teeming populace of the South East
geo-political zone. That the event was very well attended is not in
contention. That the Imo State Local Organizing Committee headed by the
Information and Culture Commissioner, Chief Chris Okewulonu, performed
creditably is a fact. And that Governor Achike Udenwa, once more,
demonstrated his avowed resolve to put Igbo first need not be
over-emphasized.
But what actually did Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural
organisation of the Igbo speaking people of former Eastern Nigeria seek to
achieve through the event? Was it to embark on a fanfare where orators of
the zone would mount the rostrum and engage in platitudes that have become
the clich�s in the country? Was it to give teeth to their quest that the
Nigerian president in 2007 should come from their own stock? Or was it to
send a strong signal to the rest of their brothers in the conglomerate
called Nigeria that the people of the South East are an integral part of
the tripod and that without one the tripod caves in?
If these and many other questions were what the organizers set out
also to achieve, without mincing words, Ohaneze Ndigbo over-shot their
expectations. Beginning from the church service at CATOL, Owerri, and
attended by Governor Udenwa
and the President-General, Professor Joe Irukwu, among other chieftains of
the organisation. and then to the summit at the Imo Concord Hotel as well
as the laying of wreath at the cenotaph of the Unknown Soldier, it was
very clear to any discerning mind that truly the Igbo have come of
age.
However, if these were all that is needed to send a signal or
convince other sides of the tripod that Igbo should be given a chance in
2007, then Ndigbo should go home and take a well deserved nap. But truth
is that there is more to the game than the uninitiated would
grasp.
While conceding to the fact that the Ohaneze Ndigbo are aware of
the politricks associated with power game and also that �the years of
rolling agbada and making declarations are over�, perhaps, they should do
more in the area of looking for a candidate that would be acceptable to
the rest of the zone.
For in all intents and purposes, the world Igbo Day celebration is
seen more as a political rather than a cultural exposee. To have committed
millions of scare resources to host a cultural festival in present day
Nigeria would be akin to telling the teeming hungry people to go to
hell.
The new consciousness engendered in the minds of Ndigbo over the
four years period the celebration started, no doubt, has created a
reawakening in the hearts as well as the potential available to the
people. This is succinctly put by Governor Udenwa when he said �far from
regarding ourselves as second class citizens of our own society, Ndigbo
today have woken to the realization that we and only we can hold any form
of line on the extent to which we can aspire and achieve as a people,
including aspiring to the highest position in the
land�.
It is to this extent that the remembrance of the fallen heroes and
heroines of the zone and their post- humours award is seen as one of the
steps to concisely show that the Igbo have come out of the doldrums. In
the lecture entitled �Eulogy of the Fallen Heroes of Igbo Nationalism�
Professor Cletus Ngozi Uwazurike, Provost, Alvan Ikoku College of
Education, Owerri described the Igbo �as the homo sapiens of Africa,...
known for their ingenuity in mutually all perspectives of life, especially
their rare business acumen and intellectual sagacity.� According to the
erudite professor, Igbo are dominant in the world culture and their
contribution to civilization is primordial and unfathomable. �They are
like the mustard seed and can be found everywhere world over�. Above all,
he sees the remembrance as the most logical thing to do in the furtherance
of attempts by Igbo to re-discover themselves and their
identity.
Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, in his speech at the Dan Anyiam Stadium,
drew the attention of Ndigbo to the fact that the January 31 Umuahia
Declaration of the apex socio-cultural organisation marked the end of the
perceived marginalisation of the people of the South East. He called on
Igbo to do away with those things that have marked them out as not only
selfish but disgruntled elements in a corporate Nigeria. The renowned
jurist maintained that the marginalisation of the Igbo is further
exacerbated by the wishful connivance of their kith and kin and that
whatever attempts made to assuage the problem must be based on mutual
understanding and agreement on the need to move
forward.
Governor Udenwa and indeed all the governors of the South East with
one voice drew the attention of all and sundry to the fact that Nigeria�s
existence would not be sacrificed but that those who providence has
saddled with leadership responsibilities should not do so with
ignominy.
As far as the celebration was concerned �we should not leave this
gathering without proclaiming, in unequivocal terms, the agenda for going
about achieving some of our immediate political and social aspirations.
One of the problems that have not ceased to sadden me is an apparent lack
of discipline in the Igbo rank and file. There appears to be an utter lack
of respect for our elders, the worship of affluence and a recent disdain
for the Igbo culture of consensus� Udenwa said.
He
maintained that education, which used to be the pride of every individual
Igbo family, has been subsumed for the quest for money and that in
politics, a cacophony of discordant sounds and voices have led to the rest
of Nigeria staring at the Igbo in bewilderment and amazement. What to do?
Udenwa advises that �we should never allow ourselves to be intimidated.
This means that we shall be required to make sacrifices, at all levels.
�As I pointed out in my goodwill message, Ndigbo, wherever they reside,
must now begin to re-enact those positive attributes that have marveled,
baffled and overwhelmed our competitors in the Nigerian project. We must
extend our hand of friendship to all our neighbours in the South South,
the South West and the North. We must seek to build a Nigeria where the
feeling of despair has no place, where every component unit of the
federation feels it has a stake in all dividends accruable to
her.�
According to him, the only negotiation that Igbo are ready to enter
is that which would seek to agree on what other state holders require of
the Igbo man or woman who would occupy Aso Rock in 2007. He also said that
he would be ready to sacrifice his personal ambition, which he failed to
explain, including subordinating same to ensure that Ndigbo take their
rightful turn at the 2007 presidency.
Others who came with goodwill messages included Wada Nas, former
minister of special duties; Paschal Bafyau, former president of the
Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; and Mrs. Sarah Jubril, all of whom applauded
the new cohesion in the rank and file of the Igbo.
Beyond all these, what many observers have found difficult to
discern was the near absence of popular Igbo leaders, both past and
present at the celebration. There were those whose absence at the event
has become a source of worry to close watchers of Igbo and Nigeria
politics.
But in all intents and purposes, the World Igbo Day Celebration has
not only set Imo aside as the emerging boiling point of Igbo politics but
has, once more, illuminated the call by Orlu leaders for Udenwa to join
the presidential contest. Truth is that the politics of Ohaneze and indeed
the politics of the South East would never be complete without the
favourable mention of Udenwa and Imo State.
And it has not come as a surprise. Today, Imo is the home state of
the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra
(MASSOB), led by Chief Ralph Uwazuruike. Secondly, the 2003 birthday of
Dim Odimegwu Ojukwu was held at the Dan Anyiam Stadium where he concluded
that Imo remains central and faithful to the struggle for the emancipation
of the entire Igbo race. Thirdly, there is a governor who has not only
respected himself but also brought respect to the Igbo nation through his
actions, his achievements and his calculated efforts to point out facts
rather than engage in unnecessary muscle flexing.
Against
these backgrounds, the challenge before Igbo in 2007 would not be that
there are no materials from the Igbo stock to occupy Aso Rock, as Irukwu
said, but the real litmus test would be the process of selecting the
actual person. Another would be the position of those who failed to attend
in spite of the publicity and open invitation.
However, Ohaneze Ndigbo as
well as the Chief Okewulonu -ed organizing committee has shown that there
is a new awakening in the consciousness of the Igbo that it is 2007 or
never. As Irukwu said, the Umuahia Declaration as well as the new
constitution which empowers the wards and local governments as the real
pivot of the leadership guest would be the bedrock on which the new Igbo
revolves, is a truism and one cannot agree less.
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