Igbos are not cantankerous people. They are progressives and highly-respected personalities whose belief in the “One-Nigeria” ideology has been variously demonstrated by their residency and establishment of business in the remotest parts of Nigeria, and of course Africa.
It is with great disappointment and utter disgust that this writer condemns the position of the APC government by proscribing and naming the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) a terrorist group by a court pronouncement. After the 30-month Nigeria-Biafra civil war that ended in January 1970, Igbos healed themselves by their own sweat after giving a compensation of two bucks of all they owned in cash and assets. Nigeria made no effort to assist in the rebuilding effort of the Igbos even with the ‘no victor no vanquished’ stance.
More like a man who burnt his wife’s box of clothes because she annoyed him, makes up with her and watches her move around in sheer nakedness without any plan to replace the clothes which he burnt did Nigeria move on without ensuring that the Igbos recovered with assistance from a common purse. But it’s okay, what is important is that Igbos healed, gallantly. And everyone moved on. Igbos in their usual parlance of “Ife nine talun’abanibuluanwu” (let everything that caused discomfort at night be attributed to being mosquitoes), continued their struggle to re-establish, re-energize, reinstate and refurbish their shattered nation, dreams, hopes and aspirations. Single-handedly, they rebuilt their states and surpassed even many geopolitical zones who lost nothing during that period.
Fifty years down the line, the same reasons for which some “Igbo” officers decided to purge the leadership cadre of the Nigerian Republic by the January 1966 coup d’etat persists. After Nnamdi Azikiwe, no Igbo personality has smelled the apex position of the Nigerian leadership cadre despite the “No victor, no vanquished” slogan with which the war was ended. Bitterness, rancor and nepotism remained vile in the Nigerian administrative system.
In 1979, Chief Alex Ekwueme managed to ascend the position of a puppet Vice-President with little or no administrative powers to make decisions or execute them. The northern and western politicians and military and quasi-military personalities have all taken turns from the late 1960s till present, in holding the apex leadership position in Nigeria, but no Igbo personality has been deemed fit neither has the South-East been commissioned to present a flag bearer. Despite these impediments of national cohesion which bedevils Nigeria, south-easterners have not relented in maintaining the filial relationship which brazenly manifests in their inter-ethnic marriages and business coalitions. Denied a rightful place in the centre, Igbos sulk home to build their individual States according to the model which they dream of Nigeria. It is on the basis of this that Ndi Anambra anticipates the upcoming guber elections slated for November 18th, 2018.
The battle line is drawn between Osita Chidoka, Tony Nwoye, Willie Obiano and Oseloka Obaze and others. Tony Nwoye’s candidature as far as the Anambra polls is concerned, is inconsequential. Ndi Anambra will be too stupid to vote for Tony Nwoye if President Buhari, the APC leader to which Nwoye belongs is intolerant of the Biafran values and assails it in such a brash manner. Of course, Obiano and Obaze are no match to Chidoka. Willie Obiano had four years to right the wrongs that his political godfather, Peter Obi could not achieve, rather he spent the years buying the compassion of Ndi Anambra in the face of the incessant attacks launched at him by Peter Obi.
On assumption of office, Obiano did not contest the goodwill of Peter Obi, but as soon as they fall out of favour with each other, and of course, sustained by Victor Umeh, Obiano and Obi became bitter foes. At every point, their animosity was dagger drawn; not even President Goodluck Jonathan was able to resolve the acrimony that raised their relationship of many years before he left office. They both demeaned their executive positions as the erstwhile and current first citizens of Anambra State. They fought publicly and unbecoming assertions were alluded to them. Throughout his tenure, Obiano became drenched in deep political antagonisms with a faction of his political party on one side, and his erstwhile political godfather, Peter Obi who had cross-carpeted to PDP on the other hand. Obi prefers stooges to independent-minded men who can be inventive without being tied to his apron like a sulking son. The roads in Anambra State are in a sorry-state; Obiano’s preoccupation is renovating old roads. The portion of the Onitsha-Enugu expressway between Umunya and Awkuzu junction has been in its current deplorable state for the past four years since Obiano assumed power. At some point along the expressway, motorists resort to a diversion which is impassable when it rains. The road diversion is transverse with a narrow bridge, and a contour that is not only windy, but also spooky; littered with jobless youths, hawkers and other manners of individuals who constitute threat to security for motorists who pass through there at certain times of the day. Does it mean anything to Obiano that he is unable to fix that ‘federal’ road from the revenues which accrue from Eke-Awka, Onitsha Main Market, Ochanja Market, Nkpor Motor Parts Market, Ogidi Building Market, Ose-Okwodu Market, Onitsha Bridge-Head Market, and so on.
(To be Continued …)
(Ife Onwugbufor is a journalist, lecturer and writer based in Taraba State of Nigeria)