Ndigbo: Time to Reengage

By theGazetteNGR

Editorinchief

Posted: June 5, 2021 at 2:47 PM, Updated: September 21, 2022 at 7:46 AM

the people of the Igbo tribe have lost it and become enemies of their own

While I was reflecting on the current challenges
facing the nation in the area of insecurity, I got a phone call from a younger
friend who wanted my opinion on the happenings in the South East of Nigeria, my
nativity. He had set the tone of the conversation with his disgust for the
youths who are involved in the insurrection against the Government of the day.
He asked why the youths are destroying the properties of fellow Igbos and equally
engaging in upstaging the socio-economic progress of the Eastern Region. Yes, he
was right but only to the extent that he had limited knowledge of what the real
issues were and remain to date.

My friend had concluded that the people of the Igbo
tribe have lost it and become enemies of their own and that it may take ages
before they could rebuild what they ate fast losing.

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Yes, he was totally correct in his assertions as
well as his fears, but he also needed additional information on the real
causative factors of the self-inflicted crisis which has turned the once-prided
commercial stronghold of Nigeria into a theater of war, therefore casting a
ghost appearance in Owerri, the hotbed of the shootings.

I
didn’t waste time to remind him that what the
‘boys’ are doing is no different from what we witnessed in the days of
militancy in Rivers State and its neighborhood. We were confronted
during that
era, from 2003 to 2007, with massive shootings, kidnapping, and killings
which
forced multinational companies to exit the region. The Igbo youths, some
who
were also part of that unforgettable experience were under the tutelage
of
their conscripts who taught them how to engage in vices meant to bring
the Government to submission. The question becomes as follows: Did they
learn well?

While that phone conversation continued, I took time
to school him on some issues he may not be abreast of. Aside from being older than
him, I had the privilege of a Father who was a Youth Secretary of the defunct
NCNC under Nnamdi Azikiwe. I understand the issues that forced the East to war
even though I was not born then. My father was a custodian of history, and he
delivered a lot of part of what he knew to us, his children. Notwithstanding
that he may also have been sentimental towards his own people, the Igbos who
were at the forefront of the struggle to correct the imbalances in Government
appointments and allocation of resources.

Not many, just like my friend, understand the
intricate nature of the issues which have gone unresolved since 1914 Amalgamation of the Southern and Northern regions. The people of these regions
had existed independently prior to the coming of the British who in their wisdom
thought of a more cohesive country, but subjugated the different ethnic groups
under the dominance of a particular tribe, which democracy has struggled to
correct this imbalance.

But the issues of the Civil War as led by Emeka
Ojukwu and supported by other Eastern elites beyond the core Igbo speaking
tribes, are yet to be resolved 51 years after the heroic but suspicious
declaration of the ‘No Victor No Vanquished‘. Was it a vague
statement to end the ravaging war or was there in earnest, a conscious effort
to unbundle the alleged injustices, inequity, and inequality that marred the
peace and unity of Nigeria? Has there been a sincere, deliberate attempt at
ensuring that the drums of secession do not reverberate the length and breadth
of the country after that ugly, regrettable encounter? Or is that both sides
were lost in the euphoria of the end of hostilities and became engrossed in the act
of selfish looting of the Nigerian treasury without recourse to addressing the
sparks that led to the ravaging war?

More than five decades later, have we as a people
ensured that the imbalance in recruitment in the Armed Forces, Judiciary, Civil
Service and a lot more have been stemmed? What is the manner in which promotion
and appointments into Government offices are conducted? Can a Minister from the
Southern part of the Middle Belt Minority group function in his Ministry and
run effectively the Agencies under him without paying homage to their Northern
Masters?

Yes, I asked my friend if we have gotten to the
threshold where a Nwabueze, Wike, Ndukwe, Akpabio, Chukwu, Amaechi, or Timipre
can aspire for a National office without being subjected to the dictates and
endorsement of the Northern power brokers? Not even the Abiolas, Tinubus or
Awolowos are innocent of lying prostrate before the kings from the North to
aspire for the top job. Nigeria is not a Monarchy yet in truth, it is enmeshed
in a system where some sections of the peoples do not have the freedom to
aspire without the full approval of another group of people.

The list is exhaustive but again, there are salient
questions which the ‘undermined’ or marginalized East would have to deal with
first. While I am not mindful of the fact that most of the elites and
successful businessmen struggled to ascend to the top today, after an arduous
fight against externally induced poverty, after the Civil War.

The Governors of the Eastern States are not non-natives. They were elected under a Constitution that guarantees them equal
rights with their counterparts from other regions. We have over the years had
more up to Six Senate Presidents of southeast extraction and even a
democratically elected President whose people are part of the old Eastern
region. If we critically examine their activities while in office, can we truly
affirm their sincerity to raise the Igbos from the limitations of injustice?
How many can be honored as true Ambassadors of the Igbo nation based on their
achievements, not for themselves but for the people?

I do not want to be inundated with comments on how
they were marginalized while in office and the reason is simple: resignation
from the job. We saw the Number 2 Citizen, Rear Admiral Ebitu Ukiwe resign from
his exalted position when he realized that there was a deliberate plot to
emasculate his people albeit through religion. How have the leaders managed the
resources under their charge even as Governors? It has been an endless,
systematic, deliberate submission to those considered as the power molders
from the North or be prepared to be kicked out!

I went ahead to tell my younger friend who prodded
me on how the imbalance could be resolved that it is until the people
originally known as Igbos in terms of geographical spread defy every attempt at
further division and subjugation using negative narratives, we will remain in
this state. I reminded him that when the proponents of the first Civil War were
tagged rebels and their people marginalized even in the Civil Service and the
Armed Forces, in spite of the shouts of ‘No Victor No Vanquished‘,
there has never been a quota system to deliberately reemploy, re-engage and
promote the Igbos. They only struggled to be part of Nigeria again and they
rose so fast in an area where their enterprising spirit could not be
diminished. No doubt, many have excelled in Academia in foreign countries.
During the period of the dark seasons, the rest of the regions succeeded in
filling up vital positions in the white collar jobs, leaving the blue collar
jobs for the returning Easterners. Sadly, very few who refused to the secession
agenda were treated like the biblical John the Baptist, who were lone voices in
the wilderness. They were sacrificed in the end!

But it is not enough to continue recounting
yesterday’s losses without adequate plans to forestall the continuous
self-inflicted injury by Easterners against fellow Easterners. The solution,
according to former Senate President Pius Anyim, is not at home but at the
Centre. How many of the leading agitators understand the intricacies of the
power play at the center? How do you burn down properties of a fellow survivor
of this inequity and you claim to be fighting a just cause. The first war was
against the North but the brutality was unleashed on Igbo soil. Is there
anything different now from the destruction of the past? A struggle for freedom
cannot be used as a weapon against fellow citizens whose scars from the past
are yet visible.

Therefore, it is time for those involved in pushing
the secession agenda to re-engage. The casualties are increasing while the end
is not yet in sight. The weapon for a 21st Century liberation is the Personal
Voters Card. The success recorded so far in advancing the numbers is good
enough to sponsor and win the next elections in the East, as well as negotiate
for central power. When we continue to dance to the naked tunes of war songs,
the effects would definitely be worse than what we have been through.

Written
by Chief Obiaruko Christie Ndukwe, a sociopolitical commentator, analyst and
columnist based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State

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