By Emeka Alex Duru
Erstwhile Interim National Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ben Obi, some time ago, told some us a story about late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu and his passion on anything concerning the people, that I recall always. Obi, for short introduction, is among the finest breed of politicians in contemporary Nigeria. Quite deep and highly cerebral, he is not of the class that equivocates on issues.
According to the Senator, at the outbreak of the 1991 Kano Riots at which the Igbo residents were the victims, he and some friends had thought it wise to get the late Ikemba visit the State for two reasons. One was to reach out to the then Emir, Alhaji Ado Bayero, to remind him of the long standing relationship he had had with the Igbo and the need for him to call his rampaging subjects to order. Another reason was for Ojukwu to go and identify with the traumatised Igbo and give them hope.
Convinced of the urgency of the matter, Obi, who had the ears of the legendary leader, was asked to take the message to him. On getting to Ojukwu’s Victoria Island, Lagos residence, that hot afternoon, the ex-Biafran leader, instantly sensed that something may have gone wrong to necessitate the unscheduled visit. Heading straight to the point, Obi dropped the disturbing information. “Our people are being killed in Kano, Eze Igbo and you needed to go and give them hope”, the Senator told Ikemba. Pronto, Ojukwu ordered his aides to fetch his bag containing his toiletries and other essentials and they headed for the airport to catch the last flight to Kano. They were airborne when Ojukwu turned to Obi and asked him, “Kedu ife Ndi be anyi melu? (What did our people do?) Kedu ife na-ese? ( What was the issue?)”. It was then that the Senator narrated to him the cause of the riots and the degree of loss the Igbo had suffered. On getting to Kano, Ojukwu held sessions with the late Emir and Igbo leadership in the State. The riots were instantly brought to an end.
Obi, in recalling the encounter, was at great difficulty in hiding his emotion. But that is not the issue. It is rather its significance that matters. The story touched on the “onye aghala nwanne ya” philosophy in Igbo cosmogony. It simply emphasizes one being his brother’s keeper, especially at moments of need. The older generations of the Igbo society recall that it was in keeping with this hallowed tradition that many of them bowed to the call for the defence of their territory in the 1960s when the political temperament in Nigeria, did not offer them any hope.
The result was the grueling 30-month (1967 – 1970) Civil War, that left the entire geography of the East, devastated, aside human and material losses. The recovery process which was facilitated by the communal collective efforts and their ingenious apprenticeship system, also fell into the arrangement. This accounted for the Igbo, in less than 20 years after the war, favourably competing with or even overtaking other Nigerians that did not experience the hostilities, in terms of personal accomplishment and group advancement.
But an area the people are yet to get their acts right, is on political engagement. Since the end of the civil war, the best time the Igbo appeared to have had it right was in the second republic, when they produced the Vice President, Alex Ekwueme and Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Edwin Ume-Ezeoke. The feat which came barely nine years after the war (1979), had appeared to prepare the people to regain the leading political position they had occupied before being dislodged in the crisis leading to the civil war. Sadly, it has not been so. If anything, the Igbo as a nation, has been on downward slide in the country’s political arrangement, ever since. In place of the collective agenda that had driven their efforts and the onye aghala nwanne ya spirit that had underlined their actions, has been the enthronement of the sordid “I before others” (IBO) philosophy. In consequence, the people have woefully failed to make it big, politically, at national level, either as individuals or as a group. Rather, the group has become the whipping boy of Nigeria’s intrigue-infested politics.
This is why the current hazy disposition of the political elite from the South East over the nomination of former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi as the running mate to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, gives cause for concern. Since Obi’s nomination, the PDP leadership in the zone, has not warmly received the gesture. If anything, the party chieftains in the region, has been treating the ticket with scant regards. They are said to have been angered that Atiku did not consult them before settling for Obi. They are said to be peeved that they read the announcement on the social media. Some are even said to bear the grudge that Obi, who started off with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), is relatively new in PDP. Some are even bothered that his emergence would work against their ambition at the national level.
These may be facts or insinuations. But they are hardly enough reasons to throw away the baby with the bathe water. This is especially as Obi possesses all that it takes to give the zone adequate representation at the centre.
Besides, since the commencement of the current dispensation, the South East has not come this close for reintegration into the national politics. On two occasions in the past when President Muhammadu Buhari had made similar gestures when he ran with late Chuba Okadigbo and later, Edwin Ume-Ezoke on the platform of the then All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), he did not get commensurate acceptance in the East. Even in the 2015 election when he ran on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he did not get enough votes in the region. Buhari has not forgiven the people on this. And may never do, given his vindictive nature.
The choice is thus, left for the Igbo to sustain and stand by their own or keep playing the ostrich and be prepared to pay for it, later.
