By Obunike Nwosu
The man to take over from Chief Nnia Nwodo as President-General of Oha-na-eze Ndi-Igbo – the apex socio-cultural organization and mouth-piece of the Igbo nation, worldwide – would be elected in the second week of January, 2021. There are five aspirants, namely, Professor George Obiozor, Professor Chidi Osuagwu, Dr Joe Nwaorgu, Chief Goddy Uwazuruike and Dr Chris Asoluka. Who does the cap most fit – at this time that the Igbo, in particular and Nigerians, in general, are at the crossroads?
Chief Nwodo is retiring in the ovation of robust leadership. He was never the captive of any political party and never lost his voice. He remained at the vanguard of the rapprochement between the South-East, South-South, South-West and the Middle-Belt towards a new national order that could put Nigeria back in business. Critical initiatives, such as the one for a Stabilization Fund for socio-economic advancement of Ala-Igbo and the one for political direction, among others, were advanced during his era.
His successor must equally be independent to hold out and remain uncompromised in the defense of Igbo interests and in the advocacy for a new national order. He must be able to concretize the bridge with other regional groups. Critical initiatives on the table must now be put into action.
Oha-na-eze must get to the grassroots, through the town unions, with campaigns and programs that can change the peoples outlook to community development, business (with special reference to sustainable growth and investment in the South-East) and to participation in politics, beginning with registration and voting in elections. The Igbo in diaspora, the youth and the womenfolk must be carried along. Oha-na-eze should not remain an elitist organization but must be transformed into a popular movement.
Generational and gender shifts are imminent in the socio-political landscape – from the old guard to the young – in addition to extant centrifugal forces. Towards 2023, there will be a lot of horse-trading in the political arena, both on restructuring and on the Presidency. The President-General must be someone with the sense of anticipation and broad appeal, who can rally all the tendencies, even as the Nigerian situation gets more disconsolate. Though apolitical, Oha-na-eze must provide guidance to the people.
His job is for 24 hours each day for the 365 days of each year of his four-year term, more so, in these days of travail in Nigeria, added to the people’s audacious and questioning culture and the stress level of Igbo leadership. With all due respect, the job specification calls to question any aspirant who is more than the Biblical three score and ten (70) years. The President-General of Oha-na-eze should be someone on the bridge between the old and the young. Ask Chief Nwodo, who has served and is retiring before age 69!
In other words, the ideal President-General must be versatile, energetic, independent and incorruptible. He must be a multi-disciplinary man of many parts, an orator and a networker. He must have practical experience in Nigerian political waters and must have held a significant public office. He must be a man of culture and, for cognate experience, must have served an Igbo socio-cultural organization.
As can be expected of the Igbo nation, each of the current aspirants to the Office of the President-General of Oha-na-eze is highly talented and will find boxes to tick. But only one of them can tick all the boxes.
He is 65-year, multi-disciplinary and multi-talented Chris Chigoziri Asoluka, Ph. D, whose profile is so vast, rich and intimidating that you can hardly find anything to drop but for the constraint of publishing space.
In brief, Dr Chris Asoluka holds five university degrees straddling several disciplines such as Political Science, Law, Economics, Finance, International Trade and Shipping – from the Universities of Ibadan, Lagos, London and the CASS Business School of the City University, London – capped with the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D) degree in Policy analysis of the University of Ibadan. He is also a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Administration.
Dr Asoluka has outstanding practical experience in politics (among others, former Imo State Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development, former Chairman of the Committee of Finance Commissioners in Nigeria and Former Member of the House of Representatives and its key committees)
He also has cognate experience in the leadership of the Igbo – as former two-time, most distinguished, President of Aka Ikenga (the intellectual wing of Oha-na-eze) as former National Vice President-General of Oha-na-eze and chairman or member of its key committees, including the election committee and as a current member of the inner chamber or Ime-Obi of the organization. In addition, Dr Asoluka holds the highly revered traditional title of Okwuru-oha (Distinguished Orator and Spokesman of the people)
Dr Asoluka, an astute businessman, world-wide consultant and networker, had been Chairman of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority and consultant to the National Assembly, State Assemblies and State Governments as well as Federal Government agencies, mainly, on fiscal and maritime matters.
Perhaps, most importantly, Chris is well-known as a man of the highest integrity, who is focused, firm, sociable, humble and likeable, all at the same time, with a peculiar passion for youth development.
Let the Igbo begin to repudiate the derogatory perception that they could be easily bought and ensnared, which has been the case since the capitulation of the National Convention of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) to the Northern Peoples’ Congress (NPC) in the formation of the first independent Federal Government of 1960. In that instance, none of the parties won enough parliamentary seats to form the government alone. The NCNC had 2.6 million votes, the Action Group (AG) 2 million and the NPC, 1.9 million votes.
Nigeria might have been different today if the NCNC had stood its ground and formed that government with the AG as suggested by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. It was the conquest mentality of the NPC (led by Sir Ahmadu Bello) in the saddle of government, that set the stage for all the upheavals of Nigeria (beginning with the NPC-orchestrated political crisis of the Western Region). The same Igbo whose party surrendered the platform have suffered the most, yet, have continued to stumble in decision-making!
Change has to begin somewhere, no matter how obscure. Let the Igbo become more circumspect and begin to stand their ground and to turn a new leaf with the forthcoming election of Oha-na-eze President-General. Let delegates to that election vote for the most-rounded, independent, rugged and dependable aspirant and ignore the machinations of those overwhelmed by the glitter of public office and pecuniary interests rather than the corporate future of the Igbo, in particular and Nigeria, in general!
The snare of 2023 Presidency must be avoided. A new national order should be uppermost to the Igbo. In any case, which promise has General Buhari and the APC government ever kept? The APC government has, totally, failed Nigeria. The party can hardly last General Buhari’s second term – not to talk of winning the 2023 Presidential election. Why would anybody fall for the losing horse?
