All is not well with the Igbo community in Bayelsa State. The umbrella body of the community, Ohaneze Ndigbo, Bayelsa, is torn apart by leadership crisis. The desire of two warring parties to control the chairmanship of the socio-cultural group has created security concerns in the state.
But the state government is not treating the issue with kids gloves. Governor Seriake Dickson deployed his aides representing the Igbo community in his administration to investigate the cause of the crisis and immediately restore unity in the battered Ohaneze Ndigbo.
According to a report presented by the three Igbo government aides, the immediate cause of the leadership crisis in Ohaneze Ndigbo started last year. A transition caused the problem. An election was held to fill a leadership vacuum following the expiration of the tenure of the past executive committee of the association.
One of the warring parties accused the past chairman of the association, Chief Okwudili Oko of foisting the current leadership on the Igbo community in the state. The dissenting voices said there was no election where Chief Amaku Chinedu emerged to lead the association.
They faulted the process that led to the emergence of Amaku and demanded a fresh election to right the wrongs. Some of them said it was the turn of Imo State to lead the group but that the Imo community in the state was not consulted to present its selected candidates for the election.
They insisted that the electoral committee changed the venue of the election, shifted the day to Sunday and held the poll at 9am when other members of the association were in church.
However, the supporters of the new chairman said there was an election, which was free, fair and properly conducted in line with the customs and conventions of the Igbo cultural group. They noted that the Imo community as an entity pulled out of Ohaneze but only resurfaced when it was their turn to lead the association.
They argued that since the organisation recognised individual membership, qualified members from Imo were allowed to contest the election in which Amaku emerged victorious. They contended that some of the candidates who were selected by the Imo community lost the election and congratulated Amaku.
They wondered why the opposition against the new leadership came six months after its inauguration. According to them, persons angry at Amaku and the process that threw him up attended his inauguration and celebrated with him. Besides, the new leadership had started performing the functions of Ohaneze Ndigbo.
Such were the ventilation of opinions and anger that characterised the reconciliation meeting between the two warring parties held recently at the conference hall of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The parley was organised by the Commandant, NSCDC, Mr. Desmond Agu, to resolve the crisis in Ohaneze Ndigbo.
It was a crucial meeting meant to permanently stop the tension emanating from the association. Agu, who also hails from Imo State, has been wading into the crisis to stop it from escalating. All the security commanders were represented at the parley.
The Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Igbogene, Mr. Peter Ezebuike and the DPO, Azikoro Village, Mr. Solomon Ubani, represented the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Asuquo Amba.
Others are A. Okoye, Department of State Security (DSS); Augustine Idima, Head of Asministration, NSCDC and Ikechukwu Lawrence Igwe, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). Also among the peacemakers is Special Assistant on Security, Government House, Mr. Amoyah Freeborn.
The Igbo warring parties and key players in the crisis also attended the meeting. Two of the governor’s aides, Chief Tony Madu and Sunny Chukwuezi, who were mandated by Dickson to resolve the crisis were also in attendance,
The Traditional Ruler (Igwe) of Igbo community, Ezeigbo, Anthony Uwakwe-Onyendu; Chairman, Ohaneze Youth Council (OYC), Chief Chinedu Arthur-Ugwa; Igbo Women Leader, Nzube Ifeobo and many other Igbo dignitaries, stakeholders and interested parties attended the parley.
Agu, the NSCDC Commandant in his opening address, said the security agencies were disturbed by the tension in the association. He said the disunity in the association was unsettling the Igbo community adding that there was need to maintain the existing peace in the state.
Addressing them he said: “We are not happy that we still hear stories of crisis in Igbo community. I have invited you here four times to deliberate on this matter, yet the problems persist. This is the final meeting we are having in this crisis. All the security agencies are here and whatever we decide here today will be the solution to this crisis”.
In fact, for over four hours, the peacemakers listened to the warring parties. One after another, they argued back and forth. At some points, arguments and shouting matches ensued because of frayed nerves. The issues seemed irreconcilable. But Agu and his team were patient, calm and in most cases dictated the lines of argument.
But some of them were neutral. They wanted peace. For instance, a patron of Ohaneze, Chief Wilfred Ihenagoru, insisted that there was no need for crisis. He lamented that some persons always wanted to be in the corridors of power.
He said: “This problem will not lead us anywhere. We should not spend our resources to resolve crisis. We elected a new government for some months. Some people always want to remain in government.
“When they are not in government, they cause problems. Former President Goodluck Jonathan lost and conceded defeat. Let us be patient, resolve our crisis and move forward”.
Prior to his departure, the Sector Commander, FRSC, Ikechukwu, appealed to the Igbo to put their house in order. He said the stubbornness of a few people had protracted the crisis in the association. He advised them to humbly accept whatever decision that would emanate from the meeting.
“There is always misunderstanding. We should not kill ourselves. Be humble. It is humility that will help us resolve our crisis. Everybody has masters. Let us bring down ourselves. What are we fighting for? There is no issue on ground. The issue is stubbornness”, he said.
Speaking for the police, Ubani, said Agu’s gesture was a welcome development and appealed to the association to bury their hatchet and look for the way forward. He said since no election is totally free of hitches, Ohaneze should ask the outcome of the last poll in the interest of peace.
“Let us always emphasize on things that bind us instead of things that separate us. No elections are free and fair anywhere. It could only be violent-free. Every little flaw in the election should be ignored for a way forward”, he said.
Also the representative of the DSS, Okoye, said the crisis was the first thing that confronted him when he resumed at the state office as the Assistant Director, Metropolitan City.
He said: “Some rich Igbo refuse to join the Ohaneze all because of the conflict amidst them. It’s not all issues that the security agencies should interfere in. Even if there are challenges, look for a peaceful way to resolve it as a way forward.
“Other tribes such as Yoruba have their association but you don’t ever hear of them having issues. Work towards shifting the grounds just for the sake of peace. The tenure has a number of years which is already counting”.
At the end, representatives of the security agencies read their resolutions to the crowd. In the spirits of ensuring the peace, they upheld the election that produced Amaku.
They asked the Ohaneze Youth Council (OYC) and a splinter group, the Igbo Youth Council (IYC) to reunite. They also held that the state chairmen of Ohaneze Ndiigbo in Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and the two other Igbo-speaking parts of Delta and Rivers states should be automatic vice-presidents as recognised by Ohaneze National body.
The peacemakers advised states that are not members of Ohaneze to register with the body without cost and urged individual members, who are not part of their various communities to identify with their communities.
Opposition mounts. The decision of the peacemakers did not go down well with the party against the leadership of Amaku. Some of them accused the peacemakers of bias. They also argued that the peacemakers overstepped their bounds, adding that they had no right to issue orders about the Ohaneze leadership. According to them, only the Ohaneze national body with its headquarters in Enugu could decide the future of the association in Bayelsa.
Few days after the decisions, the national body reportedly sent a delegation to Bayelsa to look into the problems of the association in the state. They were said to have appointed a caretaker committee to take charge of the association and gave the committee three months to organise a fresh election.
They were said to have appointed Mr. Mark Nlem to lead the caretaker committee. When contacted, Nlem said: “We were given three months to conduct the election and the intervention of the security agencies and their resolutions at the reconciliation meeting cannot stand. It is only Igbo that can decide who leads them. So they want to make it transparent. If Amaku continues to parade himself as the President, he is impersonating”.
But Amaku insisted that the election that produced him was authentic and that he remained the leader of the Ohaneze in Bayelsa State.
