The current Ralph Obioha caretaker committee of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has a salvaging mission. To begin with, it is sad to note that the immediate past executive of Ohanaeze whose tenure expired on 12th January, 2015 still parades itself as the leadership of the organisation. When will Africans begin to respect and abide by the constitution of their land? When will sit-tight leaders and rulers and tenure elongation fascists stop disgracing our people and stop putting us up as baboons incapable of playing by the rules of the game? Why must leaders cling to power against the provision of the constitution that set them up? Why? Who does not know that Ohanaeze Ndigbo is very long overdue for restructuring and revitalisation if it is expected to play effective and purposeful role as the arrowhead of Ndigbo in present-day Nigeria?
A flashback to the founding of Ohanaeze shows that the Igbo State Union of pre-independence could be said to be the forerunner of Ohanaeze. There was in existence many Igbo socio-cultural associations that pursued basic group and mass interests. They included Ohanaeze Ndigbo, National Union of True Igbo Congress (based mainly in the United States of America), Igbo Youth Movement, Igboezue Cultural Association, Igbo Progressive Forum, Confederation of Igbo Students, Igbo Youth and Leadership League, Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Eastern Mandate Union, Ndigbo Youth Movement, Federated Igbo Youth Congress (Port Harcourt based) and Delegates Conference of all Igbos living in northern Nigeria (with headquarters in Maiduguri). Until Ohanaeze became the umbrella Igbo cultural organisation, these motley Igbo cultural groups pulled from diverse directions each claiming to be the authentic Igbo voice and speaking with different voices on issues affecting Ndigbo.
A resuscitated Ohanaeze Ndigbo came into being in the Second Republic as a counterpoise by the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) against the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) in Igbo states of Nigeria, the then Anambra and Imo states. It came as a response of NPN leadership in Igbo land to their failure to mobilise Igbo population behind their preferred political platform. It was therefore a trump card to achieve political relevance and legitimacy in Igbo land by a conservative faction of the Igbo political elite (merchant class, traditional institutions, politicians and few intelligentsia) against the backdrop of an iron cast grip on the ordinary people by the rival NPP. It is no surprise that Ohanaeze recorded no achievement and suffered serious credibility problem for much of 1980’s since it did not pursue any great cause for Ndigbo. It was merely the political wing of the now comatose Peoples Club of Nigeria, an amorphous congregation of the Igbo moneyed class whose fame for eating and drinking rivaled that of the Epicurians.
A new repackaged Ohanaeze resurfaced in the heat of the turmoil and unrest generated by Babangida’s winding political transition programme ostensibly to give voice to the interest and aspirations of all Igbos within a deeply troubled, if rapidly changing Federation a la Afenifere. The June 12 crisis of 1993 provided the repackaged Ohanaeze with its first acid test as a credible platform that can articulate Igbo interests. It failed to provide the much needed leadership direction, thus leaving the Igbo nation groping.
In the new democratic dispensation (1999-date) the story is the same – a leadership without focus, without articulating the core Igbo interests. What we see has since been the pursuit of purely selfish personal interest by members of the executive of Ohanaeze who hijack the organisation and go cap in hand to Abuja begging for appointments as ministers, ambassadors, board members or for federal contracts, consultancy services and retainerships. Mrs. Sarah Jibril one-time PDP Presidential aspirant put it well in a newspaper interview when she accused some Igbo leaders of trading with the votes of their people. It is sad but true that some of our leaders lack original conviction, principles and commitment to Igbo interest. They pursue personal business interest while pretending to represent Ndigbo. So the tragic picture has emerged of the greedy selfish Igbo politicians who would sell their birth right for money – a band of carpet beggars and boot lickers.
It is no wonder that the out-gone Ohanaeze executive (who would want to sit tight) stampeded themselves to Aso Rock to drum their support for President Jonathan. They even went further to pledge blanket support of all Ndigbo for Jonathan’s second term ambition in the imminent general elections without obtaining a quid pro quo from the President for Ndigbo whom they claim to represent!
What really are Igbo core/cardinal/mass interests in Nigeria? First, Ndigbo are a migrant people, making their home wherever business is good. The ordinary Igbo man therefore invests in the stability and peace of the country and, as a corollary, in the security and safety of his person and property. He who threatens his life and property at the slightest argument threatening his basic interest. Therefore any presidential candidate worth Igbo support and Igbo leadership support must ensure the safety of Igbo lives and property anywhere in Nigeria.
In his emphasis on this core Igbo interest, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu had this to say: “If killing Igbos living in the North continues to be a favourite hobby of religious fanatics without any realistic effort by the federal government to check it, then, the Igbos should find a path of dignity and protection for themselves even if it is as unattractive as a march back to Biafra. It is better to drive apart and be safe than to drive close and collide”. Former Governor of Anambra State Chief Chukwuemeka Ezeife reacted thus: “if the tree of one Nigeria must survive by periodically gulping the Igbo blood, that tree must be genetically re-engineered not to need blood at all. Certainly, if the tree of one Nigeria must have Igbo blood to survive, that tree must die”. In a paper titled “issues in Restructuring Corporate Nigeria’, which he presented at Arewa House, Kaduna (11th September, 1999), Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (now Emir of Kano) had this to say: “Our present political leaders have no sense of history. There is a new Igbo man, who was not born in 1966 and neither knows nor cares about Nzeogwu and Ojukwu. There are Igbo men on the street who were never Baifrans. They were born Nigerians, but suffer because of action of earlier generations. They will soon decide that it is better to fight their own war, and may be find an honourable peace than to remain in this contemptible state in perpetuity… the nation is sitting on a time-bomb”.
Secondly, the Igbo inhabits a comparatively overpopulated land. It is basic interest to have their land developed to ensure that jobs are created by putting in place such infrastructures as good road network, electricity, development of Onitsha Niger river port, speedy completion of Enugu international airport and establishment of industries among others. Thirdly, Ndigbo are a Christian people. Christianity provides the standard of values upon which everything is built. It is therefore in Igbo interest that Christianity is at par with any other religion in the land. Any candidate that wants Igbo votes must give a guarantee of this. Fourthly, Ndigbo are increasingly marginalised because of structural and administrative imbalance put in place by successive military and civilian regimes since the end of the civil war. Restructuring Nigeria is now a basic Igbo interest.
It is proposed that restructuring should follow the following lines:
•Federal system based on the six geopolitical zones as the federating units/regions.
•Retain existing states as units of government within the zones.
•Devolution of more power from the centre to the zones.
•Reorganisation of security forces (armed forces and the police).
•An equitable formula for revenue allocation.
•Separate constitutions for the centre and the zones/regions.
An English political philosopher John Sutart Mills posited that “for a federation to work, no one group will have the advantage of relying on its unaided strength. If there be such a one, and only one, it will insist on being master of the joint deliberations”. Unity is dependent on equal relations. Equal relations are difficult when one region of a State is so large or so powerful to override the wishes of the other regions put together.
At page 155 of his book, “In Biafra Africa Died”, Emefiena Ezeani put it this way: “Nigeria today is not only a disabled giant of Africa but also a synonym of anarchy and bloodbath, an edifice erected by Britain in 1914. Until that edifice is drastically and honestly dismantled and RESTRUCTURED, Nigeria will continue to be a disgrace to the Afro race”. It is a very big irony that very often, when history hits us in the eyes, even as pin pricks, we don’t see it. As Chief C.C Onoh, former Governor of old Anambra State put it; “Mind you, if we are not careful to remedy the things that produced the Niger Delta Militant Groups and the MASSOB, this country is bound to break up”.
A Yoruba pressure group, Oodua Liberation Movement warned (Saturday Vanguard February 14, 2015) as follows: “We therefore demand for immediate restructuring of Nigeria soon after the new government is inaugurated. Let there be no illusion that meaningful development and peace can be achieved in Nigeria by any political party or any person without first restructuring Nigeria”. These are the issues any responsible Igbo leadership group must canvass before the two major presidential candidates. It is disingenuous for any organization that purports to speak for Igbos to pledge blanket Igbo support for any candidate without some quid pro quo. It is as banal as it is stupid. It does not make sense.
Ohanaeze caretaker committee has put out invitation to the two presidential candidates – Jonathan and Buhari to discuss these core interests of Ndigbo. It is up to them to play ball and honour the invitation. Like the non-partisan organisation that they are, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Caretaker Committee believes that Igbos should vote according to their individual conscience. Ends
•Joe Asogwa is a lawyer and political scientist
